How summer camps get auction items donated

For letter structure and follow-up, see how to get silent auction donations and the donation request letter template.

The property first

Before soliciting anybody, sit down with the caretaker or site manager and work out what the property can support out of season: which weekends, which buildings, how many people, what heating and water cost, and what insurance permits.

A camp that lists six property items has a strong catalogue before it has written a single letter — and those are the items that will draw the highest bids.

Then the order

2. Alumni

Items, services, artwork and their own businesses — plus the promotion, which is what they are best at. See alumni and family outreach.

3. Former staff

Loyal, traceable and professionally established. Ask what they do now — a camp's former counsellors are a directory of thirty-somethings with services to donate.

4. Current families

Reachable in the off-season, motivated, and containing more alumni than you expect. Ask what they do professionally rather than only for goods.

5. Outdoor outfitters and camp suppliers

Retailers, gear brands, camp food and equipment suppliers. Your list is families who buy gear every June, which is a genuine commercial offer — and your suppliers already have a relationship.

6. Local businesses near camp

The town near a camp benefits from it every summer. Restaurants, marinas, general stores and lodges are natural donors and are rarely asked because the camp's administrative base is somewhere else.

7. Any sponsoring body

A church, a Y, a council or an association. Promotion, introductions and sometimes items.

Ask in the off-season, for the off-season

Solicit between September and March, when the director has time and businesses are not in their own peak. A camp asking a lakeside restaurant for a donation in July has picked the worst possible fortnight for both parties.

What to offer

The item listing, a mention to a family list that buys outdoor gear annually, recognition at camp and in the newsletter, and a receipt from the correct entity — which for a camp inside a larger organization is that organization, named accurately.

Timing

• August — collect photographs, leaver contacts and staff words before everybody disperses
• September — property items agreed with the caretaker
• Early October — alumni, former staff, current families
• Mid October — outfitters, suppliers, the town near camp
• Late October — bidding live, with the summer's photographs
• Before mid November — closed, ahead of the holiday appeals

General information, not legal advice for your camp. Youth protection, media consent and the conditions attached to any accreditation or affiliation differ — your director and your own policies decide how any of this applies.

Committee structure: committee and volunteer roles.