Land trust silent auction item ideas that actually sell

For the general list, see our 100+ silent auction item ideas. A trust's advantage is land nobody else can offer access to; its discipline is that most of it is not the trust's to open.

Access

• A guided walk on a preserve normally closed
• A monitoring visit ride-along with the stewardship staff
• A dawn or dusk visit, camping, or a paddle on a protected stretch
• A place on a survey — birds, plants, amphibians, bats
• A tour of a working conservation farm or forest with the owner

Permissions and scoping: property access items.

Stewardship sponsorship

• A year of monitoring on a named preserve
• A boundary survey or a fence line
• Invasive species removal on a named tract
• Trail maintenance for a season
• A tree planting, a hedgerow, a riparian buffer
• A contribution to the stewardship endowment or the defence fund, named

These are the units that actually need funding and the ones donors have never had explained to them.

Expertise

• A habitat or woodland assessment at the winner's own property
• A native planting plan, or an invasive removal plan
• A forestry or agricultural consultation from a partner
• A soil or water test with interpretation
• A talk to a club, a school or a landowner group
• An estate-planning-and-land seminar with a partner attorney, which reaches exactly the trust's next easement donors

The property assessment is the item to build. It sells to landowners who have never given the trust anything, and some of them become easement conversations.

From the land and the community

• Produce, honey, maple syrup, timber, wool or wine from conserved farms
• Outdoor gear and optics from local retailers
• Guided hunting or fishing from an outfitter, where consistent with your positions
• Work by local artists depicting the landscape
• A stay at a cabin, farmhouse or lodge belonging to a supporter

What to check or keep out

• Access to any easement property without the owner's agreement and a read of the easement
• Anywhere the ecologist says no — nesting sites, fragile soils, rare species
• Precise locations of sensitive land in public material
• Photographs showing a landowner's dwelling without their agreement
• Land, lots or timeshares offered as items, which are real estate transactions
• Anything implying the trust will value a donation or advise on tax treatment

General information, not legal or tax advice for your trust. Easement donation, appraisal and substantiation rules are technical and consequential — your own counsel and the landowner's advisers decide how any of this applies.