Valuation

Where a qualifying charity receives, a bidder may generally deduct only what they pay above an item's fair market value, and the value should be stated at the time. Most of an alumni catalogue values itself; a few categories do not.

The straightforward categories

• Tickets, games and performances — face value
• Accommodation and dining on campus — the published rate
• Merchandise — retail
• Professional services from alumni — the comparable rate
• Facility hire — what the institution charges anybody else

That last one is useful and frequently overlooked: universities publish rates for rooms, halls and facilities, which gives an exact basis for a lot the association might otherwise guess at.

Access with no comparable

Dinner at the president's house, a tour with the head of a department, the chance to ring the bell, lunch with a legendary retired professor — these have no market rate because nobody sells them.

Where there is no comparable, say so plainly rather than inventing a number. "No commercial equivalent; the full amount paid may be deductible" is an honest position where the organization has taken advice that it holds, and it is better than a value nobody can support.

Memorabilia and reproductions

• Reproductions — the production and framing cost, which is easy
• Building fabric — the mounting and plaque cost; the brick has no market value and saying so is accurate
• Alumni-donated memorabilia — where a genuine collectors' market exists, use it; where it does not, describe rather than value

Do not appraise sports memorabilia, historic objects or anything a collector market prices. Where a donor needs a value for a substantial item, that is a qualified appraisal and it is their responsibility.

Say what the buyer receives

Scoping does more work than valuing on the access lots, which are the ones most likely to disappoint if left vague.

• How many people, and whether guests are included
• The date window, and whether it is term-time only
• Whether travel and accommodation are included — they usually are not
• Who delivers it, and what happens if that person leaves the institution
• Whether it transfers, and whether it expires

The person-leaves question is worth building in. A lunch with a named dean sold eighteen months before it is redeemed can outlast the dean, and agreeing the fallback in advance is easier than negotiating it afterwards.

Record the basis once

Associations run auctions annually with similar catalogues and rotating volunteers. One page recording the basis per category — and the rule that the association does not appraise memorabilia — saves the next committee from starting over.

General information, not legal advice for your association. Whether you are an independent organization or part of the institution changes who receipts, who owns the alumni data and who may use the marks — the advancement office and your own counsel decide how any of this applies.