Silent Auction Procurement Checklist

Silent auction procurement is a sequencing problem before it is a persuasion problem. The items that anchor a strong auction - a getaway, a signed team item, a premium package - pass through the most approvals, so they have to be requested first, while the smaller items that fill the table can be gathered much later. Get that order wrong and you spend the final weeks chasing the one thing that could not be hurried.

This checklist runs the whole procurement job in order: sequence, then what to ask each type of company for, then a tracking table, then the presentation checks that decide whether a donated item actually draws bids. For the companies themselves, start with which companies donate silent auction items; the rest of the library is at free fundraising resources.

Step 1: set the table before you ask

• Agree what the auction is for and how many items the room can carry without the bidding thinning out.
• Split the list into anchors, mid-table items, and fillers, and name the anchors specifically rather than as a category.
• Match the list to the room. A golf-heavy crowd and a school-family crowd want different tables, and an item nobody in the room wants is a gap, not a lot.
• Decide who is asking for what, and write it down, so two volunteers do not send the same company two different requests.
• Gather the paperwork every program is likely to ask for: nonprofit documentation, letterhead, event details, and a named contact. The donation eligibility checklist covers what to collect.

Step 2: send in the right order

The rule is simple - the longer the approval chain, the earlier the ask. Anchors first, fillers last.

For the week-by-week version of this sequence, use the donation request timeline planner. The one rule worth repeating: send the first wave the day you set your event date.

Step 3: ask each company type for the right thing

A request that names one specific item is easy to say yes to; an open-ended ask is easy to defer. Use this as your ask sheet.

Check each company's page in the donor directory before writing - we track 4,000+ companies, and each page describes what that program has historically offered and where to check its current status. Then adapt the wording from the donation request letter workbook.

Step 4: track every request

One row per request, updated as answers arrive. The last two columns are the ones that keep an auction honest: an item is not yours until it is in hand, and a lot with unknown terms is a problem waiting for its winner.

Follow up once, politely, after a couple of weeks of silence, then let it rest. A quiet program is a pass for this cycle, not a permanent no, and a gracious note is what makes next year's ask easier.

Step 5: presentation checks before the table opens

A donated item becomes a bid-worthy lot at this step, not at the moment it arrives.

• Every item is physically present and accounted for against the tracking sheet - no lot on the table that is still "coming".
• Every description is accurate and specific. Describe memorabilia by team, and never promise a particular signature until the item is in hand and you have seen it.
• Authenticity documentation is noted on the sheet where the donor supplied it. Serious bidders look for it.
• Certificate terms are printed on the sheet: expiration, blackout periods, booking conditions, and anything the winner must do to redeem.
• Any value shown is the value the donor stated, recorded exactly as given. Do not estimate one yourself.
• Bundled lots are described as one item with a full contents list, so bidders know what they are bidding on.
• Each lot has a number matching its bid sheet, its display card, and your tracking sheet.
• Bid sheets carry the closing time, and the closing time is announced more than once.
• Photographs of the anchors exist before event day, for promotion and for the record.
• Handoff is planned: who matches winners to items, who records the handoff, and what happens to anything unclaimed.

Step 6: close the loop

Thank every donor in writing within the week, whether their item drew a flurry of bids or a single one, and include what the event supported. Then record two lists while they are fresh: which companies said yes, and which categories of item drew the most competition in your room.

Those two lists are the whole starting point for next year. A warm list, a known table shape, and a sequence you have already run once turn the hardest part of the job - the first wave - into a single evening's work.