How much can a scholarship fund raise with a silent auction?

Short answer: the number of people connected to the fund you can still reach, and whether the goal was expressed in awards rather than dollars.

Working it out from one award

A scholarship fund has an advantage almost nothing else here does: its own product is naturally the right size for a single bidder.

• The cost of one award, which is your unit
• Past recipients you can still contact — the list most funds never kept
• Donors, the honoured family's network, and service clubs that fund education as programme focus
• Whether the presenting school or college will share it with their own households

Divide the reachable audience by the cost of one award and you have the honest number of awards this auction could fund. If the fund is endowed, check with the holder what a contribution actually generates annually before you promise a donor an award.

What moves it

Past recipients, if you kept them

The warmest audience and the most persuasive voice. If you have not kept them, start at this year's presentation — a durable email address and permission takes thirty seconds and compounds for a decade.

Whether the goal is in awards

"Fund two awards" is bought; "raise this much" is considered. The award is one of the few fundraising units naturally sized for a single bidder.

The presenting institution's channel

A school or college that shares the auction reaches exactly the right households and benefits from the fund existing. Almost no committee asks.

Whether the fund is endowed

It changes the arithmetic and it changes what you may promise a donor. Establish it with the holder before setting a goal.

Setting the goal

Publish the cost of one award and set the goal as a number of awards. Then report in the same unit and name the recipients if they have agreed — a fund that says it funded three awards has reported completely, and unlike most organizations here it can also say who received them.

Goal and budget mechanics: fundraising goals and budget.