How much can an EMS squad raise with a silent auction?

Short answer: whether the district was reached rather than just the squad's followers, and whether the billing gap was explained.

Working it out from the response area

Every household you cover is a beneficiary, and almost none of them know how this is funded.

• Households in your response area, which you already know
• Businesses you have trained, equipped with an AED, or stood by for
• Members' and volunteers' own networks and employers
• The cost of the equipment or certifications you are funding

The second input is the one to work first. A business whose staff you certified or whose building holds your AED has a direct relationship with the squad and, in most cases, has never been asked for anything.

What moves it

Explaining the billing gap

The single most effective paragraph a squad can write, because the assumption that billing covers it is near-universal and wrong.

Reaching the whole response area

Every household is a beneficiary. A squad reaching only its own social following is reaching a fraction of the people it serves.

Naming equipment with its price

A cardiac monitor costs more than most people's cars, and saying so is more persuasive than any appeal language: ambulance and equipment funds.

Businesses that hold your AEDs

Every business you have trained, equipped or stood by for has a direct reason, and most have never been asked.

Setting the goal

Name a purchase or a number of certifications, publish the cost, and report against it with a photograph of the equipment in the truck. Then publish the operational numbers annually whether or not you are fundraising — a district that understands its ambulance funds it more readily.

Goal and budget mechanics: fundraising goals and budget.

General information, not legal advice for your squad. Whether you are a nonprofit corporation, a municipal department or a fire district service changes who receipts and who owns donated assets — check with your own adviser and your contracting municipality.