Skip to main content
An auction happens inside a campaign. Your gala is already a campaign, with its own goal and its own donations, and the auction is part of that evening rather than a separate pot of money.
Bidding is not built yet. Today you can put an auction together and print a catalogue from it; taking bids, naming winners and collecting payment are coming.

​
Set one up

1

Make the campaign first

Open Fundraising → Campaigns and create the campaign for the event, with its goal. Skip this if it already exists.
2

Add the auction

Open Fundraising → Auctions and press New auction. Choose the campaign, give it a name, and set when it opens and closes.
3

Say what a bid has to beat

Bids go up by is the least a new bid must add to the current one. A lot can override it, which is worth doing for anything unusually valuable.
4

Add the lots

Open the auction and press Add a lot for each one.

​
Fair market value, and why it is not optional

Only the part of a winning bid above an item’s fair market value is tax deductible. If somebody pays 400foraweekendawayworth400 for a weekend away worth 300, $100 of it is a gift and the rest is a purchase. The box has three different answers and they are not interchangeable.
Leaving the box empty and entering 0 are not the same thing. An empty box means you have not said; a zero is a statement that the winner got nothing of value, and it appears on a donor’s receipt as a claim your rescue is making. Enter 0 only when you mean it, which is usually a donated service.
Sensible for a donated service with no cost to the giver: 0. Sensible for a restaurant voucher: what the voucher is worth.

​
What a lot carries

​
Opening and closing

An auction moves one way: Draft → Open for bids → Closed → Settled. It cannot go back, because re-opening one would mean bidding against lots that already have winners. A lot is Available until you withdraw it. You cannot mark one Sold or No bids yourself: those are decided when the auction closes, because winning is what makes a lot sold.