Recovery organization auction item ideas that actually sell

For the general list, see our 100+ silent auction item ideas. Two things distinguish this catalogue: alcohol is out entirely, and the sober economy is a supplier nobody in the sector approaches.

Provision sponsorship

• A month of sober living housing
• A recovery coach's hours, or a peer specialist's month
• Transport to treatment, to court or to work for a month
• A work-clothes and interview fund
• Naloxone kits and training, where you distribute them
• A recovery centre's programme costs for a week
• Childcare so a parent can attend treatment

The childcare and transport items are worth leading with. They are small, unglamorous, and they are frequently the actual barrier between somebody and treatment — which is a more compelling argument than any general appeal.

The sober economy

• Non-alcoholic spirits, alcohol-free beer and sparkling wine from producers
• A sober bar experience, or a mocktail-making class
• A speciality coffee subscription, or a roastery tour
• A kombucha or soda-brewing kit
• A sober social event — a run club, a supper club, a sober dance night

These producers and venues are growing fast, are actively seeking association with recovery communities, and are almost never approached. It is the most under-exploited supplier list in this silo.

Training and expertise, sold to employers

• Recovery-friendly workplace consultation
• Second-chance hiring advice for an employer
• Naloxone and overdose response training for a business or a school
• A speaker for a business breakfast, a service club or a school

Recovery-friendly workplace programmes are a live employer priority and this converts a donation ask into a relationship.

Ordinary lots

• Rest and outdoors: a weekend away, a cabin, a guided walk, a paddle
• Fitness, gyms, classes, races — a recovery community engages with these unusually strongly
• Practical help: a cleaner, a meal delivery fortnight, a gardener
• Restaurants and retail, with no wine-pairing packages

Out entirely

• Every alcohol lot, wine pull, bottle raffle, tasting and brewery tour
• Restaurant packages sold on a wine pairing; trips sold on a drinks package
• Anyone's recovery story, image or identity without written consent to that use
• Anything involving a current client at any level of anonymisation
• Anything implying priority in a waiting list, a bed or a service
• Cannabis, vape and tobacco lots, which are a poor fit for the same reasons
• Casino nights and gambling-format lots, given the overlap with gambling disorder in recovery populations

The event-side detail: alcohol-free event planning.

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.