How much can a wildlife rehabilitator raise with a silent auction?

Short answer: whether you had a finder list, and whether the catalogue included a release sponsorship.

Revenue across wildlife organizations

Working it out from the finder list

The people who brought you an animal are the audience, and most rehabilitators have never counted them.

• Finders you can contact, with permission recorded
• Referring veterinary practices and their clients
• The local photography, birding and naturalist community
• Two average-bid figures: one for the local audience, one for a release sponsorship

If the first number is near zero, the honest answer is that this year's campaign is a list-building exercise that also raises money. That is still worth doing.

What moves it

The finder list

People who brought you an animal and were never contacted again. Building that list is the highest-return work available and it costs a question at intake.

A release sponsorship in the catalogue

The headline lot, and the only one bidders will talk about afterwards. Permit conditions decide the form it takes: release sponsorship.

Photographers

Both a source of items and an audience with its own following.

Naming a real cost

A season of formula, a pen panel, the incubator. Small organizations are believed when the number is specific and doubted when it is round.

Setting the goal

Work from one purchase with a supplier price and publish it. Then report what it bought with a photograph of the actual thing — for an organization this size, that photograph is the entire annual report and it is what makes the second auction easier than the first.

Goal and budget mechanics: fundraising goals and budget.