Fundraising is always something big for a school, especially when clubs and societies are looking for funding. A fundraising auction is an excellent way to do just that: make money.

Now school auction projects don’t sound like big-money events, but it all depends on how it’s done. If you know what you’re doing, it sure isn’t impossible for you to rake in $10,000 to $20,000 in one fell swoop. Your child’s club will never have problems with funding as long as you know how to raise money with a school auction:

Planning: Making or Breaking the Auction

Treat a school auction like it’s a business and it’ll be like one. How you plan carefully can turn a school auction into a mere one-time yard sale or an annual money-making event of for your school.

Elements of the planning stage include mining your group for resources and items to auction off, matching items to the audience, acquiring software and hardware for the event. And you have to begin planning for all these factors nearly a year in advance for the auction: treat it like a major event, with all the courtesies and formalities that come with it and you’re going to get one.

Finding the Items to Sell

Creativity is the name of the game here. Although you’ve got the option of asking parents to donate items to set up for auction, you may want to think up alternative options that match the resources available to you.

For example: if you’ve got a parent who owns a luxury yacht, why not auction up a romantic boat ride for two? Or if you’ve got a donator who specializes in furniture making, why not have an auction for a top-notch, hand-built dresser made of fine wood?

Check the people around you, and you’ll be surprised at the options you’ll have to offer in school auction projects.

Matching Items to the Audience

It will be impossible to sell a $10,000 item in a crowd that has only a few hundred dollars in their pockets. Thus, it is essential that your school auction committee be able to assess the financial capabilities of the attending participants.

Carefully study the population of participants that will be attending the auction and divide them into categories: low, mid and high. Make sure low-spenders will be guided to the affordable section of the auctions, while those with more clink in their pockets would be guided to the higher-cost section of the auctions. Do this, and you won’t worry about having the wrong audience for the right auction.

The Art of Auctioneering

Any good auction has to have skilled auctioneers manning it. You don’t want an auctioneer who can’t speak to save his life, and you don’t want an auctioneer who doesn’t have a clue about auctions. You’ll need an auctioneer who knows how to rouse the interest of the crowd; to timely kick in humor and wit in order to keep the crowd entertained, and to inject a certain environment of desire and competitiveness within them.

Plan ahead, be creative, do the proper matching and find a good auctioneer to man the helm. Do it properly, and your fundraising auction will rake in the dollars like no tomorrow.

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Post from: School Auction Blog

How to Raise Money with a School Auction

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We have
- Police Escort to School (the good kind)
- Spirit Basket (w/ school clothes and tickets to upcoming events, yearbook, etc.)

Any clever ideas that your school/group has thought of?

Thanks so much!
We also have
- Principal for a day

Hey there, Jessica…GREAT question!

Hey there!

I’ve been heavily involved with nonprofit fund raising for years….so here are some ideas I have that could be relatively low in cost for your cause…

1) As far as items go in your area, here are my thoughts:

-try to think of items that your attendants will already WANT before they set foot in your event, instead of items that they could talk themselves into once they get there…bids will definitely be higher for these items
-anything that your group can make is always unique…think pottery, quilts, pillows, painting a martini set, etc…
-head to local businesses that are NOT chains…they’ll be easier to negotiate with and will have less red tape to get through…plus they’ll want the free advertising for being a donor in your auction
-see if a local liquor store will donate a "Beer a Month", grocery stores can donate "3 Months of Groceries", gas stations can give a certain amt of gas, coffee shops can donate coffee items and cups of coffee, local florists can do "Flower of the Month", etc….
-literally comb through your phone book and think of packages that they can give and then propose that, rather than just saying "Could you donate something?" If they can’t donate your proposed package, they’ll suggest a gift certificate.

2) In addition to your silent/live auction, consider running an online auction – this is an AWESOME way to get to the people whose mailing addresses you don’t have (ie you’ve got their EMAILS)…your email base can feel like they’re using their expendable income on great stuff AND its going to their community at the same time!
I’ve included a link of one of the online auction companies that I’ve worked with…cMarket. They also have another website, BiddingforGood.com, that opens your auction up to all their members so that people who you don’t even know can donate to your cause and bid on your items!

5) One last tid bit – consider selling sponsorships for your event…this can help off set some of your cost INCREDIBLY. You’d be surprised how many local businesses want to be a part of your cause-minded event! You can ask for anywhere around $500 per sponsor, and if you put your auction online, you can ask for even more than that because they’ll be getting just that much more exposure through your website and event emails!

Best of luck with all of this!

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