130,500 causes · $320M raised · 4.7 since 2009
How much can a 4-H club raise with a silent auction?
Sizing against a county, and against what the sale already asks of it.
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Short answer: whether you can reach the fair's buyer list, and how much those same businesses have already been asked for at the sale.
Working it out from the county
A club's audience is a county rather than a list, and most of it is already assembled at the fair.
- Club families across every project area, plus club leaders
- The fair's buyer list, if the board will let you use it or send on your behalf
- Agribusiness in the county — feed, seed, implement, veterinary, elevators, banks
- How much those same businesses have already committed at the livestock sale, which is the figure that actually caps this
The fourth input decides more than the first three. A county with forty active sale buyers has forty businesses that have already given, and an auction into the same week is asking twice — which is the argument for running it online the week before, or in spring.
What moves it
Access to the buyer list
The fair board or sale committee holds it, the businesses on it expect to be asked, and no club can assemble a comparable list independently. Ask whether it can be used or whether they will send on your behalf.
What the sale already asked of them
A bank that just bought a market steer above market has already given. Sequencing matters more here than almost anywhere: livestock sale versus silent auction.
Alumni, in a rural county
4-H alumni are a substantial share of the adult population in many counties, and almost no club has a list of them. Building one is slow and it compounds.
Whether project work is in the catalogue
It is what the fair audience came to see, and it is the only thing in the auction nobody else could have supplied.
Setting the goal
Work from a named purchase or a defined number of assisted project fees, confirm with Extension that the receiving account can hold and spend it for that purpose, and publish the figure. Then report it in the county paper, which will print it.
Goal and budget mechanics: fundraising goals and budget.
General information, not legal or tax advice for your club. 4-H operates through Cooperative Extension and a land-grant university, and the applicable policy differs by state and county — your county Extension educator is the first person to ask, and they answer most of this routinely.
More guides for 4-H Clubs
Two different transactions, one weekend County fair coordination
The fair board decides more than you do Extension policy and approvals
A chain no other youth org has Which entity, and the emblem
Club, county foundation, or Extension Item ideas that actually sell
Project work is the catalogue Record book showcase auctions
Showing the work behind the item Valuing project items
What a buyer may claim, and what they may not Getting items donated
Agribusiness, alumni and the fair's own buyers
Frequently asked questions
What is the biggest single factor?
Access to the fair's buyer list. Those businesses expect to be asked and no club can assemble a comparable list independently — ask the fair board whether it can be used or whether they will send on your behalf.
Does the livestock sale affect what we can raise?
Substantially. A bank that has just bought a market animal above market has already given, so sequencing matters more here than almost anywhere.
Are 4-H alumni worth pursuing?
In a rural county they are a substantial share of the adult population, and almost no club has a list. Building one is slow and it compounds.
Name what it funds and open bidding
Set the real cost as your goal. Free for up to 20 items, no credit card.
Free for up to 20 items · Unlimited bidders · No credit card required