Live auctions are among the most lucrative and engaging fundraising events your nonprofit can run. The entertainment value and exciting prizes of live auctions create a positive attendee experience while bringing in significant funding. In one 2025 study, 77% of nonprofit professionals reported that the revenue they generated from auctions had remained consistent or increased year over year, and 90% said they expect this trend to continue.

The key to a successful auction is procuring the right items. To help you get started, this guide will cover everything you need to know about live auction items, including:

Before we dive into our list of the best live auction items, let’s review the basics of how to choose the right prizes and maximize their value.

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Live Auction Items: Frequently Asked Questions

What makes a great live auction item?

To help you meet or exceed your nonprofit’s fundraising goals, look for live auction items that share a few general characteristics. Your prizes should be:

A checklist of four characteristics that the best live auction items have in common, which are explained below.

  • Original. Your live auction prizes shouldn’t be easy to find in retail stores, especially since some participants attend nonprofit auctions primarily to find unique items. Offering experience-based prizes and bundling commonplace goods will make your selection seem more original.
  • High-value. Experiences and bundling are also useful techniques to make your prizes appear more valuable to supporters, thereby driving higher bids. Live auctions should feature 12-15 items at most to keep the event to a reasonable length, so all of your prizes need to have the potential to generate significant revenue.
  • Tailored. Your items also have to appeal to your event’s specific audience so that participants will want to bid on them. Determine which supporter segments you want to target with your auction and consider surveying potential participants to gain firsthand insight into the prizes your audience would be most excited about.
  • Eye-catching. Don’t underestimate the value of presentation in selling live auction items! Consider how you can present all of your prizes in an attention-grabbing, aesthetically pleasing way in your event displays and auction catalog. This may mean featuring photos of experiential elements of a prize rather than what a supporter will take home (e.g., a concert window card rather than the tickets you’re actually auctioning off).

If you recruit an experienced, skilled auctioneer, they’ll be able to sell almost anything you secure. However, ensuring your items align with these guidelines will make your auctioneer’s job easier and help participants feel more satisfied with their purchases.

How should my nonprofit procure its live auction items?

In most cases, you can secure each of your live auction prizes using one of three methods, which are suited to different types of items as follows:

A numbered list of the three major auction item procurement methods: in-kind donations, nonprofit discounts, and consignment.

  • In-kind donations. The most straightforward and cost-effective way to procure an auction item is to have an individual donor or corporate sponsor give it to you directly. This method is best for securing physical items and gift certificates.
  • Nonprofit discounts. Many performance venues, amusement parks, and other places that charge for admission offer reduced-price tickets for nonprofit fundraisers. While these discounts aren’t always well-advertised and sometimes require negotiation, it’s the most effective way to secure these exclusive items at a low price.
  • Consignment. Vacation packages are rarely donated, and putting together all of a trip’s logistics—from transportation to accommodations to activities—via nonprofit discounts takes a lot of time and effort. So, purchasing these items on consignment by partnering with a dedicated fundraising travel provider (like Winspire!) is typically the best way to secure them.

Although you could purchase live auction items outright, using the above methods helps keep upfront event costs low while still allowing you to secure prizes that will catch supporters’ attention and generate lots of bidding excitement.

How does live auction item pricing work?

Live auction pricing is highly dynamic—i.e., if you have a good auctioneer, they can adjust pricing for individual items in real time depending on participants’ enthusiasm. However, you should provide some guidance for them by determining the following four numbers for each prize in advance:

  • Fair market value (FMV): This is the price you would have paid for an item if you purchased it on the open market with no discounts, and the foundation for all live auction pricing calculations.
  • Starting bid amount: This price is the point at which your auctioneer will begin the bidding for an item, which is typically 30-50% of that prize’s FMV.
  • Minimum bid increase: This is the lowest amount by which your auctioneer can increase an item’s price during bidding—usually about 10% of the starting bid amount.
  • Minimum bid or reserve price: This is the least amount you’re willing to let a live auction prize go for. Set reserve prices at 15-25% of each item’s FMV so your auctioneer can work their way down if no one takes the starting bid amount.

If you need help figuring out your live auction item pricing formulas, we’ve created this handy calculator—simply enter a prize’s FMV to get started!

The Best Live Auction Item Ideas


To help you determine which items align with your audience’s preferences, we’ve divided our prize ideas into five categories. Depending on your goals, you could theme your whole auction around one type of prize, or choose a few items from each category to appeal to more varied interests.

Arts and Leisure Live Auction Items

Your supporters likely spend their free time in a wide variety of ways. Whether they enjoy sports, performing arts, or simply relaxing, the right exclusive items or unique activities can bring in big bids. For example, you could offer:

  • Season tickets for a local college or professional sports team
  • Travel to and seats at a major athletic event (Super Bowl, World Cup, World Series, NCAA Championships, etc.)
  • Opportunities to throw a first pitch or do a football coin toss
  • Signed memorabilia from a specific sports team (jerseys, balls, baseball cards, etc.)
  • Seats at a live taping of a popular talk show or game show
  • Behind-the-scenes tours of film or TV sets
  • Tickets to a movie premiere, including professional photos on the red carpet
  • Front-row seats at a popular concert or Broadway show (plus merchandise or photo ops)
  • Season passes at a local performing arts center, ballet company, or symphony orchestra
  • Signed instruments formerly owned by famous musicians
  • Tickets to an entertainment awards show like the Oscars or Grammys
  • Mani-pedis, facials, professional massages, and other spa treatments
  • Bundles of popular technology (e.g., a video game system with controllers and games or a smart TV with several gift cards for popular streaming services)
  • Assortments of pet care products and services (grooming, boarding, dog walking, etc.)


In addition to surveying your target audience, it’s useful to research what concerts, shows, and sporting events are coming up shortly after your auction to ensure your offerings align with current trends.

Food and Beverage Live Auction Item Ideas

Like with arts and leisure, live auction items that involve food and beverages need to appeal to supporters’ varied tastes. Some of the top options include:

  • Multi-course dinner at a high-end restaurant
  • Dinner or brunch club (i.e., gift cards and transportation vouchers that allow the winning bidder to try a new restaurant every month for a year)
  • “Pie of the Month” club (can involve the delivery of dessert pies, savory pies, or pizza to the winner’s home)
  • Behind-the-scenes tour of a brewery and beer sampler
  • Vineyard tour, wine tasting experience, and bottles to take home
  • Year’s supply of coffee from a local coffee shop
  • Traditional afternoon tea experience
  • Bar or pub crawl for the winner and their friends
  • Tour of local food trucks
  • Catering for an event (personal or corporate)
  • Meal prepared at the winning bidder’s home by a celebrity chef or the winner of a cooking show
  • High-quality cooking oil, herb, and spice samplers
  • Popular, high-quality kitchen appliances like mixers, blenders, or air fryers
  • Professional cooking classes
  • Having a menu item named after the winner at a local restaurant or bakery
  • Opportunity to create a custom flavor at an ice cream shop


While some auction participants might be looking for physical items, many prefer to either win experiences or buy consumable items that don’t clutter up their homes. Offering live auction items themed around food and beverages covers the categories of experiences and consumables simultaneously!

Family-Friendly Live Auction Items

Chances are, some of your auction participants will be parents or grandparents looking for kid-friendly items. If they see one-of-a-kind activities and products for children and families in your auction catalog, they’ll be excited to bid. Cater to this segment of your nonprofit’s audience with items such as:

  • Birthday party packages, including games and crafts, a custom cake from a local bakery, and a visit from a performer dressed as an animated character
  • Day-in-the-life experiences for different careers (e.g., firefighters, pilots, or school principals)
  • After-hours access at an arcade or family fun park
  • Season tickets to nearby amusement parks or water parks
  • Community pool passes for the family (plus water toys or floats)
  • Annual membership at a local children’s museum, aquarium, or zoo
  • Private movie screening at a local theater (including concessions)
  • Family photo shoot and prints
  • Children’s book reading with a popular author
  • Kids’ bedroom makeover by a professional interior decorator
  • Backyard jungle gym (including construction) and trampoline
  • Popular, valuable toys such as LEGO sets or American Girl Dolls
  • Week of summer day camp or overnight camp


Family-friendly auction items are often just as popular with the kids who benefit from them as they are with the adults who bid on them. You’ll engage your current supporters who have children or grandchildren and introduce your organization and its mission to the youngest members of your community.

Health and Wellness Auction Item Ideas

Anyone can benefit from healthy living, regardless of age or interests. Consider offering these items and experiences at your next auction to appeal to your health-minded donors:

  • Gym, aquatic center, or golf club memberships
  • Specialized fitness classes such as Zumba, hot yoga, or Pilates
  • Supplies for popular racket sports (tennis, badminton, pickleball, etc.)
  • Professional lessons for any sport
  • Healthy eating cooking classes or workshops
  • Mindfulness and meditation sessions
  • Active adventures like hiking retreats or white-water rafting trips
  • Personal training sessions
  • Shopping spree of popular activewear brands
  • Home gym equipment (stationary bikes, ellipticals, weights, etc.)
  • Standing desks and under desk treadmills for home offices


In addition to taking your audience into account, consider your nonprofit’s mission when choosing auction item themes. Healthcare organizations and other wellness-related charities would likely benefit from incorporating health-related items into their auctions since they’ll indirectly promote their missions as they fundraise.

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

Travel-Related Live Auction Items

Travel-related items are best-sellers at nonprofit auctions for several reasons. Putting together a few vacation packages adds unique, big-ticket items to your auction, allowing you to bring in some of your live auction’s largest bids. Plus, travel appeals to a wide range of supporters.

Some of our favorite ideas for travel-themed live auction items include:

  • Stays at luxury or all-inclusive beach resorts
  • Ocean or river cruises with multiple ports of call
  • Flights and hotel stays for a domestic destination of the winner’s choice
  • Holiday-season trip to New York City for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, or the New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square
  • Tour of multiple U.S. national parks, plus a rental car to travel between them
  • Family vacation to Disney World or Disneyland, including park admission and on-property accommodations
  • Sightseeing tour of a popular international tourist destination, like Paris, London, or Tokyo
  • Accommodations and tee times at famous golf courses
  • Ski chalet stay, mountain passes, and equipment rentals
  • Camping supplies (tent, sleeping bags, portable grill, etc.) and campground passes
  • Bundle of high-quality luggage and other travel products like neck pillows, portable chargers, and TSA-approved toiletry containers
  • “Road trip survival kit” with a trunk organizer, cooler, sunglasses, reusable water bottles, snacks, car games, car chargers, and several gas station gift cards

While these travel-related items are popular and lucrative, they’re often the most challenging type of auction item to procure, as mentioned previously. Fortunately, there are dedicated providers of fundraising auction travel packages you can partner with to make this easier—like Winspire.

How Winspire Works

Winspire curates bucket-list vacation packages that are specifically designed for nonprofit fundraisers like live auctions, silent auctions, and raffles. Your organization can get started with Winspire in four easy steps:

A graphical list of four steps to procure live auction items through Winspire, which are discussed below.

  1. Browse Winspire’s vacation packages (known as Experiences) and choose the ones that would appeal to your live auction’s target audience.
  2. Promote your chosen Experiences to your supporters—Winspire will provide photos of each vacation that you can use in your event marketing materials, catalog, and displays.
  3. Offer the vacation packages at your event risk-free, because you only pay for what you sell at your event. Plus, you can award each Experience as a prize more than once—for example, in your live auction and in an accompanying silent auction or raffle.
  4. Provide a voucher to each winning bidder so they can work with Winspire to book their vacation with no additional work required for your organization!

When you sell Winspire’s Experiences at your live auction, every dollar you raise above the Nonprofit Cost (list price) goes directly to your organization. Since our founding in 2008, we’ve helped nonprofits across the US and Canada raise more than $110 million for their missions!
Boost your live auction's revenue potential with unique fundraising travel packages. Contact Winspire.

Additional Tips for Live Auction Item Procurement

Now that you know what kinds of items to look for and the basic strategy for featuring them in your live auction, let’s look at a few additional tips to take your procurement approach from good to great.

Three tips for live auction item procurement, which are covered in the following sections.

Get to Know Your Audience

As mentioned previously, it’s vital to understand your live auction’s target audience so you can procure items they’d be excited to win. Use the information in your nonprofit’s donor database to segment your supporters based on shared characteristics, such as:

  • Demographics: Age, location, education, family status, wealth
  • Psychographics: Hobbies, interests, values, lifestyles, motivations for supporting your mission
  • Giving history: Average donation amount, giving frequency and recency, lifetime value
  • Engagement history: Past event attendance, volunteering, advocacy, interactions with your organization’s marketing materials

Once you’ve created supporter segments based on this information, choose the groups you’d most like to engage through your live auction, which will guide your prize selection. Then, create supporter personas (profiles of fictional supporters in your target audience) that you can reference throughout the procurement process.

Form an Auction Item Committee

Auction item procurement is a complex process, so it’s best to get multiple people involved. Assemble a committee of staff members, board members, and volunteers, since all of these individuals will likely have different skills, perspectives, and connections you can leverage during the process.

Plan an initial meeting (either in-person or via video conference) to collaboratively brainstorm your live auction item wishlist. Write down as many ideas as possible, then prioritize them based on how much you want them and how easy they’ll be to secure. Once you’ve finalized your must-have and nice-to-have prizes, divide up sourcing responsibilities among your committee members, taking their skills and connections into account as you delegate tasks.

Send each committee member out with a procurement packet that includes a copy of your wishlist, a contribution form, and a donation request letter template that they can customize for each individual or business they approach. Train them on best practices for soliciting contributions in person, over the phone, and via email. Also, remember to ensure they’re prepared to pivot if someone turns down their initial request.

Leverage Corporate Sponsorships

The first place you should turn when looking for live auction items is your existing corporate sponsors. Although individual donors and new sponsors may also be willing to contribute prizes, leveraging business relationships you’ve already established will save your organization time and resources while making it more likely that you’ll get what you need.

Approach each sponsor with a request for a specific item that aligns with their business model, but have some backup ideas in mind in case they say no. For instance, if you were to ask an electronics store owner to donate a new smartphone, and they turned down that request but still seemed interested in supporting your auction, you could ask them to contribute a video game system instead. Some businesses might prefer to support your auction financially rather than (or in addition to!) donating items, so have a list of fiscal sponsorship options available as well.

The most effective partnerships between nonprofits and businesses are mutually beneficial, so your organization should provide auction sponsors with free publicity in exchange for their support. Feature their logos on your event signage, in your marketing materials, and in your auction catalog to thank them for their contributions and foster a long-term relationship.

Wrapping Up: Additional Resources on Nonprofit Auctions

The ideas in this guide are just a few of the many possible items you could include in your nonprofit’s live auction. Remember to communicate with supporters to understand their preferences, then take those into consideration as you finalize your catalog. Additionally, ensure quality and minimize risk by working with trusted auction item providers—like Winspire!

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

Send your nonprofit’s auction participants to the destinations of their dreams. Choose from 200+ bucket-list, no-risk travel Experiences when you partner with Winspire. Contact Us.