Remember when I told you I got a job at my children’s school as their Development Director? Yes? And I told you about Sprint, the other lady that shares the job with me. Well, right now we’re in the home stretch of our largest fund raiser of the year. It’s a silent and live auction with a dinner. So far I think we’re doing well selling tickets and getting corporate support and the auction items are starting to be donated.
Last year I asked all of you what you thought were great auction ideas. So, once again I’m counting on all of you to share your fabulous ideas with me.
As for my personal donations I will be giving a pork package and designing a Christmas tree with homemade ornaments from the students in the school’s colors (blue and gold) I think it will be really neat when I get it done. I might do the wine tastings that I did last year, but I haven’t decided if I have time for it yet or not.
Okay, spill your brilliance on me. What do want when you go to a fund raising auction? What would you buy? What would you donate? What is the big seller at your school/charity?
ATTENTION FUND RAISERS read the great ideas in the comments!!!
Keep ‘em coming! I’ll be emailing a few of you to follow up on specifics of your ideas. Thanks for the great inspiration!!!
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My aunt recently did a raffle with proceeds going to United Way. One of the baskets was a “pampered” basket. In it was gift certificates and donated items to pamper oneself, ie: a massage, pedi/manicure, bath salts, lotions, tanning, etc. Everything was donated by local merchants and salons. I think they had a really good response to it. Not sure if this is exactly what you are looking for but its an idea. Good luck!
Also make it a rewear the dress event!!! In the invite tell the ladies don’t buy a new dress or anything and have them donate whatever they would have spent on a new outfit. We made pretty good donations at our school auction that way.
I am going to donate a photoshoot but I would totally bid on a Handyman. Or a haircut.
we just had our auction at the kids school. very fun my favorite thing donated was milk cookies and a bed time story from one of the teachers. she will come to your house bring milk, cookies, and read a bedtime story to your child. I thought it was such a great idea. fun for the kids to have a teacher come to the house. I also thought it was nice that the teacher got involved. another fun thing was class baskets each class got a theme like “traveling with kids” and then the kids brought somthing for the basket and then they were auctioned.
If you can get one donated, a load of gravel (for driveways and such) sells BIG here at auctions. If gravel company doesn’t deliver, sometimes they’ll donate gravel and a local trucker will donate delivery to make it a package.
The teacher thing is great. We have had go to lunch with a teacher, student and a few friends go bowling with a teacher, attend a play with a teacher. (which teacher is designated ahead of time – it helps if the teacher is popular with the kids) We have also had student be principal for the day, that always sells for a pretty penny.
When we started at the school it was popular for someone to host a theme dinner and a group of couples (4 – 6 couples) would buy it together. The last few years our auction has sold “Sign Up” parties. How this works is a group of couples will put on a themed party and other couples purchase a spot to attend. The price is preset, so when you sign up on the sheet, you know how much you are paying and what party you are attending. The size of the party has ranged from 50 people up to 200 people. It just depends on the type and location.
Hope this helps – I’d be happy to explain more if you want to email me directly.
Our school just had a fundraiser recently and since we live in a farm/ranch community the farm related stuff sold the highest (sprays, custom combine crew and so on). What we bought and was very popular (and expensive) were tickets to a pro hockey game.
Hey Lady,
Do you still have my ideas?? I will get in touch with you soon to see where you need the most help. I’m helping Kyle and Jamaica at Fun and Games thru Halloween. Thanks for all your work!
~J
One of the biggest sellers here… quilts! If you have someone to make one, it’s a great idea.
There were some really creative ideas at our Towne Hall event. One family who has a stocked fish pond donated a fishing party where for $25 each people could sign up to go fishing and have lunch. Another one was a garden party at a master gardener’s home with a gourmet lunch, garden tour and a craft project for six people who paid $40-50(?) each. Another was a pie making class done in the same way (that I am supposed to teach, btw, and they’ve never set up the plan for that yet…) where each of six or so people paid a set amount to participate.
We have both an auction as well as a raffle for both kids and parents to buy “cheaper” tickets and place them in raffle buckets. SOme of the more popular items are dinners both out as well as hosted by someone and dessert parties. Last year the popular raffle was the Moms and Margaritas! Other Auction ideas: memberships to zoo, museum, party packages for kid’s birthdays.
With the economy in it’s current condition, most auction items need to be below $100 to be popular.
Have fun, it’s a big job running the school auction!
Dinner at Coal Creek!
Baskets are great. We did some movie baskets where we filled a basket with movie theater candy, popcorn, neat Coke glasses and a gift card for a couple of movies from a video store. They sold like hot cakes. Any theme – kitchen with mixes and baking items, baby with all those neat baby things, pampered with personal items- works well. Gift cards included make them even better.
My mom is a beautician (can’t help it, she’s old school) and donated hair cuts for a family. There’s so much you can do. Have fun with it!
Some that went over well at a similar auction at my church:
vacation at someone’s timeshare
bread making lessons
knitting lessons
babysitting
dinner prepared by some guy from China. Apparently, it’s pretty legendary.
A pie a month for a year. Dinner for 4 a month for a year. Those two things are extremely popular around our parts.
I bid on a package that had a restaurant gift certificate and movie passes. Great gift!!
I was actually just thinking about this the other day – I would love to have a handyman come to my house for an afternoon, since my husband is not one and we have a handful of lingering projects to do.
Baskets are our biggest sellers – American Girl, Sports, Gear from popular Colleges, Legos, Star Wars. Experiences is the other great category with teacher outings, parties for ten at your home ( mimosas & manicures, Wine and Cheese, Crab feast). Something from nothing is another way to make some money – Principal for the day, Pick the Lunchroom menu on your birthday, Parking spot for a year, Tapping the talents of the parents – gift wrapping of all your christmas gifts, gardening, interior design,or dinner once a month. Recently our auctions have been dress themed so there are costume contests ( 70′s, Hollywood, Rodeo) which is fun for everyone!
Good luck!!
We did a silent auction of themed gift baskets. School families were asked to donate the baskets and given ideas for filling them with items around a theme—such as a cookie basket (stuff to make the cookies plus measuring cups, etc.) car wash (sponge, soap, cleaners, and even carwash gift coupons). We made an amazing amount of money on them! Also, here in the Kansas City area we have Chris Cakes. They bring out their portable pancake-making set up and we did a pancake breakfast. At another silent auction I noticed that the most popular items were a couple of handmade quilts made by a student’s Mom. I also subscribe to a fundraising newsletter than you can find here: http://www.fundraising-ideas.org/
Oh! I thought of one more idea. The “No-Show Ball” We made fancy-ish invitations and gave each student about 5 apiece to mail to friends/relatives. They invited you to a “No-Show Ball” . . . where, since you didn’t have to buy a new dress, get your hair done, etc., you could send a donation for that amount to the school. I *might* be able to find one of the invitations and send it to you if you’re interested.
These things have worked well in NC: a load of pinebark mulch, custom made cowboy/girl boots, cooking lessons for a group at a local restaurant, the use of a tour bus and its driver for a day, afternoon tea at a bed and breakfast, golf packages, wine tastings, will writing donated by local attorneys, anything handmade, etc. Good luck.
I live in a city and the things I have seen at these fund raiser are things like this. Coupons for free things like, oil change at a local Jiffy Lube, Carwashes, movie tickets, dinners for 4-6 a local restaurants,certian amount of groceries at a local store. With the economy the way it is things like this were really popular. I also saw printers, fax machines, and other home office items.
Good Luck
Food! Make a bunch of pies!
We raffle off desserts… both home made and store donations. Each table bids on a dessert for their table…and eats it.
We also auction off 1 parking space…the closest one to the front door of the school…last year it fetched $1,500. We have a metal sign printed up that says this space is reserved for …… They get that parking space until next years auction.
Local college or pro team tickets to a game w/ a great parking pass.
Spa treatments.
Maid service for a month (or year).
Babysitting.
I love the idea of handymen donating 4 hours of their time and skills. Great for single women or those with not so handy of men in their lives. Contact professional teams in your state to try to get tickets. Definitely have items that start super low, like $5 even. Some people can’t afford the more expensive items but still want to donate. (I’m imagining jewelry made by a local artist-but don’t let the jewelry get too funky.) A set of 4 new tires was always a hot ticket in MN. GOOD LUCK! The end is in sight
I’m a member of a Lutheran church/school. Our Shadetree Mechanics group at church donated their services to detail three vehicles, inside and out, which was a big hit with the moms! We had some donations of theme dinners for groups of people, a stained glass piece, handmade jewelry, Yorkie puppies, “Short Sermon Sunday” from our pastor (could be a “short lesson” day in class), cookies/cake of the month for 6 or 12 months, handmade American Girl doll dress and matching dress for a girl, and lots of baskets of things. Gift certificates seem to go over well, for anything and everything you can imagine. Good Luck!
I hope you don’t mind if I steal a few of these great ideas and share them with my mama. She the director for a CASA in northeast Texas and they’re having their main fundraiser early next month. I promise to pick her brain to see if she has any great ideas to share with you.
If we were closer, I’m sure I could persuade FIL to donate some landscaping rocks and delivery. City people like that, but many folks out here think it’s kind of funny that people would pay so much for rocks to put in their yards.
Someone in the nearby town has a huge ball of barbed wire sitting in their front yard as a sculpture. I would bid on that, and I would think that you might be able to find old, discarded barb wire for free or cheap. I don’t know how easy it would be to make it into a ball, though.
A gourmet picnic basket with wine and cheese and other goodies would be nice. I’d bid on that, too.
Do you know someone with a lathe? I’ve seen vases made from old fence posts and I just love them.
Could you get a deal or donated tickets for Symphony in the Flint Hills or some other event? I’ve always wanted to go to that and the Walnut Valley Bluegrass Festival, so I’d bid on tickets for either of those.
Maybe nearby areas would donate tourism packages. I would bid on a package that included dinner and a night at The Grand Central Hotel in Cottonwood Falls and breakfast or lunch at The Emma Chase Cafe–or something along those lines. I just love Cottonwood Falls. Council Grove, too. I don’t know what all you’ve got closer to you, but it wouldn’t have to be right there in Lawrence. I’d love a little weekend getaway that was just a few hours’ drive. Abilene? Salina? Manhattan? Those are all interesting towns, but I like smaller towns even better, and they might be happy for a little publicity.
The elementary school here has each class put together a “basket” to be auctioned off. Each class chooses their own theme. I’ve seen a basket end up really being a wheelbarrow filled with garden supplies, gift certificates to local gardening places etc. Another basket had to do with baking, cooking and canning. Others have been sports themed. The class whose basket goes the highest gets a pizza party.
Give Damn Ramsey’s organization a call. I was doing a fund-raiser for United Way a couple years ago and called their Financial Peace offices and they donated a whole Financial Peace Univeristy membership and kit, deluxe envelope sets, kids books package and a couple other little things. They are very generous and in this economy, a lot of people would probably be interested in bidding. Good luck!
OK, my son’s school has one large fundraising event each year. It’s a sit down dinner thing that you pay to attend (essentially you’re paying for your meal). Then you purchase tickets to drop into little shopping bags that sit in front of all the donated items (which have been packaged into gift baskets–they usually have a theme and contain things like restaurant gift certificates, bottle of wine, cheese board etc. Or kid games, amusement park tickets, kid’s clothing. Stuff like that). Then they have bigger ticket items that were also donated–to enter for those, you pay a bit more. And then the really big items (big screen TV, trip to Disney, laptop computer) are purchased ahead of time. The really big item is one year tuition (parochial school) that’s a hot ticket–costs $25, but worth more (obviously). Sports tickets are popular. Calling the numbers takes forever, but is improved by each person being designated a number. So if my pack of numbers is #133, then all my tickets will be #133. So I know immediately if I won. Much easier than calling out “144698″ off a stub and waiting for a response. Hence, tickets are bought in packs (buy more than one pack, you get two assigned numbers). You want to know what really gets people buying? A 50/50. 50% of proceeds to school–50% to the winner. As it grows it gets people excited–so you have to keep announcing “the 50/50 is now up to ____”. Of course, legalities may intrude, so I don’t know what the rules are in Kansas. Have fun!
The law school has a silent auction every spring and some of our most popular items are basket gifts which have a theme (bath/body, cooking,office supplies). Also if there is anyone at your school that has a vacation home or timeshare, the use of such for a period of time is also very popular. Another item that is popular is to have a scrapbook done (law students have little time) for a special event – wedding, new baby, law school graduation.
At my rural high school, we always auctioned off things like quilts in school colors with the school name, mascot and year on them; farm supplies; pies; etc. For a raffle, we usually had a gun, four-wheeler, or trip.
What always goes over big is restaurant gift certificates. The problem with that is you have to go to all the restaurants and ask them to donate. That was my job and though time consuming ALL the restaurants donated.
I recently organized a charity event that was all just dinners and/or classes at a variety of people’s houses and we made a ton of money. The hard part is getting people to commit to hosting and paying for a dinner party to be held at their house. We found people with historical homes or interesting homes that people wanted to go to. Also we gave them the option of not having to host a whole dinner, but to host a happy hour or a dessert party. The tennis outing was a big seller- but then you have to find someone that has a tennis court at their house. A way to make this more easy for the people is to have suggestion of caterers, bartenders, party rental people- maybe you can contact some of these people and see if they will give a discount to those hosting a dinner since it is for charity.
We also auctioned off services. One of the big seller and one that I bought. Was house cleaning. We had a few ladies and men that volunteered to go to people’s house to offer a few hours of cleaning. Oh it was so wonderful to have someone else fold my laundry, mop my floors, dust, etc. Then when they were done I had them for dinner. Not that you would have to have the bidder do that. Or you could get a professional cleaning service to donate some hours.
Classes or lessons were big. We found a person willing to teach a stain glass class. A cooking class and an art class. I am sure there are people in your community that have a variety of skills to offer- try to find things that are out of the ordinary.
Another big item was we found a local artist who was willing to paint a portrait of a person or a family. People seem to love that one.
I would not, not auction off any dogs or cats. Generally, people that buy an animal at an auction end up regretting the decision and end up giving the dog/cat away. But then it depends on what the people are like in your area and if they have a need for an animal then it could be a good idea. Like chickens or something. But normally it isn’t a good idea.
Another idea is to put all the smaller items together into a unique container. Plants and flowers are generally good sellers. I love the idea of auctioning off events or outings with a teacher. Or being a teacher for the day or principal for a day.
Good luck. I think you got a ton of good ideas.
Hi April, just found your website from my obcession with PW
LOVE IT! I’m also a Kansan, with ducks not chickens! I love a good silent auction and I think people love items that aren’t too spendy, in the $20 range maybe. I work in a bookstore and will often donate a pile of books (theme oriented if possible)with a nice ribbon and then attach a gift certificate so that folks can come in and pick out their own books. I’m told it goes over very well. Email me if you’re in the vicinity of Lawrence and I’d be happy to donate! http://www.whatupduck.com
I have made several small quilts over the years for diffrent school auctions, and they have always done really well making money for the event. People know they can keep it or give it as a gift.
These things may have already been mentioned but I’ll give you what are big sellers at our school auction.
The dessert auction, this does so well every year that we now do it at our school trivia night, everyone loves dessert. So after the dinner portion of the auction the dessert table is the first to close to everyone can go buy a dessert and share it with their table … or not. my table always ends up with a couple. But it is an easy, lost cost item to donate b/c it can either be homemade or store bought. The most popular desserts (i.e The Great Wall of Chacolate from P.F. Changs) are sold by the slice.
2. Teacher Treasures. Every teacher (if they want to… all of ours do) can do something like “be the teacher for the day” or teachers have said “I’ll take one child and a friend out to lunch” or “Be the principle for the day” or “School secretary or nurse or P.E teacher for the day” Teachers can do whatever they want, they offer craft time to a picnic in the park. Some teachers give up a Saturday afternoon and others offer their time after school. Hope that makes sense. But kids love special time with a favorite teacher, so our school really promotes the teacher treasures to the students so they can beg their parents to buy the teacher treasure with their favorite teacher.
I just love those items at our auction b/c they aren’t hard to come by and plus they are big sellers! Good luck and Have Fun!
I could certainly get very excited about bidding on silver and gold coins or bars. Good luck getting these items donated.
I would bid on an oil change, or yard work, or someone to put up and take down Christmas lights.
We do a silent auction at church – the hottest items: Basic Will Preparation (from a lawyer church member), a parking spot near the door – this is the best one because our church lot is always full and you have to park far away. An under-the-bed bin full of wrapping supplies is always a hit (wrapping paper, ribbons, tape, tags, etc).
Quilt raffles do very well here – we display the quilt a local banks, events, fairs, businesses for a couple months. (Make sure you check your state laws on raffles -you may need a permit number)
Also, our high school choir goes to NY every other year and they have a fundraising program where you can “Hire the Choir.” Basically, community members can call up a main number, ask for 2-whatever choir members to come to their home or business to do chores such as painting, yard work, cleaning. The rate is set on a per hour/per kid schedule.
Some other ideas: a community telethon. If you have a local cable access they can be good about donating some time on a Sunday afternoon. It’s pretty comical and they do challenges between churches, teams, homemaker groups, etc.
Organization cookbooks with recipes from members.
Or maybe you could get PW do donate a signed cookbook, dinner at the lodge or a photography lesson?
love all the ideas! Our first school auction last year had some good ones: name the gymnasium for a year, name the parking lot, win your own parking space, kid’s birthday party in the gym with activities by the gym teacher, pizza and a movie for two students with the 3rd grade teacher, pizza lunch for 8 kids in the teacher’s lounge, principal for a day, school secretary for a day, kid’s birthday party with activities by the art teacher, logo design services by a graphic artist, 4 hours consultation from a landscaper.
I donated 26 dozen (a dozen a week for 6 months) fresh eggs from my chickens, but it has been a bear to fulfill due to uncooperative/elderly chickens.
3 big sellers- gravel or bobcat rental
“Dinner with the Docs” we have 1 Dr and 1 Dentist in our town, and they will go to your house and cook dinner for a group, it was the biggest seller
“slave for a day” the church youth group auctioned off the kids who donated their time to help with chores. The elderly loved it!
Theme baskets go over great. Sports—such as baseball with
a glove-ball-sunf seeds-camp chairs-or stadium seats.
Also, I would bid on a message’ or a personal trainer lesson. Movie nite basket with popcorn-video rentals-etc.
Spaghetti nite basket with spaghetti-sauce-wine-with a little candle or gingham tablecloth….
How about a guided horseback ride and picnic? Tailoring services? Pet sitting? A farm experience day with dinner?
I am currently preparing items for a silent auction for a baseball team fundraiser. My husband is giving two hours of chain saw work for tree trimming, etc. I am offering to bake your Christmas cookies. I will have a plate with a sampling of cookies available and a list of about 25 kinds that can be chosen. I will bake, package suitable for freezing and deliver 10 dozen cookies by Dec. 5. I am offering mini-tarts, filled spritz, dipped, filled and frosted cookies full of good chocolate, butter and quality nuts and dried fruits. I love to make fussy cookies, and I am hoping the baseball moms will value this service.
It seems that everyone has made some excellent suggestions. Our school has a yearly fundraiser and instead of dressing up you have to wear jeans. It’s called the Blue Jean Ball. We have themed baskets and the 50/50 it’s alot of fun. I agree with Jennifer, having the same number for the tickets makes the giveaway portion go alot easier.
Oh, I forgot…we have a beautiful Red Maple in our yard bought 15 years ago at my son’s elementary school auction. Go talk to your sister. Doesn’t she work at a garden supply?