How much can a mentoring organization raise with a silent auction?

Short answer: the number of mentors you can reach, and whether the goal was expressed in matches rather than dollars.

Working it out from the mentor list

A programme's audience is everyone who ever completed screening, which is a larger number than the active roster suggests.

• Current mentors, which you know exactly
• Former mentors you can still contact — the list most programmes lose rather than lapse
• Applicants who did not complete screening, who frequently still support the cause
• The cost of one match, since the goal should be expressed in matches rather than dollars

Divide the reachable audience by the cost of a match and you have the honest number of matches this auction could fund. If it is one, that is still one child off the waiting list and it is worth saying that way.

What moves it

How many former mentors you can still contact

The single most under-worked list in this part of the sector. People who completed screening and gave a year of their time do not stop caring when a match ends, and most programmes lose them from the database rather than from the relationship.

Whether the goal is in matches

"Fund three matches" is bought; "raise this much" is considered. The match is small enough to be an individual purchase, which is the whole advantage.

Employer engagement

A company with a workplace volunteering programme can supply mentors, sponsor matches and promote internally — three things from one conversation.

The recognition event

Attaching to it supplies a date, a venue and the most committed audience you have.

Setting the goal

Work out the real cost of creating and supporting one match for a year, publish it, and set the goal as a number of matches. Then report in the same unit — a programme that says it funded four matches has reported completely and identified nobody.

Goal and budget mechanics: fundraising goals and budget.