130,500 causes · $320M raised · 4.7 since 2009
How much can a chapter raise with a silent auction?
Real numbers from fraternity and sorority chapters.
Free for up to 20 items Unlimited bidders No credit card required
Short answer: how many alumni you can actually reach. A chapter auction aimed at the undergraduate body has a small ceiling by arithmetic; the same auction reaching three decades of alumni does not.
Revenue across chapters
Working it out from reachable alumni
Not alumni who exist — alumni whose current contact details you actually hold.
- Alumni with a current email address in the chapter's list today
- How many more each current member could produce from their own contacts
- Members' parents, which is roughly one household per member
- An average winning bid for an alumni audience across several decades, which skews high for the older classes
The gap between the first and second inputs is the whole opportunity, and one chapter meeting closes most of it.
What moves it
Reachable alumni
Not alumni who exist — alumni whose current contact details you have. The gap between those two numbers is the whole opportunity. See alumni outreach.
House access and nostalgia in the catalogue
A dinner in the house, a composite from a specific year, a room for homecoming. Nothing to price-check and nobody else can offer it. See item ideas that actually sell.
Whether members' parents were asked
Eighty households, most of them never approached.
Clarity about who benefits
Alumni give differently to a philanthropy than to the chapter's own operations, and both are fine. Vagueness about which is not, and it suppresses giving from exactly the alumni most likely to give a lot.
Setting the goal
Work from the thing: a philanthropy partner's named programme, a leadership conference for four members, the scholarship the chapter awards. Confirm which entity receives it and whether that entity can accept a deductible gift, then report what it funded.
Goal and budget mechanics: fundraising goals and budget. Entity question: chapter, house corp and foundation.
More guides for Fraternities & Sororities
Campus, headquarters and the house corporation Chapter, house corp and foundation
Which one can accept a deductible gift Item ideas that actually sell
What alumni bid on, and what to keep out Getting items donated
Members' families before the high street Alumni outreach
Rebuilding the list nobody kept Philanthropy week
The week you already run, done better
Frequently asked questions
What limits a chapter auction most?
The number of alumni whose current contact details you actually have — not the number who exist. The gap between those two figures is the whole opportunity.
Do philanthropy and chapter-benefit auctions perform differently?
They are different audiences with a different tax position, and alumni give differently to each. Both are legitimate; being vague about which suppresses giving from the alumni most likely to give a lot.
What should the goal be?
A specific thing — a philanthropy partner's named programme, a leadership conference for four members, the chapter's scholarship — with the receiving entity confirmed first.
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