Auction procurement guide: How to secure the best items

Procuring the perfect range of auction items is the best way to ensure your silent auction’s success, but the process can feel overwhelming, especially to newer event organizers. The good news: With careful planning, expert insight, and some creativity, any nonprofit can curate an amazing auction catalog.

To set you on the path to auction success, we’ve put together this step-by-step guide to auction item procurement. Whether you plan to host your auction online or in person, follow these steps to procure the perfect items that will help you generate bidding wars, sell more event tickets, and ultimately raise more for your cause.

1. Form an auction procurement team

Because securing auction items is such an important part of your success, having a dedicated procurement team is much more beneficial than having just one person do everything. For the best results, form a committee of at least five people whose sole objective is to solicit desirable items that cost little to nothing upfront.

Your procurement team can be made up of staff, volunteers, or both. When creating your team, look for individuals who are:

• Willing to ask: Procurement team members must feel confident asking for high-quality item donations. Make sure they’re responsible, enthusiastic, and ready to quickly explain your event and the nonprofit’s mission at the drop of a hat. Bonus points if they can convey passion or a personal connection to your cause!
• Well-connected: Individuals with extensive community connections will be the most helpful to your auction procurement team. The more people they know, the greater your nonprofit’s reach will be. Well-connected people are key to finding unique, desirable items that will spark top-dollar bids.
• Organized: Silent auction item procurement takes persistence. You won’t get a “yes” every time, so organization is key. Given the need for consistent follow-ups, members must be able to accurately track their solicitations and responses.
• Available: There’s no denying that item procurement is time-consuming. Individuals who join this committee will need to fully understand their role in the silent auction process and the time commitment they’re agreeing to.

This committee will have a lot of responsibility, so choose the right individuals to set your auction up for success.

2. Review your donor data

If this isn’t your first fundraising event, it’s important to look back before looking forward. At the beginning of your planning process, have your procurement team review past auction data to analyze the performance of your previous silent auction items.

In particular, use bidding data to determine:

• Which items had the most bids?
• Which items had no bids?
• Which items met or exceeded their value?
• Which items brought in the most revenue?
• Who donated the most popular items?

Additionally, pay attention to your supporters’ average spending levels. Your bidding data (particularly the total amounts individual bidders spent at the auction) will give you a sense of your supporters’ capacity to bid, so you can choose items that fit within your guests’ budgets.

These insights will help you understand which types of auction items your audience prefers and which you might want to avoid during the auction procurement process. For instance, you might prioritize bringing back the items that were wildly successful, then add new items that align with your donors’ interests and current trends.

In general, expect your guests to bid only on things that they find useful, meaningful, or interesting. Combine data insights with any known donor hobbies or interests to cover all your bases.

3. Create an auction item wishlist

Once you’ve reviewed your data, create a list of your top auction item ideas. Having a dedicated “wishlist” to draw from will help your procurement team focus its search and ensure your event includes relevant, high-quality items.

Combine the insights you gained from the last step with donor survey results and qualitative data from past attendees. These strategies will not only inform your wishlist but also help you engage supporters early in the event planning process, making them feel valued and more likely to attend. 

As you build out your wish list, make sure it includes the following items that tend to sell well at auctions:

• Vacations and travel packages for popular destinations
• Themed gift baskets, especially those that feature high-quality food and beverages
• Sought-after tickets to concerts, sporting events, or other experiences
• One-of-a-kind goods, such as works of art or memorabilia signed by celebrities

Lastly, consider which donor segments you want to appeal to at your auction. For example, if your organization has a growing number of supporters with young children or grandchildren, you can add family-friendly auction items to your procurement wishlist, like theme park tickets or video game systems.

4. Use donation request letters to solicit items

Now that you have a plan and a team, it’s time to get out there and start soliciting your auction items! 

Your best asset in the actual procurement process will be your donation request letters. These letters are often the first introduction to individuals and businesses that you’re having an event, need silent auction items, and want to offer them recognition and visibility as a part of their support. So, make those letters count.

When writing a compelling donation request letter, be sure to:

• Address the decision maker.
• Acknowledge your specific relationship with the donor.
• Begin storytelling.
• Provide a call to action.
• Provide audience demographics, event stats, etc.
• Explain the benefits of donating auction items.
• Invite them to attend the event.
• Thank them and sign.
• Provide a donation form for them to fill out.

Once you have a basic letter template, share it, along with other helpful resources, with each member of your auction procurement team. Each member should be equipped with your nonprofit’s auction wishlist, an in-kind donation form, and a procurement letter template they can customize for each donor they approach. This toolkit will help them ask for contributions through either in-person or digital outreach.

5. Track donations with auction software

As items start coming in, it’s important to keep track of your donations. Every time you procure an auction item, record its details in a centralized location, like your online auction platform.

Staying on top of item tracking will make it easy to know at any given time what items you have, what you still need, and how much value you’ve procured towards your goals. Additionally, if you plan to host an auction again in the future, an organized tracking system will let you review past events with ease and learn from them.

Every time your team procures a new auction item, you should record:

• The item’s name and number
• A detailed description of the item
• Name and contact details of the item’s donor
• The item’s retail value
• The item’s starting bid and minimum bid increment
• Any restrictions, expiration dates, etc.
• A placeholder for the name and contact details of the item’s eventual winner

Once you’ve procured all your auction items, print out a master list. The master list will be your physical record of all auction item data compiled in one place, helping you stay organized and keep track of all your items. If you use the right auction software to track donations, your platform will generate the master list for you!

Bonterra OneCause makes it easy to track auction item donations, add photos and descriptions, and keep everything organized with tags and filters:

Our intuitive platform increases bidding and helps you raise more for your cause. Explore event fundraising software that meets the expectations of today’s donors, supporting any event — in-person, virtual, or hybrid. With all your auction data in one place, you and your team can market, set up, and auction off your items with no problem.

Bonus auction item procurement tips

Host a wishlist party

Wishlist parties are essentially team-wide brainstorming sessions. While it’s still vital to ground your auction wishlist in your event data, these sessions can help your team get creative with the items you solicit and add more variety to each auction you host.

To have the most productive meeting possible, use these tips: 

• Maintain a relaxed atmosphere. Meeting in a comfortable environment will go a long way toward fostering creativity and participation. Choose a location that’s both casual and accessible. For instance, you wouldn’t want a stuffy boardroom or conference space. Instead, try meeting at one of your team members’ homes, a local restaurant, someone’s backyard, or a park.
• Make it a celebration. Nothing brings people together like food. If you’re hosting the party at someone’s home, make it a potluck or provide fun finger foods for everyone to enjoy. Depending on your committee’s style, offering beer or wine can help guests relax and speak up. Plus, you can toast to the first step of a successful auction!
• Discuss your audience. To start the meeting, review your previous auction data and your target audience’s core characteristics. Your guests’ interests and what has sold well in the past should always shape your procurement.
• Brainstorm ideas. Give everyone about 15 minutes to brainstorm auction item ideas on their own, then come together as a group to discuss all ideas. Encourage every idea, no matter how out-of-reach or unusual they may seem. You never know what ideas will be inspired.
• Present ideas dynamically. Doing so keeps everyone engaged and also helps you visualize how impressive the item would be in your auction. Some ways you can do this include writing ideas on post-it notes, projecting images, or showing videos. If you’re considering a consignment item provider, bring display materials or brochures to present to the committee.

Once your team has finished brainstorming, assign your best ideas to particular team members so they can start reaching out to donors.

Reserve exclusive, big-ticket items

Your eventual auction revenue depends on your ability to procure distinctive, high-quality items that attract bids. That’s why, along with items that meet a range of guest budgets, we recommend procuring at least a few exclusive or big-ticket auction items.

One surefire auction winner that garners plenty of interest is granting exclusive access to experiences guests can’t get anywhere else. Experience-based items give your team a chance to really get creative and make the most of what’s in the community. For example, you might try to reserve parking for a year at a popular event venue or offer a “backstage pass” and demonstration from a local chef.

Additionally, big-ticket items like travel packages, concerts, and behind-the-scenes tours are a must. More and more people are looking to collect memories rather than clutter, and travel has broad, near-universal appeal. However, the high-caliber, “bucket list” items that get the highest bids — like a trip to the Kentucky Derby, The Masters, or five nights in Tuscany — are virtually impossible to get donated and time-consuming to coordinate. That’s where consignment companies come in. 

You can source a trip or experience from a reputable consignment travel provider for no up-front cost. You don’t pay a dime unless the trip sells for at least the minimum profitable price you set. Once it sells, the company’s travel experts handle all the booking details for your donors.

Tap your network for donations

Procuring auction items is about who you know. While it is possible to procure auction items from donors you have no previous relationship with, it’s much easier to begin your outreach with your nonprofit’s existing connections, such as:

• Past event sponsors
• Board members
• Business leaders in your staff or board members’ personal networks
• Loyal supporters who work for companies that may be able to supply an item
• Other personal and professional connections of your procurement team

Plus, leveraging these relationships can strengthen partnerships with businesses that can be mutually beneficial for years to come. 

Even if a contact doesn’t have anything to donate, they may be interested in sponsorship opportunities or underwriting the cost of consignment items like travel packages. Just like renting the venue, hiring a band, or printing displays, sponsors can cover the cost of a travel package so your organization collects 100% of the winning bid. No matter what, they’ll earn valuable recognition and exposure to new audiences by supporting your event.

Have everyone on your procurement committee write out a full list of contacts who could potentially donate auction-worthy items or underwrite the cost of a consigned item. Leave no stone of revenue opportunity unturned! Nonprofits are constantly surprised at who responds positively when asked.

Simplify auction procurement with Bonterra OneCause

With a strategic auction procurement process and best-in-class auction software at your fingertips, you’ll be able to find a variety of high-quality auction items for free or at a reduced cost to help maximize your event revenue.

Contact our team to jumpstart procurement and give your guests the best auction experience yet.