First, agree what success looks like.
Name your event lead, identify the beneficiary, and establish how the auction contributes to the wider event. Distinguish your fundraising goal from the gross value of the items offered. If you use consignment, account for the reserve payable when discussing proceeds.
Record the date, venue, expected attendance, ticket price, and audience profile. These are useful inputs when asking OFG to propose a collection.
Build the collection and the operating plan.
Create one item register covering donated and consignment lots. Keep the description, photograph, minimum bid, restrictions, and fulfillment contact together. Assign a reviewer so details do not change independently across printed sheets and the bidding platform.
- Confirm written package terms and minimum bids.
- Agree display space, staffing, and load-in with the venue.
- Choose the bidding method and publish the closing time.
- Confirm payment collection and winner handover responsibilities.
Rehearse the path a guest will take.
Walk through arrival, browsing, bidding, payment, and collection. Test on the devices guests will use. Make sure someone can answer package questions and someone else knows how to resolve a payment or registration problem.
Close the loop.
After the auction, reconcile sales and payments, track outstanding fulfillment, and thank supporters. Record what worked while the details are fresh. Keep this checklist with your event records so the next committee starts with a practical handover.
Build your timeline around decisions, not arbitrary dates.
There is no single lead time that fits every auction. Work backward from your event and the actual deadlines for printing, catalog publication, supplier confirmation, and venue access. Give each phase an owner and a completion date.
| Phase | Decisions and deliverables |
|---|---|
| Define the auction | Agree the beneficiary, audience, event format, financial objective, decision maker, and responsibilities. Separate the auction target from the rest of the event’s fundraising. |
| Assemble the collection | Review donations, identify gaps, discuss consignment, approve each lot’s terms, and create one item register. |
| Prepare for guests | Finalize the floor plan, bid sheets or mobile catalog, photographs, descriptions, closing rules, and staff briefing. |
| Rehearse the close | Test winner identification, payment confirmation, item release, experience instructions, and the route for exceptions. |
| Reconcile and learn | Account for every lot, settle the agreed amounts, resolve fulfillment questions, thank participants, and record lessons. |
Create one master item register.
Give every lot a unique identifier that stays the same across the catalog, display, bid record, and financial report. Your register should contain enough information for someone outside the procurement team to manage the item.
- Title, category, donor or provider, and the person who can answer questions.
- Approved description, current photograph, inclusions, restrictions, and important dates.
- Estimated value, minimum bid, bid increment, and reserve payable for a consignment lot.
- Physical location, display needs, and delivery or redemption arrangements.
- Winning bidder, sale amount, payment status, and fulfillment status once the auction closes.
Run a rehearsal with three different purchases.
Choose a physical item that can be carried away, a large or fragile item, and an experience redeemed later. Ask a colleague to act as the winner of each. Can staff find the sale, confirm payment, identify the correct purchase, and explain what happens next? Write down every place where the process depends on one person’s memory.
Then rehearse an exception: the buyer cannot complete payment immediately, a guest questions a bid, or the redemption instructions are missing. Agree who decides the next action and where the unresolved item is recorded. These cases are easier to handle calmly before a line forms at checkout.
Use the checklist to remove work, not create more of it.
A small event does not need a complex management system. It needs a reliable source of information, clear owners, and decisions made in time. Combine documents where possible and avoid asking volunteers to maintain several competing versions of the same catalog.
Before your final committee meeting, mark each remaining issue with an owner and a deadline. Prioritize anything that could change the offer to a bidder, the flow of funds, or the ability to fulfill a purchase. A decorative sign can wait; an unresolved travel restriction cannot.
Bring your questions. We’ll start there.
Tell us what you have in place, what you are still deciding, and where your team needs support.
Discuss your auction plan