130,500 causes · $320M raised · 4.7 since 2009
How much can a zoo raise with a silent auction?
Real numbers from zoos, aquariums and zoological organizations.
Free for up to 20 items Unlimited bidders No credit card required
Short answer: how much of the membership you reached, and whether the catalogue had encounters in it.
Revenue across zoological organizations
Working it out from membership and adopters
A zoo's membership list is unusually large and is used almost entirely for renewals.
- Members, segmented by how recently they visited
- Adopt-an-animal participants, who have already given beyond membership
- Two average-bid figures: one for the family membership audience, one for encounters
- How many encounters the sections have agreed to support
The fourth input caps the top of the catalogue, and it is agreed with keepers rather than decided by development.
What moves it
Membership reach
A zoo's list is larger than almost any organization's here and is used almost entirely for renewals. Segmenting it by recent visit and mailing that segment is the highest-return single action available.
Encounters in the catalogue
Nothing else behaves like them, and the constraint on how many you can offer is the animal team's capacity rather than demand. See encounters and keeper-for-a-day.
Adopt-an-animal participants
Already giving beyond membership, already attached to a species.
A named animal or programme as the purpose
Rather than an operating fund. It is a stronger ask and a truer description.
Setting the goal
Work from a programme cost the curatorial side can confirm, check which entity can receive and spend it, and ask the displacement question before publishing: does this add to the budget line or replace it?
Goal and budget mechanics: fundraising goals and budget.
More guides for Zoos
Scoped by the animal team, not development Behind-the-scenes items
What the public cannot buy Item ideas that actually sell
And what welfare policy decides Getting items donated
Curatorial colleagues before outside donors Valuing an experience item
What to disclose when nothing has a price Adopt-an-animal, paired
A product you already sell
Frequently asked questions
What is the highest-return action for a zoo auction?
Segmenting the membership by recent visit and mailing that segment. It is the largest list in this part of the sector and it is used almost entirely for renewals.
What limits how many encounters we can offer?
The animal team's capacity and welfare policy, not demand. Ask early, because the catalogue's ceiling is set there.
Should we ask the displacement question?
Yes, once, before publishing a goal. A donated item that reduces the operating budget line by the same amount has funded nothing.
Name the programme and open bidding
Set the real cost as your goal. Free for up to 20 items, no credit card.
Free for up to 20 items · Unlimited bidders · No credit card required