Software for a School Auction Fundraiser: A Practical Guide for Schools and Nonprofits

TL;DR

Software for a school auction fundraiser helps parent-teacher associations and educational groups manage fundraiser details, sell tickets, track bids, connect with community members, and even process card payments. It helps to make all the complicated parts of collecting donations feel a little easier for a team of volunteers who already have a lot on their plate.

You don’t necessarily need an “advanced” platform if all you’re doing is hosting the occasional auction or raffle. Anything that can reduce the risk of human error, and make the event feel more unified and straightforward can make a massive difference to your fundraising efforts.

Understanding Software for a School Auction Fundraiser

Running an auction to collect donations for your school seems like a pretty simple process. 

You assume all you need to do is find some items people will want to bid on, list them somewhere, and wait for the support to come in. The trouble is, there’s usually a lot more to manage than you’d expect. You might have to sell and distribute tickets, figure out how you’re going to dish out parking spaces, or pay for food and drinks, all while you’re trying to keep track of winning bids.

If you’re running a tiny auction, it might be feasible to track all that with paper notes or an Excel spreadsheet. Eventually, though, most groups end up using some kind of fundraising software.

That software gives nonprofits and educational groups a central system where they can track and manage their catalog, bids, win details, payments, as well as auction records in one place. A lot of tools also come with extra features, for things like secure payment processing, analytics, live streaming for people who can’t attend in person, or even automatic email follow-ups.

Software doesn’t take over every single human job, but it makes a lot of things much simpler. 

Software for a school auction fundraiser can even make certain types of fundraisers much more feasible. It’s harder to run a silent auction without tech, and it’s almost impossible to turn your auction into a hybrid event that lets people contribute even if they can’t attend in person.

What Types of Auctions Work Best for School Fundraisers?

Auctions can be surprisingly versatile for fundraising. You’re not automatically restricted to a live event where people sit around with paddles and try to keep up with a professional auctioneer. Live auctions can still be great if you have a small number of prizes to auction off, and you’re happy to handle the logistics of an in-person event. 

Silent auctions are becoming a lot more popular though, particularly for people who find a traditional auction a little too competitive. There’s also the online or hybrid auction. Online tends to work well if you’re trying to attract a lot of families to event but you know they have limited time to get involved in person. Hybrid options let you host a fun experience at the school, while still making sure people who can’t attend have a chance to bid.

• Live auctions work best when you already know plenty of people can attend and you’ve got some truly exciting items to auction off, like a vacation or front-row graduation sheets. Here, software can help you out with live display screens tracking bids, as well as making sure that you can record winners without constantly taking notes.
• Online auctions are fantastic if you don’t really have an event space or the money to handle extra things like food for an event. They make sure everyone in your community can get involved, and software can help with 24/7 views of prizes, information about winners, and even sending automated reminders for payment.
• Hybrid auctions are a great choice if you still want to run the in-person event, but you don’t want to stop people who can’t attend from having a chance to win. The software you use here helps to ensure the experience stays fun and fair for everyone, whether they’re logging in online or shouting out bids in-person.

Silent auctions can work in-person, online, or in a hybrid format. The same goes for raffles, if you choose software that makes it easy to sell and track tickets, while keeping a clear inventory of your raffle prizes available to the volunteer team (and your community.)

The Features That Matter Most for School Auction Software

The features that make the biggest difference to software for a school auction fundraiser are always going to be the ones that make things easier for both your volunteer team, and your community members. Some features do matter more depending on what type of event you’re hosting (live, online, or hybrid), but the main things to look for tend to be pretty simple;

Catalog or Item Management

First, you should have a central place where you can upload all the information your team and supporters might need about the items you’re going to auction off. Most tools come with a bulk upload feature so you can add details to the catalog pretty quickly, such as photos, donor names, fair-market value, starting bid requirements, minimum increments, and potential restrictions.

Tools like PayBee also offer things like “Buy it Now” pricing (which is ideal for online auctions), sales tax settings, and real-time alerts when someone gets outbid. They can also give you useful reports which track things like how much each item earned or when payment was made. 

Event Management Around the Auction

There’s usually a lot more to a school auction than bids and prizes. You might need to sell tickets to the event, particularly if there’s a lot going on, like a gala or a raffle alongside the auction itself. You may also need to keep track of guest details, table assignments, or paddles. 

Maybe you’ll even decide to give attendees another way to support you if they don’t win the item they want in the auction. You could offer add-on donations to people who just want to help out, even if they don’t want to compete for a prize. Your software should help with all of that, as well as ideally giving you a way to keep in touch with attendees in the long-term.

Simple Bidding Features

These are the features that have the biggest impact on the donor’s experience, regardless of whether you’re hosting the event in-person, online, or using a hybrid strategy. People should be able to bid straight from their phone (particularly for a silent auction), and hopefully they won’t need to create an account to do so, as that can end up slowing everything down.

The software should be able to track the bids, make sure they align with any minimum increments or similar rules you’ve set, and track any winners. It also helps if the tools come with automatic notifications that let people know when someone outbids them.

Secure Payment Processing

Without software for a school auction fundraiser, your volunteers would be left to run around finding winners at the end of the event, asking for payment. With the right software, you can give people a convenient way to pay there and then, with a mobile checkout or QR code. 

If the event’s happening in person, you could even use a tap to pay feature to let people quickly give their donation while they’re picking up their winnings at the end of the night. 

Security Features and Insights

Everyone on your volunteer team might need access to your software, but they don’t necessarily need the same things. A good platform should let you separate access by role, creating account admins, campaign managers, event managers, and accounts for people who need more financial details. 

It should also help you learn more about the event with analytical tools that make it easier to spot your top-performing items, your biggest supporters, as well as how much money you actually collected after the outgoing expenses are accounted for.

How Do You Set Up Software for a School Auction?

Even though different fundraising platforms can come with different features, the set-up process is usually pretty similar across platforms. The most important thing you can do is get started early, because you do need a little time to choose a good platform, get all the accounts set up, organize your catalog, and prepare for the event.

Ideally, it helps to begin about 12 weeks ahead of the auction date (maybe more if you think you’ll need extra time to find brilliant prizes). 

Step 1: Plan Your Fundraiser

First, decide what you’re trying to accomplish with your auction. You might be raising money for a new club or group, or trying to pay for extra equipment. Make sure you know, and share that goal with your community, along with a general idea of how much money you actually need.

Then think about the format, sometimes a silent auction works better if you have a bigger catalog of prizes to auction off, while a live auction is ideal for a smaller selection of premium gifts. Online or hybrid auctions are brilliant for getting more people involved.

Figuring out where you’re going to source prizes is important at this stage too. Some schools auction off things like dinner with a teacher or class projects, others work with local businesses for more luxurious prizes like a spa weekend or a special dinner at a restaurant.

Step 2: Choose the Fundraising Platform

Once you know what kind of fundraiser you’re running, it’s usually a lot easier to pick the right software. If you’re running an online event, for instance, you might not need tools that help with creating and managing physical tickets. 

Make a list of essential features, like tools for silent bidding, table assignments, remote bidding, or secure payment processing, then compare options. Look at the full cost rather than a subscription price alone, since platform percentages and payment processing can add up, particularly when you’ve got logistical costs or hardware to think about too.

Get a regular volunteer to test out a free demo of whatever you’re planning on using, too. That’ll help you see how easy the system is to work with before you make a commitment.

Step 3: Set Up the System

Once you’ve chosen the platform, you’ll have a bit of work to do around creating your organization’s profile, setting up accounts for team members, and uploading your catalog of auction items. Most tools have pretty simple “onboarding” steps that can help out here, some also come with tools that let you basically copy previous campaigns and adjust them for a new event.

When you’re creating accounts, be careful about how much access you give to every volunteer, not everyone will need access to things like financial reports. 

For your item uploads, make sure to include as much detail as possible. People will be far more likely to bid if they can see things like the estimated retail price for the product, photos or videos, as well as any information about how they can use the item. Try and give people a range, from simple baskets filled with treats, to experience prizes like tickets to an event or a free spa treatment.

Step 4: Set The Auction Rules

Now you need rules, you don’t have to go too far with these, as long as you’re focusing on making the event fair for everyone. Start by choosing the start and closing times, the bidding format (live or silent bids), minimum bid requirements, and increments for every subsequent bid. 

You’ll also want to decide here whether you’re going to offer a “Buy it Now” option for online or hybrid bidders. Plus, make sure you know what the payment process is going to look like. Are you going to ask bidders to save their payment method in advance, and will they be able to pay directly from their phone? What happens if someone wants to pay in cash?

Step 5: Promote The Auction And Register Bidders

Promotion needs plenty of time, don’t just assume that people will find out about the auction through their kids or other community members. Take advantage of the school newsletter and PTA emails. Talk about the upcoming auction with parent groups, and post about it on social media channels.

Make sure everyone knows when the auction’s taking place, what the rules are, and what kind of amazing prices you’re going to have on offer. 

If you want people to register in advance (which usually helps a lot with reducing friction on the day), send links out early, and reminders if necessary. 

Step 6: Test, Launch and Monitor

The final week before the event should be dedicated to looking for hurdles that you can fix in advance. Create a test bidder account, place a bid, get outbid, enter the wrong details, and figure out what needs fixing. 

It also helps to test the internet connection in the event space too, since connections can start to wobble when a lot of people are connecting to a Wi-Fi or mobile network at once. 

When you’re sure everything’s working perfectly, launch the auction and keep track of what happens. Make sure you have at least one volunteer on standby to troubleshoot any unexpected technical issues.

Step 7: Close Bidding and Accept Payments

When the auction ends, confirm the winners immediately, and start collecting outstanding payments. Hopefully, if you’ve used software with built-in payment processing, you won’t need to chase too many people, but it helps to have some reminder emails ready to send out, just in case.

Make sure your winners know where to pick up their prizes, and follow-up with everyone after the event. Even people who don’t win will appreciate a little thank you for their contribution, as well as some insights into the kinds of events you might be running next.

How Do You Choose the Best School Auction Software?

The easiest way to choose the best software for a school auction fundraiser is to figure out what you want to accomplish ahead of time, and match the features to what your team actually needs. 

First, think about the features that matter, like secure payment processing, mobile access, ticket management, catalog management, plus any support and training you might need from the vendor. Then look at the overall cost. You’ll need to think about:

• Pricing: Technology companies can price their software in different ways. Some companies give you the initial software for free but ask you to pay a platform percentage on every donation. You might also need to account for payment processing fees, equipment, or paid support. You might even need to consider the cost of prizes and food at the event.

• Ease of use: Is it going to be complicated for your volunteers or supporters to use? How easily can someone set up an account, register a guest, find an item, or fix a mistake?
• Support: How much assistance can the vendor give you with things like onboarding for volunteers or managing integrations? How easily can you scale from running a simple auction to experimenting with other kinds of events?

Get a few volunteers to test the whole system themselves before you make your final decision.

What Should School Auction Software Integrate With?

Integrations are another thing worth keeping in mind, because you’re probably going to be using multiple tools at once. Most fundraising apps and software solutions will integrate with payment gateways so you can accept donations immediately without running around after people.

However, you might also want to look for integrations with:

• CRM systems to track donors and supporters, and make sure you can follow-up with payment requests, or relevant, personalized future messages.
• Email and marketing tools that let you keep in touch with donors, supporters, and anyone else who got involved in the event.
• Accounting software so you can track important financial details and create reports when necessary.

Check the integrations page on the software provider’s website for simple connection options, and remember a lot of companies will be able to support other kinds of integrations upon request, so if you’ve got an older or more unusual system you need to link with, contact the team in advance. You might even be able to bridge a gap in your ecosystem with a Zapier connection.

What Security, Privacy, Tax, and Legal Rules Apply?

It’s surprisingly easy to make mistakes with nonprofit or school auctions, like assuming that every winning bid can be classed as a fully tax deductible donation. Usually, if someone pays a certain price for an auction prize, the amount they can claim for tax deduction will be anything above the fair market value price, provided they meet the right IRS conditions. 

You’ll need to make sure your potential supporters are aware of that in advance, and it’s helpful to keep a lot of details recorded just in case someone checks up later.

From a security perspective, your software should be able to help you keep data safe. Most tools promise end-to-end data encryption in transit and in storage, as well as PCI compliance if they have secure payment processing built into their tools. 

When you’re collecting data, be careful, since there are plenty of privacy regulations that prevent groups from collecting more information than they reasonably need. Check the local regulations in your area before you start creating in-depth donor profiles.

Also, remember to take advantage of the access controls your software gives you. You don’t necessarily need to give everyone in your team access to the same data. Break down accounts based on role requirements, and avoid giving everyone universal access.

One extra note is that auctions and raffles tend to have different rules depending on state and local licensing requirements. Make sure you check the regulations around the type of event you’re running before you launch the campaign.

How Do You Measure Whether the School Auction Worked?

The best number to start with is “net revenue”, rather than total revenue. Total revenue tells you the amount of money you’ve collected, while net revenue tells you how much you ended up with after you’ve made any necessary outgoing payments. 

Once you’ve got an insight into the actual amount of money you’ve raised, dive a bit deeper into the reports offered by your software. Look at things like:

• Bidder participation: How many people placed a bid? Did some people bid more than others on certain items? Did you get more online bidders than in-person participants?
• Item performance: How well did each individual item perform in regard to helping you reach your fundraising goal? The more you learn, the easier it’ll be to choose catalog items for your next event. 
• Donor retention: How many people are coming back to your events, or continuously supporting you?

Run a full post event analysis for a deeper look at who was new, who donated, what got the best bids, and what everyone thought about the event itself.

What If the Auction Isn’t the Only Fundraiser Your School Needs?

School auctions can be a brilliant way to raise money for all kinds of educational needs, and they’re often a lot of fun for everyone involved, but you don’t have to stick exclusively to one fundraising strategy. Plenty of schools also run raffles throughout the year, fun runs for sports teams, or even galas. If you’ve already chosen flexible software for a school fundraiser, like PayBee, you should be able to experiment with all of those ideas in the same place.

Consider putting together a calendar that includes everything from 5K fundraisers, to special donation drives, product sales, or peer-to-peer campaigns. You might even play around with special themed events for things like school club fundraisers or seasonal campaigns.

You can start with small event, gather insights from your supporters, and use those to decide what your future fundraising calendar should look like.

Make the Most of Your Software for School Fundraisers

The right software for a school auction fundraiser should make things easier for everyone involved. Parents and community members should be able to check out the prizes you’re offering in advance, bid from any device, and pay immediately without having to track someone down.

Volunteers should be able to find winners and immediately send them insights into how to pick up their prizes, or give them details about upcoming events. Your team should also be able to track how much you’ve earned, and dive into the data for hints on what to do differently next time.

You don’t need a very complicated platform to accomplish all that, just a simple, versatile piece of software that’s made to tackle the challenges that come with fundraising in the first place. PayBee is brilliant for that, combining auction tools with event management, secure payment processing, donor retention, and a variety of ways to keep donors coming back. Try out a free demo here.

FAQs

How long does it take to set up a school auction?

Actually setting up the software can be quite quick, but it’s best to give yourself some time. Usually, you’ll want to start about twelve weeks in advance, so you have plenty of time to create accounts, source brilliant items, check market values, collect photos, promote the event, assign volunteers and make sure everything works before the day.

Can auction software work without reliable internet?

Sometimes, yes, but not very well. Make sure you check the internet connection in the venue before guests start arriving, and have a back up plan for what you’re going to do if there’s an unexpected outage or issue. 

Is auction software worth it for a small event?

Absolutely, software can still be incredibly useful if you have a small budget and you’re not running massive event. Most tools keep initial prices small for teams that don’t have hundreds or thousands of dollars to spend. Just ask yourself whether the price of the software is worth it for a better managed event, and less stress for your team.

How will the software handle issues on the event day?

It depends on the software you’re using, but a lot of platforms come with built-in logs and time-stamped bid histories which make it easier to track winners even if something goes wrong. There are also companies that give you access to extra technical assistance on the day.

What kind of reports does auction software generate?

It can vary, but most software will create donation receipts, bidder statements, item performance reports, and insights into donor giving histories. Many can also create financial summaries and custom reports for compliance purposes.

Can auction software support people who can’t attend in person?

Absolutely, one of the biggest advantages of using auction software is it usually makes it much easier to run an online or hybrid event for people who can’t turn up in person. Parents and community members can browse auction items online and place bids from their phones.

‍