Chapter silent auction item ideas that actually sell

For the general list, see our 100+ silent auction item ideas. A chapter's catalogue works on nostalgia and access, and there is a short list of things that must not be in it.

The house and the archive

• A dinner in the house, cooked and served by current members
• A room in the house for homecoming weekend, where the house corporation allows it
• A named seat at the chapter dinner, or a place at the head table
• The original composite from a specific year, or a framed reproduction of it
• Archive material: a photograph of a pledge class, a page from the minute book, an old rush poster reprinted
• Naming a room, a chair, a bench or a plaque in the house
• A brick, if the house corporation is doing any work at all

Composites and archive material are the strongest items most chapters have and they sit in a cupboard. A framed reproduction of a specific pledge class's composite, offered to that class, is close to a guaranteed lot — and the original stays where it is.

What current members can do

• A work crew: move-in or move-out day, a yard clear, a house wash
• Tutoring in a subject the chapter is strong in
• A performance, if the chapter has singers or a band
• A tailgate hosted for an alumnus and their guests
• A campus tour and lunch for an admitted student's family

Members offering their own time is fine and popular. A committee assigning a member's labour to a lot is not, and it is an easy line to cross when a chair is enthusiastic. Volunteers only, by name, in advance.

From alumni, for alumni

• A weekend at an alumnus's holiday home
• A round at their club, as their guest
• A professional service: a legal hour, a tax return, a design consultation
• Career mentoring or a mock interview, which current members will also value
• Something from their own business, at cost or donated

This is where the substantial lots come from. An alumnus with a lake house is more reachable than a national brand and the item means more to the bidder.

What must not be in the catalogue

• Alcohol, in any form, at a chapter event — a headquarters risk management policy almost certainly prohibits it and a Greek life office almost certainly does too
• Anything involving a bid, a pledge process, membership selection or standing in the chapter — do not, at any price
• A date, a dance ticket framed as buying a person's company, or anything in that shape. It reads badly, it ages worse, and it is exactly the item that ends up screenshotted
• Insignia merchandise made without headquarters approval and a licensed vendor
• Anything using a member's name or image without their written agreement
• Access to the house at a time the campus or the house corporation has not cleared

The first three are worth reading aloud in a committee meeting before the catalogue is built. Every one of them has ended badly for a chapter somewhere, and none of them raises enough to be worth the exposure.

General information, not tax or legal advice for your chapter. Structures differ by organization and campus and they change — check your own chapter documents, your headquarters and your Greek life office before acting on anything here.