Philanthropy week auctions

Most chapters run a philanthropy week and most weeks are built the same way: a series of small-dollar activities aimed at other undergraduates. It builds community, it is genuinely good for the chapter, and it is asking money from the one group on campus that has none.

An auction running across the same week changes who the week can reach without changing anything you already do.

It reaches three audiences the week does not

• Alumni, who cannot attend a dodgeball tournament and can bid from anywhere
• Members' parents, who are already paying for a lot and would rather buy something
• Local businesses, who get a listing rather than a request for cash

Run the week as you already do. Add the auction alongside it and promote it to people who are not on campus.

Work with the partner organization, properly

Your philanthropy partner is an organization with a communications channel, a supporter list and a real interest in the week going well. Most chapters treat them as a recipient rather than a partner.

• Ask them to share the auction with their own supporters — often the largest audience in the whole campaign
• Ask whether they can receipt donors directly, which usually removes the entity question entirely
• Ask for one item only they can offer — a behind-the-scenes visit, a named sponsorship, a meeting with someone their work has helped, where consent allows
• Agree what they will say publicly and whether the chapter's name appears in their acknowledgements

The receipting question in full: chapter, house corp and foundation.

Timing across the week

• Minus 2 weeks — bidding opens, promoted to alumni, parents and the partner's supporters
• Monday to Thursday — the week's activities run as normal; the auction is promoted at each one with signage
• Friday or the final event — bidding closes, announced live, with the running total on a screen

Opening before the week matters: the auction's audience is not on campus and needs more than four days' notice to notice.

Item mix for a week like this

Two tiers. Low-value lots students can genuinely win — a parking space, a professor's lunch, a work crew, a dining hall meal swipe bundle where the campus allows — so the week's own audience can take part. And substantial alumni-facing lots that carry the total: the holiday home, the house dinner, the archive items.

The catalogue in detail: item ideas that actually sell.

Report it to everyone who took part

The total, what it funded, and a photograph — sent to alumni, parents, the partner organization and the businesses that donated. Chapters are good at running philanthropy weeks and poor at reporting them, which is why the same alumni get asked cold every year instead of warm.