Fifteen Tips for Raising Money With an Online Auction

If you’ve spent any time on our social media, you know we have an online auction coming up! It’s got over 100 items, from a cabin getaway to pocket-size pet loss grieving cards. Plus, lots of gift cards and gift certificates for cool stuff and great experiences.

This auction is our biggest fundraiser. If successful, it will fund next year’s shelter tours. Other shelters and rescues, including the Bissell Pet Foundation, use online auctions to raise tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of dollars.

This year, after a switcheroo in volunteer leadership, I’ve been doing the majority of the work listing the items on our auction site. We’re using Give Butter, a relative newcomer to the online auction world. I’m enjoying its simple and fun interface. I’ve also made use of their helpful customer service.

We have incredible volunteers who have been gathering items from individuals and companies all over the country. Most often, they use a simple email ask with our letterhead, but sometimes, it is also a personal appeal. Two creative volunteers even made an ask video they have shared on their social media.

All of that is to say, if you’re a shelter or rescue who has been thinking of dipping your toe into the online auction world, it’s easier than you think.

Fifteen Tips for Online Auctions:

Choose your service carefully.

Depending on your level of comfort working with online services, you may want a service that offers plenty of customer assistance. The two we’ve tried offered a live tutorial with their staff, which was helpful. It’s important to read the details and ask lots of questions. There are SO many auction sites now that, obviously, there is money to be made by these companies. If you choose wisely and stick with the same service, running the auction gets easier each year.

Consider the Cost.

Many of the services have ‘plans’ that cover some of the cost, but most attach fees to each items and attempt to pass them on to the buyers. Some use standard per transaction fees and some take a percentage of the sale price (offering the buyer the option to cover it) Give Butter doesn’t charge us a fee for transactions and covers the credit card fees, but ‘suggests’ that buyers ‘tip’ them. They offer a few choices for tips, just like a restaurant, but there is also a ‘custom’ tip space and you can set that at zero. They are a great service, so I hope our shoppers throw them a buck or two.

Learn How to Use All the Sites Features Before the Auction Starts

Take the tutorial and spend time on the site noodling around. Better yet, participate in someone else’s auction so you can experience how it works from the buyer’s end. Just ask the company – they will likely be able to recommend a few auctions to monitor. Many of the sites are free, so if you have the time, you could even take the initial steps to set up an auction (without going live) and see how easy it is to do (and delete it after you’ve finished).

Set you closing day/time for a weekday during regular business hours.

Our first auction ended on a Sunday at 8pm. This led to a long night of confusion and frustration for auction leadership because auction customer service wasn’t open. It wasn’t a crisis, but it could have been avoided. Maybe the biggest lesson learned was – it can always wait until tomorrow. Your supporters will not expect instant answers, but if you’d like to be able to reach help immediately, have your auction close on a weekday.

Set a goal for your auction. Tally how many items you will need to reach that goal and track the progress so volunteers can see how far you’ve come and far you have to go.

Offer some ‘buy it now’ or support items.

Some people love the drama of auctions, other people don’t want the bother. They want to support you, but they don’t want to have to get into a bidding war. Have a few items that people can simply ‘buy now.’ We have about eight items that allow buyers to purchase items for the shelters (and we will deliver them on the next tour).

Take good pictures and include plenty of details about items.

This is critical. Good pictures (just like good adoption photos) will make people want to bid. Google Images is also great place to look for pictures. Be sure to have all the details you can find for each item, plus any restrictions. Gift cards usually have expiration dates. Sometimes, gift certificates for experiences are not valid during holidays or weekends. Be sure to put all of that in your item descriptions.

Start early.

Don’t wait until a month or two before the auction to start gathering items. If you’re planning to solicit big companies, many need several months of lead time. That said, we also encountered companies that would not accept requests until 60 days before the event. Encourage potential bidders to register early. Most services send automatic reminder emails as the auction approaches to registered bidders.

Have a wide variety of items.

Of course, you want to have dog items, but people items are also important. I do a lot of holiday shopping on online auctions. It’s a great way to support a cause I care about and get unique gifts to give. Be sure to have items in a range of values so that everyone can find something they can afford. Many national chains have donation programs. It sometimes takes a little digging to figure out who to ask, but the information is usually on their websites. Online businesses, including Etsy shops are another great source, especially if they are willing to ship directly to donors. Auctions are a great way for them to advertise.

Ask volunteers and/or board members to create themed ‘baskets’.

Baskets are usually a big draw. Giving people a specific theme (‘cats’, ‘dog toys’, ‘movie night’) makes it easier for them to create a basket. Also create an ‘ask’ letter for your volunteers to use to solicit donations.

Consider shipping costs.

Our online auction is national, and we tried to have lots of things that anyone in the country might like. That said, it means we have to ship. This has meant (for me) several trips to the post office to estimate shipping costs. Most auctions allow you to add shipping costs to items—be sure to spell that cost out clearly in your product listings. Try to include plenty of free shipping items like e-gift cards and certificates. Look into shipping options early – check for nonprofit discounts.

Track your donors/contact information.

If you keep a spreadsheet with all the donor information – who was contacted, how they were contacted, what they gave, plus email addresses – you don’t have to recreate the wheel each year when you have an auction.

Share the auction link everywhere possible.

• Put link prominently on your website and social media channels.
• Add link to email sign-offs.
• Post it on Next Door and other sites.
• Create a sample email for your volunteers and supporters to share with their own mailing lists.
• Create a blurb and graphic to send to all the donors so they can share via their channels.
• Ask friends, family, volunteers, and supporters to share the link on their social media.
• Consider running a Google ad campaign.
• Boost Facebook posts about the auction.

Thank everyone involved.

That includes not just donors and volunteers but supporters.

• Tag donors in thank you shout-outs on social media.
• List donors in an auction follow-up email thank you or blog post.
• Post a thank you to everyone who participated on your social media.

Have a post-auction meeting.

Evaluate what went wrong and what went well. Make a list of suggestions for next year’s auction.

I hope you’ll register right now for our upcoming auction which begins September 27. Our auction is even bigger than last year’s, so that means we need even more bidders. We would be so grateful if you could share our auction link and encourage others to bid and support the work we do.

Until each one has a home,

Cara

If you want to learn more, be sure to subscribe to our email list to get the latest stories and solutions delivered to your inbox. And help us spread the word by sharing this post with others. Visit our website to learn more.

Our Annual Online Auction is coming up in September. Check out what we’ve got so far (and register to bid). If you’d like to donate an item, preferably something easy to ship (like gift cards, tickets and/or e-certificates) or something you will ship yourself, reach out. Contact Cara@wwldo.org.

You can also help raise awareness by following/commenting/sharing our content on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Tik Tok.

To see our Emmy-nominated, award-winning short documentary, Amber’s Halfway Home, click here. If you’d like to see it on the big screen (along with other short dog films), check out the tour schedule of The Dog Film Festival, currently in art movie houses all over the country.

Learn more about what is happening in our southern shelters and rescues in the book, One Hundred Dogs & Counting: One Woman, Ten Thousand Miles, and a Journey Into the Heart of Shelters and Rescues (Pegasus Books, 2020). It’s the story of a challenging foster dog who inspired me to travel south to find out where all the dogs were coming from. It tells the story of how Who Will Let the Dogs Out began. Find it anywhere books are sold.

For more information on any of our projects, to talk about rescue in your neck of the woods, or partner with us, please email cara@WWLDO.org.

And for links to everything WWLDO, including volunteer application, wishlists, and donation options, check out our Linktree.