Funding an Australian not-for-profit isn’t as simple as contacting the NDIS and getting everything on your wish list fulfilled. You’ll need ongoing ways to generate revenue or financial resources. That need often means cultivating donors or having regular fundraising activities.
A silent auction is a fantastic way to boost gifts, and it can be a rewarding community event you can combine with local bands, a potluck, or a holiday/special themed day. People will go home with extraordinary gifts and prizes, and you’ll have another chunk of your much-needed funding solved.
What is a Silent Auction?
Silent auctions are long-standing traditions masked as social events. The “silent” part doesn’t mean quiet. In fact, you can easily mistake a silent auction for a networking event or public party.
What makes the auction “silent” is the lack of an auctioneer. Most of the items being auctioned are on display in some way, and people write down or digitally submit their bids silently throughout the night. The person with the highest bid when the auction portion of the evening comes to an end is the winner.
Most of these auctions have:
- Items on display for guests to look at and inspect
- A physical or digital “bid sheet” for people to enter their bid silently
- Some will use a “bidder number” instead of a name to keep things anonymous
- A predetermined start and finish time so that a high bid can be selected
Running an event like this means you don’t have to spend a lot of money. All you really need is a room, auction items, organisers, and bidders. If you add some food and entertainment, you’ll have an efficient way to attract both introverted and extroverted bidders while the community mobilises around your NFP and its goals.
Tips to Run a Successful Silent Auction
Start with a Team
You cannot do a silent auction alone. Stop trying to be Superman or Superwoman. Organise a team of people, preferably with some who have previous silent auction experience. You’ll need volunteers to run everything from setup and teardown to monitoring the auction and checking out bidders at the end.
Use your team to make a plan about booking a venue, when to finish sourcing items, and how to market the auction. During these organisational meetings, be sure you set clear goals for how much you want to raise. That will give you a better idea of the number of items and guests you’ll need.
Find the Venue
The proper venue sets the mood for your silent auction, but think about the guests more than your internal NFP team. Does your mission tie to a local church that most of your guests visit? Are you secular and prefer a school building or a community centre? If you’re medical, should the event happen on the facility grounds or at a local event centre?
Be sure the venue benefits work with your auction functions. For example, if you have a digital element to bidding, you’ll need free Wi-Fi and some audio/video hookups. Just be sure the cost of the venue is as low as possible (or free if you can swing it).
Source Your Items
Here is the crux of your silent auction preparation. You don’t only want high-value items. You want a good mix of items that get your specific guests excited. A trip for two to an intimate B&B on the Gold Coast might appeal to most guests, but if you’re running an NFP around saving pets, a nearby goat yoga experience might be more valuable.
Have fun and make it a mix, try items like:
- Local artisan pieces
- Homemade crafts and dishes
- Restaurant gift certificates
- Wine collections
- Vacation getaways
- Hotel stays
- Collectibles (sports, games, etc.)
- Local event tickets
- Themed gift baskets
- Mission-specific items (Toys for kids, mobility gifts for seniors, etc.)
- VIP entertainment tickets
- Unique community experiences (behind the scenes, ride a local traffic helicopter, etc.)
Have fun and let your imagination flow. That will make it easier to whittle down the list when it comes time to ask for donations. You cannot source all these items alone. Bring in your volunteers, long-standing donors, staff, clients, friends, family, business partners, anyone you think has a connection that can help.
Promote and Prep
With your silent auction items in hand, you need to market. Push information about your upcoming silent auction on your website, social media, and email marketing systems. Encourage people to share that info so it grows organically.
This is a great time to film some content for social media. Make 30-second videos with unique items up for auction and tie that event into how it will help raise money for your NFP, which in turn creates impactful value for your community.
Really push the video marketing. Add stories about successful clients, committed volunteers, and put a human face on your NFP that people will trust.
In the meantime, you’ll need to do some paperwork:
- Prepare item description sheets that include details of the items, the sponsor, and a photo you can distribute online and in auction booklets.
- Create bid sheets that have the name of the item, its value, and the minimum bid amount.
- Decide if you’ll be charging an entrance fee or registration and then create the system to make that happen. Most silent auctions will be anonymous.
If you’re going with a digital silent auction, you may want to use a QR code at each item on display that connects with your bid tracking software or online form. However, most people like the physical “old school” way of using a pen and paper.
Making the Most of the Day
When the big day finally arrives, take time to set up your space. Think like a guest and arrange the auction items so everything is well-lit and visible. You want to curate items into categories of similar themes or features. Just be sure there is enough room for foot traffic and mingling.
The checkout area should also be easily identifiable. Make the type of payments you’ll accept clear. That could be cash, local checks, credit cards via Stripe or PayPal, or online payments with Venmo.
You’ll want a clear welcome spot for when guests arrive, especially if you require registration or collect a fee to attend. That will also give you a head count, so you know if you need to delay the start of bidding or not for more guests to arrive. When ready, make a formal announcement of the silent auction’s opening. While you’re attending other programming and mingling with guests, give updates on the closing time so people know when to expect bidding to end.
After the Auction
When everything is wrapped up and the tables and food have been packed away, give yourself time to relax. You’ve just made a successful event!
A few days after the auction, send out a post-event survey. Thank everyone for attending and ask if they have any constructive feedback to help improve the event. Wrap in your organising team with a post-mortem meeting. They will likely let you know if this can be an annual event and how you can improve over the long term.
Extra Insights into Silent Auctions
There are a lot of moving parts to a successful silent auction that your NFP will have to manage. If you do get a bit of extra staffing, here are some ways to upscale the event:
- Hire a local band or school performance group for entertainment
- Write powerful donation request letters personalised to every auction item donor
- Thread a central storyline through your auction based on specific fundraising goals
- Provide FMV (fair market value) prices on your items so people know what is expected
- Thank everyone and show appreciation as much as possible
- Partner with local businesses, podcasts, radio stations, news centres, and anyone else who can both donate and promote
- Set bid increments for each item or offer “buy it now” options
- Gamify the event with a real-time thermometer or “out-bid” notifications, which your monitors can update
- Have a countdown clock to the close of bidding
Best of all, use the silent auction as the primary pull for the event, but blended with other supportive fundraising items hidden in plain sight. Things like a ticketed dinner, community fair, massive thrift sale, 5K run, gala, dinner, or more. You want to bring your event to life, but be strategic and realistic about what resources you have to organise everything, so it goes off without a hitch.
Wrapping Up
A silent auction is an excellent way to bring in a good amount of financial funds for your NFP. It also creates a tradition that directly connects you with the community so you can get the word out about what you do, how it helps, and how locals can be a part of your NFP’s mission.
When you decide to market your upcoming silent auction, be sure your website is up to snuff. Hire our team at Web 105 to get a streamlined, mobile-responsive website perfect for displaying information like your auction or running complementary plugins for accepting payment.
We have years of experience working with Australian NFPs, medical organisations, and businesses throughout the country. Give us a call today, and let’s build a platform perfect for highlighting your mission and efficiently supporting all your events.
FAQs
How do you host a silent auction?
You have to do a lot of organising to secure items, market the event, create a captivating display in a welcoming venue, and manage the process of bidding and payments efficiently.
What are the basic rules for a silent auction?
The simple rules include a start and end time, bids meeting minimum requirements or increments, all bid sales are final, and people must pay before leaving the event.
Do you need a gambling license for a silent auction?
Australia doesn’t typically recognise a silent auction as a gambling event because it isn’t a game of chance. However, if you’re worried, be sure to contact your local legal team, especially if you’re running a raffle at the same event.