When it comes to fundraising, auctions are in a class by themselves. They can be quite lucrative and often turn out to be the social event of the year for many groups. But they are also a tremendous amount of work.
If you’re planning an auction for this school year, we can help. We have lots of free auction resources on our website that are designed to make the planning and running of these events much less arduous. Following is a list of our top auction resources. Think of this as a cheat sheet to help you get the job done.
One of our most popular resources is the 2015 Ultimate Donation List thread on our Message Boards. The beauty of this resource is it’s all PTO leaders helping other leaders. You can ask questions of and offer suggestions to your peers on any topic from how to craft a donation request to how to package items to sell.
If you are starting from scratch, take a look at our Auction Planning FAQs, which covers some of the most basic questions. For instance, does it make sense to do both a silent and live auction? We think you’re fine if you do a silent auction only, but adding a live auction element of even just a few items will make your event more exciting.
Additional planning resources include:
Need help in event planning? Our article on making auctions fun and festive will come in handy.
If you are working on getting donations, then Finding Donations for Your Auction is a must-read.
We also have some great tips for donation items and auction basket themes.
One other planning resource you’ll find helpful is our Auction “Pros” Raise Big Dollars article, which includes tips from veteran PTOs and PTAs that have already run successful auctions.
If you head over to our File Exchange, you’ll find plenty of helpful auction tools. You can download letters, forms, and other documents to help run your event. These printables are customizable so you can tweak them to include your PTO’s name and other important information about your event.
Auction Donation Request Letter
If you need help promoting your event, make sure to use all the channels your parents use, including Facebook, Twitter, and email. Don’t forgot old-fashioned paper flyers as well! We have fun auction clip art you can use on all your channels to help spread the word!
And one last resource to share: Pinterest! Our Auction Tips and Ideas board on Pinterest has a collection of ideas to give your event pizazz. Plus, our Auction Baskets board has dozens of ideas for creating auction items.
Good luck, everyone!
