If you’ve ever hosted a charity auction before, you’re likely familiar with the complexities of the planning process. Often, the most involved step is choosing the right items to feature at your auction—i.e., prizes that appeal to your unique audience and generate a high return on investment (ROI).

Strategic auction item procurement takes time, but it can make or break whether you achieve your event’s fundraising goal and whether your supporters enjoy their experience. In this guide, you’ll learn everything you need to know to find and secure the best charity auction items, including:

Before we discuss what items you should try to secure and how to go about doing so, let’s begin by looking at why finding the right prizes is so critical.

Explore best-selling travel-based charity auction items from Winspire. Contact Us.

Why are charity auction items important?

There are two main groups of people who participate in charity auctions. Some individuals attend primarily to support a nonprofit they’re passionate about and enjoy the added bonus of receiving prizes to take home. Other participants’ main objective is to find unique items at the best possible prices, and they’re happy to contribute to a good cause at the same time.

No matter what your auction participants’ primary goal is, the prizes you feature can make or break your event’s fundraising success. Here are just a few of the ways your items affect your auction’s outcome:

Three ways charity auction items affect event fundraising success, which are listed below.

  • Registration numbers. Featuring appealing auction items in your event marketing materials can encourage more people to sign up, especially those who mainly want to attend for the prizes.
  • Revenue generation. The majority of your auction’s fundraising revenue will come from item sales, and procuring prizes that supporters find valuable will prompt them to place higher bids and get you closer to your fundraising goal.
  • Supporter engagement. Valuable, attractive auction items can also encourage competitive bidding among participants, giving them a more positive, memorable event experience.


Keep in mind that you’ll need to procure about 12-15 items for a live auction, while silent auctions often feature 100 prizes or more. Therefore, it’s critical to focus on quality with live auction items and quantity and variety with silent auction prizes.

Top 10 Charity Auction Item Categories + Examples

To give you some ideas for items to feature in your auction, we’ve compiled a list of our 10 favorite prize categories. This list is based both on how popular each category is among nonprofit supporters (although, of course, every organization’s donor base is unique and may have different preferences to consider) and the items’ potential value.

The top 10 categories of charity auction items, which are discussed in the following sections.

1. Vacation Packages

Travel-related items are best-sellers in both live and silent auctions. They appeal to a broad audience, add a unique element to your event, and often bring in the largest bids among all of your prizes!

When choosing vacation packages for your auction, make sure to consider:

  • The destination: Where in the world would your supporters want to go that they may not have visited before?
  • The experiences: Which activities would catch participants’ attention and set your offering apart?
  • The logistics: Are accommodations and airfare included in the package, or would the winning bidder have to figure out those details themselves?

Depending on your audience’s preferences, your vacation packages could include:

Despite their popularity and revenue generation potential, vacation packages are often the most challenging type of auction item to procure. Fortunately, there are dedicated travel providers who are happy to help you find the perfect vacation for your auction, like Winspire!

Explore Travel-Based Charity Auction Items With Winspire

Winspire curates bucket-list vacation packages (known as Experiences) specifically for nonprofits to use in fundraising events like auctions and raffles. Your organization can get started with Winspire in four simple steps:

Four steps to procure travel-based charity auction items through Winspire, which are explained below.

  1. Choose your Winspire Experience(s). If you aren’t sure what vacation package would best align with your audience’s interests, our Event Fundraising Specialists are just a phone call or email away.
  2. Promote them to your supporters. Winspire will provide high-quality photos related to your chosen Experiences that you can use in your emails, social media posts, auction catalog, and other marketing materials.
  3. Offer them at your event. You can award each Experience to more than one winner, and Winspire’s risk-free consignment model means you only pay for what you sell.
  4. Winners redeem their packages. After your auction, you’ll just need to provide each winning bidder with a voucher that allows them to book their trip through Winspire with no additional work required on your nonprofit’s end.

When you sell a Winspire Experience at your auction, every dollar you raise above the Nonprofit Cost (list price) goes directly to your organization’s mission. Through this model, Winspire has helped nonprofits across the United States and Canada raise more than $110 million for their causes!

2. Gift Baskets

Gift baskets are a silent auction staple! Their contents are relatively easy to collect (since you can ask donors and sponsors to contribute all or part of a basket), and bundled items tend to be more valuable in participants’ eyes than the sum of their parts.

Design each of your gift baskets around a theme and give it a catchy title. Here are a few popular basket ideas to get you started:

  • Date Night: Gift certificate for dinner at a nice restaurant, tickets to a movie or live show, ride-share voucher, champagne, chocolate
  • Spa Day: Facial masks, bath bombs, scented lotion, candles, slippers, massage gift certificate
  • Wine & Cheese: Red and white wine, assorted cheeses, crackers, charcuterie board, nuts or other garnishes
  • Game Time: Board games, cards, puzzles, assorted sweet and salty snacks
  • Movie Lovers: Popcorn, candy, cozy blanket, TV streaming service gift card, movie theater tickets

While they’re most often associated with silent auctions, gift baskets are also a great option for raffle prizes, and you can even use them in live auctions as long as you include a prize that significantly increases their value in or alongside the basket. For example, you might pair the Wine and Cheese basket above with a vineyard tour and wine tasting, or create a basket of merchandise for a particular band or artist and include tickets to their upcoming concert.

3. Event Tickets

Speaking of tickets, good seats at highly anticipated events are often hard to come by—which is why some fans may jump at the chance to buy them at your auction. While concerts are particularly popular among younger supporters (and especially notorious for ticketing difficulties), there are many different events you could give supporters the opportunity to attend, such as:

  • Broadway musicals, either in New York or on tour at a nearby performing arts center
  • Sports at the college or professional level (potentially including trips to major competitions like the Super Bowl, NCAA Final Four, or World Cup)
  • Symphony orchestra or professional ballet performances if your target audience prefers classical live entertainment

Many event venues offer nonprofit discounts on tickets, so check their websites or contact them directly to see if you can snag good seats at a reduced cost. Auction the tickets off in groups of two or four, and to boost their value even more, include additional perks such as a voucher for concessions or a photo opportunity with an athlete or performer after the event.

4. Signed Celebrity Memorabilia

In addition to seeing famous people in their element at events, some auction participants might be interested in owning an item that features their favorite celebrity’s signature. These prizes can be tricky to navigate, so here are a few tips for securing them successfully:

  • Choose celebrities that resonate with your target audience. For example, an older audience may be excited to bid on a guitar signed by one of the Beatles, while younger supporters might be more interested in one signed by Taylor Swift.
  • Double-check that the items are legitimate. Look up other images of the celebrity’s signature to ensure they match the one on the prize, and conduct additional research or contact a third-party autograph authenticator if you’re still unsure.
  • Take the provider’s value estimate with a grain of salt. It’s fairly common for people who own celebrity memorabilia to overvalue it.

Signed memorabilia tends to receive a lot of bids compared to other auction item categories (8.25 on average) and frequently sells for more than its fair market value. So, as long as you select and verify these items carefully, they should be profitable for your organization!

5. Artwork & Antiques

Unique, handmade items are often popular among auction participants since they can be difficult to find in other places. These prizes also provide a great opportunity to highlight a skilled artisan in your community or reflect on local history. Examples include:

  • Antique furniture pieces
  • Paintings or other wall decor
  • Sculptures for the home or yard
  • Homemade jewelry
  • Quilts, rugs, or needlework
  • Custom birdhouses or mailboxes

Artwork and antiques are also difficult to value in many cases. Compare the provider’s estimate with prices for their other work or similar items on antique or craft specialty websites, and consult experts in the field if necessary to determine an accurate price and starting bid amount for each item.

6. Certificates for Services

Another way to spotlight the individuals and organizations that keep your community running is by featuring gift certificates for their services. These could encompass a wide range of activities, such as:

  • Childcare at a local daycare center
  • Auto repairs and detailing by a certified mechanic
  • A year’s worth of dry cleaning at a specific business
  • Complete spa packages (massages, facials, wraps, scrubs, etc.)
  • Mani-pedis or hair services at local salons
  • House painting, interior decorating, or other home improvement work
  • Professional landscaping or lawn care
  • Pet sitting, boarding, grooming, training, or walking

These types of auction items are a win-win-win. Your supporters will appreciate the budget-friendly services, the businesses who contribute their services will gain customers and publicity, and you get funds for your mission while cultivating community connections.

7. Family-Friendly Activities

If you’re trying to attract event participants with young children or grandchildren, try to include some family-friendly prizes in your auction. Some possibilities for these items include:

  • Tickets to a local amusement park, zoo, aquarium, or kid-friendly museum.
  • Birthday party packages that include a custom cake from a local bakery, activities, and a visit from a performer dressed as a character from the child’s favorite show or movie.
  • “Profession-for-a-day” activities where kids briefly get to experience being a firefighter, chef, or school principal.
  • Popular toys, craft kits, or science sets that children can play with independently or with the family.
  • Season passes to community pools or recreation centers for the family.
  • Children’s book readings with popular authors or well-known community members.

Not only do these types of items help engage supporters with children, but they also allow your nonprofit to reach the next generation as the kids participate in the activities or use the items their family members won for them through your event.

8. Fine Food and Beverages

Some supporters may really want to participate in your auction, but they aren’t looking to add more physical items to their lives. Consumable goods like food and beverages are the perfect way to reach these participants—and the better quality they are, the higher the bids will be. Here are a few ideas to spark inspiration for your wishlist:

  • High-quality tea or coffee
  • Craft beer, wine, or cocktail supplies
  • Gourmet chocolate or candy
  • Artisan dried herbs, spices, and cooking oils
  • Pizza or other food deliveries
  • Catering for a workplace, child’s school, or upcoming event
  • Restaurant gift certificates

Especially for live auctions where all of your items need to be high-value, consider pairing a food or drink item with an experience. For example, you could auction off a craft beer sampler along with a tour of the brewery where the beer was made, or combine an assortment of high-end herbs and spices with a cooking class where the winner can learn how to use them.

9. Popular Technology

Younger supporters in particular will appreciate the opportunity to win the latest gadgets in your auction. Encourage supporters to place multiple bids by including many different types of devices and accessories in your auction, such as:

  • New smartphones
  • Laptop or desktop computers
  • Tablets or eReaders
  • 4K or Smart TVs
  • Music and TV streaming subscriptions
  • Video game consoles, controllers, and games
  • High-quality cameras
  • Smart watches or fitness trackers
  • Bluetooth headphones and speakers

In participants’ eyes, a key benefit of buying technology-related items at an auction is the ability to get them at a lower price than they would in stores. To accommodate this preference while still ensuring a positive ROI, reach out to your corporate sponsors to see if you can get these items for free or at a significant discount.

10. High-End Goods

In a similar vein to technology, supporters will also look for high-end goods at a reduced price at auctions. These products could include:

  • Designer purses
  • Jewelry and watches
  • Shopping sprees for luxury-brand clothing
  • Trending kitchen appliances (air fryers, blenders, ice cream makers, etc.)
  • Crystal dishes, vases, or stemware

Although these goods often appeal to specific supporter preferences, there is likely someone among your supporter base looking for these types of items. Or, someone might see one and decide to get it as a gift for a friend or family member while supporting your organization.

Draw even more inspiration from Winspire’s list of 350+ auction items. Download for Free.

Pro Tips for Procuring Charity Auction Items

Now that you know which charity auction items to procure, it’s time to develop a strategy for doing so. There are plenty of procurement resources available online, so do your research before diving in. Here are our favorite tips to help you get started:

A checklist of five tips for charity auction item procurement, which are listed below.

  • Create an auction item wishlist. To kick off your process, get your entire team of event staff and volunteers together for a brainstorming session. Provide lunch or coffee if you meet in person, designate a note-taker, and ask everyone to throw out their best ideas for auction items. Once you have a solid list, narrow down your must-have, nice-to-have, and backup items for your wishlist.
  • Keep upfront costs as low as possible. The less money you spend on auction items—without detracting from the quality of your selection, of course—the more of your fundraising revenue can go toward your mission. As mentioned throughout the post, try to secure as many of your items as possible via in-kind donations, nonprofit discounts, or consignment providers.
  • Divide up sourcing responsibilities. For each item you brainstorm, designate a certain individual to procure it. Play to team members’ strengths and leverage their connections when making these decisions. For instance, if one of your staff members is excellent at finding and negotiating discounts, give them the job of contacting event venues about securing tickets. Or, if a volunteer works for a local business that could donate a service, ask them to talk to their boss about providing that item.
  • Equip your team with essential resources. Add your auction item wishlist to a shared folder that also includes templates for donation request letters and in-kind donation forms and a list of fiscal event sponsorship opportunities. That way, each team member can copy and edit the templates to personalize their asks to individual potential donors and sponsors, and it’ll be easy for them to suggest alternative ways to support your auction if a prospect turns down their initial request.
  • Remember the 80/20 rule. This is the principle that 80% of outcomes come from 20% of causes. When it comes to auctions, expect that 80% of your item-related revenue will come from 20% of your prizes—the most valuable 20%. Your team only has so much time and energy to put toward procurement, so prioritize securing the items on your wishlist that would make up that top 20%.

The last thing to keep in mind is that it’s never too early to start procuring auction items! As soon as your event is on your organization’s calendar, schedule your wish list brainstorming session. And if you have items left over from a past auction or raffle, or you receive a one-off in-kind donation that could make a good prize, see if it’s possible to save it for your next event.

Wrapping Up: Additional Resources on Nonprofit Auctions

Procuring charity auction items can seem daunting at first, especially if your nonprofit has never hosted this type of event before. But once you go through the process a few times, you’ll figure out what is going well and how you could hone your strategy to secure even better prizes while putting in less time and effort. And if you need help, don’t hesitate to reach out to experts like the Event Fundraising Specialists at Winspire!

For more information on nonprofit auctions, check out these resources:

Discover bucket-list, no-risk charity auction travel packages. Reach out to Winspire to learn more. Contact Us.