Planning guides

A little preparation. A remarkable evening.

Practical guidance for the committee, the development team, and everyone bringing your fundraising evening to life.

Find the guide for the decision in front of you.

These practical guides help committees, development teams, and event planners move from a promising idea to a coordinated auction. Start with the full checklist, or go straight to the question your team is deciding now. Use the guidance alongside your actual provider terms, venue requirements, and organizational procedures.

Build the plan and the collection.

Set responsibilities, review donated and consignment items, choose for the audience, and decide how many lots the event can comfortably support.

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Prepare the guest experience.

Make bidding rules clear, design the display, test mobile registration and bidding, and give your auctioneer an accurate brief.

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Close, fulfill, and learn.

Connect winning bids to payment and collection, resolve travel redemption questions, thank participants, and preserve lessons for the next committee.

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The complete planning library.

Plan an effortless charity auction checkout.

Plan charity auction checkout with clear payment roles, winner records, item collection, and follow-up for uncollected or outstanding purchases.

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Plan a silent auction display that invites discovery.

Plan an inviting silent auction display with readable descriptions, accessible circulation, thoughtful grouping, and practical venue coordination.

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How many silent auction items do you need?

Plan your auction collection size around guest attention, display space, bidding time, and volunteer capacity instead of an arbitrary item count.

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Charity auction consignment, clearly explained.

Learn how charity auction consignment works, the difference between minimum bids and reserves, and what to confirm before selecting items.

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Consignment or donated auction items? Build the right mix.

Compare donated and consignment auction items and learn how to create a balanced fundraising collection for different guests and budgets.

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Donor and winner follow-up after your charity auction.

Plan thoughtful post-auction follow-up with accurate reports, clear fulfillment contacts, and respectful acknowledgments for your supporters.

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Silent auction minimum bids and increments, made clear.

Understand minimum bids, reserves, and bidding increments for a charity auction, and keep your published rules consistent across formats.

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Your mobile bidding preparation checklist.

Prepare your charity auction for mobile bidding with platform checks, clear package information, accessible support, and a practical backup plan.

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How to choose silent auction items for your guests.

How to select charity auction items using your audience, event format, previous bidding patterns, and practical fulfillment considerations.

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Your silent auction planning checklist.

A practical silent auction planning checklist for nonprofit committees, from setting responsibilities and selecting items to checkout and follow-up.

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Travel auction packages: questions to ask before bidding.

A practical checklist of travel auction restrictions, booking windows, inclusions, and redemption responsibilities to confirm before bidding opens.

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Working with your charity auctioneer.

Prepare charity auction lot briefs, confirm package terms, and coordinate responsibilities with your auctioneer before your fundraising event.

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Put it into practice

Turn a good discussion into a usable event brief.

After reading a guide, write down the decisions it raises for your own event. Give each open question an owner and a date. A brief that identifies who approves package terms, who closes bidding, and who releases paid items is more useful than a collection of general recommendations.

Keep one approved record for each lot. Use the same identifier across the catalog, physical display, bid record, payment process, and fulfillment notes. When information changes, check every place guests or staff will encounter it rather than updating only the committee’s spreadsheet.

These guides support planning; your event agreement establishes OFG’s actual service scope and commercial terms. Bring unresolved questions to the conversation early, particularly anything that changes the offer to a bidder, the amount retained by the charity, or the process for receiving a purchase.

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