When it comes to fundraising, it’s important to be strategic. This means using the right software platform, making sure you do your research, and being creative.
For auctions, being strategic extends to acquiring your auction items. It’s important to consider what kinds of items will be of interest to your supporters and entice them to register for your fundraiser. Doing your research and thinking about clever ways to source your items will ensure that you get a bidder for every top-of-the-line gadget, themed basket, and special experience you put up for grabs.
How can you be creative when it comes to procuring items for an auction?
Check out these awesome auction item ideas and see for yourself!
| Category | Item | Popularity | Fundraising Potential |
| Favorite Charity Auction Items | Gift Basket | ✓✓✓ | $$$ |
| Sponsored Gift Certificates | ✓✓ | $$ | |
| Cooking Class | ✓✓ | $$$ | |
| …See More! | |||
| Top Auction Items for Nonprofits | Local Brewery Tour | ✓✓✓ | $$ |
| Dining Club Membership | ✓✓ | $$$ | |
| Fitness Class | ✓✓✓ | $$ | |
| …See More! | |||
| Top Silent Auction Ideas | Art | ✓✓✓ | $$$$ |
| Electric Bicycle | ✓✓✓✓ | $$$$ | |
| Museum Tickets | ✓✓ | $$ | |
| …See More! | |||
| Top Auction Items for Churches | Free Childcare | ✓✓ | $$ |
| Christmas Card Photoshoot | ✓✓✓ | $$$ | |
| Holiday Dinner with a Chef | ✓✓✓ | $$$$ | |
| …See more! | |||
| Top Unique Auction Items | Personal Trainer | ✓✓✓ | $$$ |
| Staycation Package | ✓✓✓✓ | $$$ | |
| Hot Air Balloon Ride | ✓✓✓ | $$$ | |
| …See more! |
Our Favorite Charity Auction Items
We’ve put together a list of our favorite charity auction items that appeal to a variety of people and can help bring in more revenue for your organization through bids! All of these ideas can work for virtual, hybrid, or in-person silent auctions, as long as you make sure vouchers or gift certificates for experiences have an expiration date well in the future to ensure your bidders have time to use their prize when it’s convenient for them.
If you procure the right items with the right appeal to bidders, you’ll start some serious bidding wars and be well on your way to raising the money you need for your cause!
Here are some of our favorite charity auction items:
Gift Baskets
Popularity ✓✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$$
Gift baskets are a popular charity auction item that can easily appeal to all kinds of supporters and causes. Local businesses can donate gift baskets filled with their products. Your organization can also compile a gift basket by collecting items related to your mission or groups of related items from different sources.
Travel Packages
Popularity ✓✓✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$$$
Travel packages are great auction item ideas that your supporters will be eager to win. These can include hotel stays and airline tickets, plus guidebooks or certificates for great local activities. Ask a local business to sponsor the trip in exchange for promotion of their services.
Event Tickets
Popularity ✓✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$$
If you’re looking for auction items that can really grab people’s attention, look no further than event tickets! Whether it’s a concert or a sporting event, look for venues that are willing to donate a pair of seats for a good cause.
Sponsored Gift Certificates
Popularity ✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$
Sponsored gift certificates are great charity auction item ideas that can cover a variety of experiences or products. For example, you could reach out to a local retailer or company to donate a gift certificate for their products, then list them as a sponsor of the event in exchange.
Free Lessons
Popularity ✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$$
Offer free lessons as a fun auction item idea. Whether you partner with a music school for singing lessons or a neighborhood pool for swimming lessons, this idea is sure to make a splash!
Skydiving Excursion
Popularity ✓✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$$$
Bring out the daredevils in your community by offering a skydiving excursion as a charity auction item idea. Partner with a nearby skydiving location to offer a free jump in exchange for publicity at your auction.
Cooking Class
Popularity ✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$$
Let your supporters channel their inner chef by offering a free cooking class as an auction item. Reach out to local professional chefs or cooking schools and see if one will offer a free spot in one of their cooking classes.
Premier Parking Spot
Popularity ✓✓✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$$$
This auction item is sure to be popular, especially if you live in a highly-trafficked city! Offer to pay for a prime parking spot downtown for one year to one lucky supporter.
Sunset Cruise
Popularity ✓✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$$
The ideal way to spend an evening, a sunset cruise is a relaxing and enjoyable charity auction item idea. Give away a three-hour ride to the winning bidder.
Comedy Night
Popularity ✓✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$$
Bring out the laughs with this comedy-filled auction item idea. Auction off a pair of tickets to a comedy show and raise money for a good cause in the process.
Top Auction Items for Nonprofits
For the average nonprofit, it’s important to offer affordable auction items that your sponsorship partners can donate. It’s essential to not overspend on your budget and still maximize your fundraising potential.
Here are our top auction ideas for nonprofits:
Local Brewery Tour
Popularity ✓✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$
Local brewery tours are enjoyable experiences that serve as great auction items for nonprofits. Team up with a local brewery to offer a free tour and serve their beer at the event as free publicity.
Dance Class
Popularity ✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$
Get your supporters moving and offer a free dance class as an auction item. Whether it’s salsa, tango, or jazz, this is a great way to engage your nonprofit’s supporters in something fun and promote the arts at the same time!
Closet Cleanout
Popularity ✓✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$
Offer a service to help one of your supporters clean out their closet, and then encourage them to donate their unwanted clothes to a worthy charity! This is a great auction item for nonprofits because you’ll raise money and the clothing can benefit those in need.
Dining Club Membership
Popularity ✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$$
Offer a dining club membership as an exclusive auction item for nonprofits. See if a local dining club will offer a discounted membership for a year to demonstrate their affinity toward your nonprofit, then raise money to cover the cost and put the rest toward your mission!
Name Dedication
Popularity ✓✓✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$$$$
If you’re looking to build a new wing at your nonprofit’s headquarters, offer a name dedication as a meaningful auction item. The winning builder will have the wing named after them, and you’ll be able to raise the funds needed to make the build happen.
Private Art Gallery Tour
Popularity ✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$
If your nonprofit is a promoter of the arts, why not offer a private art gallery tour as an auction item idea? Team up with a local art gallery and ask a curator to provide an insightful tour.
Fitness Class
Popularity ✓✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$
Get your supporters back on their feet by offering a fitness class as an auction item idea. If your nonprofit is a promoter of fitness and being active, this is a great way to tie the item to your mission and keep your community healthy.
Photography Class
Popularity ✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$
Capture those precious moments with some impressive photography skills. As a great auction item for nonprofits, offering a photography class could result in your nonprofit adding a great in-house photographer to your team!
Animal Encounters
Popularity ✓✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$$$
As a meaningful auction item idea, offer an animal encounter at a local zoo or aquarium. If your nonprofit supports animal rights, this is a great way to build awareness around the value of animal lives.
High-End Kitchen Gadgets
Popularity ✓✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$
Many people covet high-end kitchen goodies like KitchenAid mixers or Le Creuset Dutch ovens, but they can be expensive. Depending on your target audience and how established their households are, high-end household good should bring in much needed donations. Alternatively, you could offer a gift certificate to Bed Bath & Beyond or a similar home goods store.
Date-Night Package
Popularity ✓✓✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$$
Give your donors a chance to reconnect with a date-night package. Include items like a gift certificate to a romantic restaurant, a bottle of wine, and a gift certificate for a baby sitter who’s willing to donate their time to a good cause.
Workout Tech
Popularity ✓✓✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$$
With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic came the increasing popularity of high-end workout equipment that offers a way to work out with a trainer from the comfort of your own home. Peloton alone doubled their sales, but they aren’t the only major player in this market. The Mirror, NordicTrack Vault, Echelon Reflect and Tonal have also seen an increase in popularity over the past year. Consider asking a local business to sponsor one of these popular tools and watch the bids roll in!
Top Silent Auction Item Ideas
Some items are better suited for silent auctions because they don’t require an auctioneer to engage people and get them to place bids. These items can stand on their own and will help raise money for a good cause.
Check out our top picks for silent auction item ideas:
Art
Popularity ✓✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$$$
Art is a great silent auction item idea because bidders can carefully view the work without feeling rushed. Ask artists from around the community to donate their work in exchange for recognition as a sponsor and tickets to your event.
Tech
Popularity ✓✓✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$$$
People are always going after the newest technology, whether it’s a tablet, computer, smartphone, or flat-screen TV. That makes tech products a great silent auction item idea.
Restaurant Gift Card
Popularity ✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$
Partner with a local restaurant and see if they’ll offer a gift card as an auction item for your event. As with sponsored gift certificates, they can be listed as a sponsor of your event for extra publicity.
Electric Bicycle
Popularity ✓✓✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$$$
Electric bicycles have integrated electric motors and are great silent auction item ideas. Keep your bidders’ eyes on the prize with the bike display front and center and get everyone excited about it!
Wine
Popularity ✓✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$$
Good wine isn’t always easy (or cheap) to come by. Team up with a local wine shop that could offer a few wine bottles as a silent auction item idea. This is a nice alternative to larger and flashier items at a live auction and is perfect for this setting.
Spa Day
Popularity ✓✓✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$$
While a spa gift certificate may not be front-and-center at a live auction, it’s perfect as a silent auction item idea and will appeal to many bidders. Give away a massage and facial package, or a manicure and pedicure. Any combination will be popular!
Museum Tickets
Popularity ✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$
Give your supporters a taste of culture by offering museum tickets as a silent auction item. Find a new and popular local exhibit that people have been wanting to see, and help promote culture and museums at the same time!
Theme Park Tickets
Popularity ✓✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$$
Theme park tickets are great silent auction ideas because they offer a memorable experience, rather than a physical product. Offer a pair of tickets to a local theme park and let your supporters have some fun!
Signed Memorabilia
Popularity ✓✓✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$$
Depending on your location, signed memorabilia could drive in a lot of donation revenue. If you live in a big baseball town, for example, you can have your local team’s star player sign a baseball bat to contribute to your cause.
Car Detailing
Popularity ✓✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$$
Get all the details with this silent auction item idea. Offer a carwash, vacuum, and wax to the highest bidder. We all need to clean our cars eventually!
Top Auction Items for Churches
Churches usually have a more limited budget (even more limited than many nonprofits!), so it’s important to procure items that members of your church could donate easily. They can be family-focused or more general, but all are likely to contribute to your bottom line.
Here are our top ideas for auction items for churches:
Free Childcare
Popularity ✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$
This is one of the most popular auction items for churches! Offer free childcare for a set period of time. Do a good deed and let the parents have a day or night off!
Dedicated Tree
Popularity ✓
Fundraising Potential $$
If your church wants to plant trees and refresh the landscaping on its grounds, offer to dedicate a tree to those who bid the highest as an auction item.
Parents Date Night
Popularity ✓✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$$
Offer a date night, such as dinner and a movie, to a set of parents in your congregation. It’s sure to be popular, especially since they’ll be able to enjoy a night on the town, and you’ll collect contributions for your church in the process!
Christmas Card Photoshoot
Popularity ✓✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$$
When the holidays are around the corner, everyone is scrambling to take family photos for their cards and letters. Make it easy by offering a photoshoot as an auction item for your church.
Pew with a View
Popularity ✓
Fundraising Potential $
Some congregants might prefer one of the better seats during services. Offer a pew with a view as an auction item for churches and let your congregants enjoy their time there even more.
House Decorating
Popularity ✓✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$$$
If your congregants don’t have the time, energy, or money to deck their halls for the holidays, offer a service that will do it for them! This is a great auction item for churches that will make it easier on those who can’t decorate, and allow your community members to step up and offer the service.
Holiday Dinner with a Chef
Popularity ✓✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$$$
If your town has a well-known chef, see if this local celebrity will cook a special dinner at their restaurant around the holidays. This is sure to be a hit with your congregants and a great auction item.
Christmas Cookie Basket
Popularity ✓✓
Fundraising Potential $
Encourage your church’s congregants to bake batches upon batches of Christmas cookies as a great auction item idea. Include them all in baskets and let everyone taste the sweetness of the holidays!
Visit from Santa
Popularity ✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$
Perfect for families, this auction item for churches will make sure their children are on their best behavior! Bid on a visit from Santa at home just in time for Christmas.
Game Night
Popularity ✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$
Game night packages are a great family-friendly auction item. You can either put together a fun selection of board games that will appeal to the whole family, or get a couple of in-demand video games that are great for family time.
Garden Tool Set
Popularity ✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$
Around springtime, it’s very popular for people to do garden work around the house and around the church. Why not include a garden tool set as an auction item for congregants to bid on? Ask the local gardening shop if they’ll donate a set as a contribution to your church.
Day Trip
Popularity ✓✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$$$
While going out and about is still limited due to the pandemic, offering day trips for families (or parents!) can be a cute and creative package for a church fundraiser. All you need to do is pick a gorgeous, but local, outdoor activity that many people have on their bucket lists but never seem to get to. You can put together a package for bioluminescent kayaking in Florida or a trip to Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky. Every state has unique and breathtaking natural landmarks to check out, so you can put together a package that includes the cost of a tour, a tank of gas, and a nice picnic set with a gift card to a local grocery store, and you’re good to go.
Top Unique Auction Items
Procuring unique auction items is an important part of running an auction in general. If your items aren’t interesting, you won’t raise nearly as much revenue as you could if you truly put on your creative hat and came up with something special.
Get creative and check out these top ideas for unique auction items:
Personal Trainer
Popularity ✓✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$$
If you’re looking for a unique auction item, a personal trainer is sure to be a popular one! A step beyond a regular fitness class, a one-on-one approach will appeal to many bidders who want a more personalized workout experience.
Movie Ticket Subscription
Popularity ✓✓✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$$
What better way to grab people’s attention than with a movie ticket subscription? With movie ticket prices constantly rising, this is a unique auction item that will definitely raise money, and most of the popular movie theaters—including Regal, AMC, and Cinemark–offer their own subscription passes.
Backstage Passes
Popularity ✓✓✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$$
Backstage passes are a unique auction item that will appeal to a variety of audiences. Choose a local concert and reach out about getting a pair of backstage passes that can be donated to your auction for a good cause!
Staycation Package
Popularity ✓✓✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$$
Ever wanted to take a staycation? A staycation package is a great way to raise funds and a unique auction item that’s sure to be a hit. It can be a combination of a spa day, restaurant gift card, and/or local event tickets that will give the winning bidder a great vacation at home.
Lunch with a Local Celebrity
Popularity ✓✓✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$$
Does your town have a local celebrity? Reach out to them and ask if they’d be willing to support a worthy cause by having lunch with a winning bidder. This unique auction is sure to be a hit!
Custom Artwork
Popularity ✓✓✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$$$$
If you’re looking for a unique auction item, look into local artists who can offer custom artwork to the winning bidder. This can include a family portrait or other personalized piece that will be meaningful and help support a good cause.
Hot Air Balloon Ride
Popularity ✓✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$$
Forget your fear of heights! Offer a hot air balloon ride as a unique auction item that will stand out from the crowd. An experience like no other, look for local hot air balloon festivals and offer a pair of tickets for a great experience.
Whitewater Rafting Excursion
Popularity ✓✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$$
For the adventurous types, a whitewater rafting excursion will be sure to make a splash! As a unique auction item that will make you one with the wilderness, this will be sure to help you raise money for your cause.
Create an Ice Cream Flavor
Popularity ✓✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$
A popular choice among children, try out this unique auction item idea. Instead of reaching out to ice cream parlors simply for a gift card, let a child create a brand new ice cream flavor and test it out for a day.
Subscription Packages
Popularity ✓✓✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$
You can get a subscription for everything from high-end make-up and skincare (Birchbox, Ipsy, and Boxycharm are popular) to crafting kits aimed at adults (Adults & Crafts has great reviews). Cratejoy offers subscription options that appeal to everyone from book lovers to self-care aficionados, meaning you can find the perfect subscription kit to go with the theme of your auction.
Camping Gear
Popularity ✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$$
With many people looking for socially-distanced ways to get out of the house as the weather warms up, a camping kit could be the perfect package for your attendees to get excited about, especially if it includes gear just a step up from what your donors might normally purchase for themselves.
Famous for a Day
Popularity ✓✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$$
Have you ever wanted your 15 minutes of fame? How about an entire day or evening? Let your winning bidder become famous for a day in your town. Arrange to have them conduct an orchestra performance with your local symphony, throw out the first pitch at a baseball game, or find other unique ways to make them famous for a day!
Fishing Gear
Popularity ✓✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$$
In the same vein, fishing has become even more popular since the pandemic started as a great way for families to stay safe while spending time together. A nice rod and a variety of lures would make a great package.
Craft and DIY Kits
Popularity ✓✓✓
Fundraising Potential $$$
Speaking of crafting, it’s no secret that we’ve all become more creatively inclined since the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Help your supporters explore their creative side with craft and DIY kits for everything from learning how to embroider to how to make a charcuterie board. This is another idea where the possibilities are only limited by your imagination.
Additional Resources
If you’re looking for more information about charity auctions or fundraising in general, check out these additional resources below!
- How to Obtain In-Kind Donations for Auctions and What Auction Items Work. Auctions require items that will encourage attendees to bid on them. Learn how to obtain donations and what items work.
- Nonprofit Software: 9 Awesome Tools for 2019. Managing a nonprofit takes a lot of work and organization. Check out the top software tools that can help you do it all.
- Peer-to-Peer Fundraising | The Ultimate Guide. Peer-to-peer fundraising empowers individuals to raise money on behalf of a cause. Learn more about this impactful social giving method!
- Corporate Matching Gift Programs: Understanding the Basics. Looking to make the most of your donations? Learn how you can incorporate matching gift programs into your fundraising strategy.
