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

Short answer: whether a family and supporter list exists that is not a client list, and whether employers were brought in.

Working it out without a client list

The most motivated audience is one you may not simply contact, so size against the list you can build rather than the one you hold.

• Supporters who opted in publicly — a list that is not a client list
• Families of people in recovery, who can support you without disclosing anything about anyone
• Employers who hire in recovery, and treatment and legal partners
• The sober economy: non-alcoholic producers, sober bars, speciality coffee

The first input is the determining one and for most organizations it starts near zero. If so, this year's campaign is a list-building exercise that also raises money, and that is still worth doing.

What moves it

A supporter list that is not a client list

The single determining factor. Families who opted in as supporters can be contacted freely; a client or alumni record cannot: alumni and family outreach.

Employers who hire in recovery

A growing and motivated group with a business reason to engage, and the second-chance hiring conversation is one they want to have.

The sober economy

Non-alcoholic drinks producers, sober bars, sober-curious businesses. Natural partners, expanding fast, and almost nobody in the sector asks them.

Whether the event was genuinely alcohol-free

An event with a bar excludes the community, and the community is the audience.

Setting the goal

Name a provision with a real cost — months of housing, coaching hours, transport — and report in the same unit. Aggregate throughout: "eleven months of sober housing funded" identifies nobody and is a complete report.

Goal and budget mechanics: fundraising goals and budget.

General information, not legal, clinical or compliance advice for your organization. Confidentiality obligations for programmes holding treatment records are particularly strict and are not the same as ordinary donor privacy — your compliance officer and counsel decide how any of this applies.