What Is a Silent Auction And How Do They Work?

For the past 25 years, Xpress has been committed to in-depth, balanced reporting about the greater Asheville area. That’s a big part of why we’ve never charged for the paper or put up a paywall. Over 20 Got to Be NC member companies will display their products at the Got to Be NC Pavilion in the Davis Event Center during the fair. At a chef stage within the pavilion, several of the culinary creators will perform live cooking demonstrations that educate as well as satiate hungry fairgoers. To that end, the festival is offering a variety of pay-what-you-can ticketed and open-to-the-public options to ensure everyone has a seat at the table.
Sometimes we overlook items that we have in our community that would be special for someone who doesn’t live there. For example, tickets to Broadway shows are not as exciting to a NY audience because most have access but an online bidder in the Midwest might be very interested. Disney tickets are not as exciting to a bidding audience in Orlando as they are to one in Chicago. Charities and not-for-profit organizations often use silent auctions to help raise money. The items collected for the auction are often donated by sponsors or people that support the particular cause. The money raised goes directly to the non-profit or charity group.
This is due to the increase in the number of bidders attracted by the low SOB. In fact, an auctioneer may bid up the price of an item to the reserve price, which is a threshold below which the consignor may refuse to sell the item. However, the auction house is required to disclose this information. A government auction is simply an auction held on behalf of a government body generally at a general sale. Auctions ordered by estate executors enter the assets of individuals who have perhaps died intestate (those who have died without leaving a will), or in debt.
They also help ensure a fair and transparent bidding process by recording the time, date, and amount of each bid, and allowing bidders to sign their bids. A silent auction is a type of auction where attendees bid on items or experiences. Depending on the style of silent auction, bids can be placed on a piece of paper, online or even through the organizations social media! Artwork is always popular at live, online, and silent auctions. You don’t need big-ticket items for viewers to have an interest in the artwork you’re auctioning off.
A good way to educate oneself on artwork is by visiting local museums and galleries and speaking with the curators or gallery owners about the collection. Remember that people need to be able to go back to items and check if they’ve been outbid, so make sure people can navigate forward and backward. It’s always a good idea to have a volunteer or staff member do a dry run to make sure things are arranged intuitively. Joseph is a leading expert on nonprofit fundraising & crowdfunding. He started Crowd101 which is one of the first educational blogs on crowdfunding and fundraising and is widely recognized as an expert on these topics. Now that we’ve gone over the basics, let’s dive into how to bring in new bidders and turn them into recurring donors.
By employing effective bid sheet strategies, non-profits can optimize participation, generate higher bids, and create an engaging experience for bidders. To cater to participants who cannot attend the auction in person, the auction organizers can implement proxy bidding. Allowing bidders to submit their maximum bid in advance, empowering representatives to bid on their behalf during the silent auction event.
It is the donor’s responsibility to estimate the value of the item they donated, so no need to provide that for them. If how to do silent auction is too large to take home on the night of your event, pre-arrange to deliver the item to the winning bidder. Your auction management software likely has built-in credit card processing functionality, so you would simply need to obtain card readers. When collecting checks, write the bid number in the memo field for future reference. Where possible, avoid collecting cash payment since handling cash is theft liability.
A HUGE shoutout to all those Local Heroes who step up each year and make the first day of school special for all of our students! Receiving donations of so many wonderful school supplies brightens everyone’s day and makes the start of the year special. A Night at the Book Fair, a PEN America Young Patrons Event, will be held on Tuesday, October 10 at 6 p.m. A Night at the Book Fair will pay homage to Scholastic’s infamous book fair and will feature cocktails, literary hosts, silent auction, childhood nostalgia and a luminous rooftop view. Tickets and other donations at Sunset on the Farm support investigative journalism and help train college students. This year the student assistant is Tatum Hussey, a University of Iowa fourth-year marketing student from Dunlap, Illinois.
Once they are happy with their selection they can bid on the lot by entering their details onto the iPad. They will immediately be informed if they are the highest bidder and the results then appear on the screens around the room as well as being updated on all the iPads. Bidders will receive a text message confirming their bid, more importantly should they be outbid they will receive a second text message informing them of this and encouraging them to bid again. We recommend you have two laptops with an internet connection, although one will suffice.
We’d recommend using a program like Silent Auction Pro to keep things in check. Otherwise, make a lot of spreadsheets and checklists, and stay on top of the details to avoid any costly errors. Whether it’s parents at a school auction or art enthusiasts at a museum fundraiser, it’s crucial to know your audience’s tastes and preferences to maximize your fundraising efforts. Silent auction day is finally here and you’re super excited to get things started.