Wish List  for Fundraising Auction - Guide

Host an Auction Wish List party:

Gather together a group of volunteers and folks associated with the fundraising auction, and as part of your planning the event, make sure that the agenda includes creating a wish list.

Create an auction wish list:   Brainstorm with your volunteers. Understand your audience. Keep in mind their demographics. Young? Mature? Parents? Single? Adventurous? Conservative?  All of these characteristics will help define your wish list. 

Young people generally have less discretionary income, so items should be more modest. Mature people have more discretionary income as well as more leisure time and they enjoy travel. Parents like to bid on things that involve their children. Etc.

Keep the following in mind when generating a wish list for your Auction Wish List party:

• Consider all ideas. In a brainstorming session nothing is off limits. Sometime the craziest idea gets refined later into a great marquee auction item.

• Research what has sold well at other events. There are no ‘patented’ ideas on auction items, so gather information and provide the same popular items that others have seen success with. Search the internet for online charity auctions and see what is offered.  Look at Whole Auction Registry Top 20 listing which provides an idea of what is popular from our catalog.

• Don’t be practical !!  We have seen many wish lists filled with mundane and ‘ordinary’ items that will guarantee only a few bids and plenty of yawns in the auction.  Think creatively and avoid the limiting self criticism of  “well I would never pay to jump out of an airplane so no one else will either” .

• Be fearless !! Don’t avoid high-end, or hard to get items. Once you are into the procurement process you may be pleasantly surprised.

• If the auction item generates excitement among your volunteers you can anticipate a similar reaction in your auction.