Silent Auctions Made Easy!

Categories: Silent Auction


When your foundation or non-profit plans a fundraising event, most likely the question will come up: should we have a silent auction? The next question is how many volunteers are needed to form a committee to do the difficult, time-consuming process of procuring the items to be auctioned off.

Many foundations have the attitude that putting together a silent auction is extremely time-consuming and requires a large amount of (usually unpaid) manpower.

The usual process includes contacting restaurants, hotels, golf courses, jewelers and the most difficult task of them all, gathering sports, entertainment and military memorabilia.

Even after your committee has achieved the back-breaking work of collecting items, which requires dependence on the generosity of businesses in your area, the entire process includes the following work:

  • Collecting items
  • Attractively setting up the display of the items (not all venues can supply the tables needed and almost never have easels).
  • Setting a reasonable price for the opening bid
  • Attendants to protect the merchandise
  • Someone with knowledge about the items, especially entertainment and sports
  • Collecting the funds from the highest bidder at the end of the event
  • Breaking down the display
  • Calculating final payment to the charity

If all this sounds a bit daunting, that’s because it is! A few years ago, memorabilia expert, Zach Abel had a better idea and created Socially Funded. Take another look at the list above, now imagine not having to do any of these tasks, that’s right not one thing other than accepting a check for 100% over the opening bid. That’s the service Socially Funded offers. The average bid is $150 and there is a built-in profit at the minimum bid as well. They absolutely do it ALL.

Another important asset to working with Socially Funded is Zach’s knack for knowing what will sell best based on the profile of people attending your event.  Not only do silent auctions raise funds, they are a source of entertainment.  Zach knows his stuff and is quite engaging answering questions about the background of the merchandise and is always happy to discuss authentication.

Zach has a passion for memorabilia combined with his desire to give back.  At the end of your event, after your foundation has done absolutely nothing, Zach will present you with a check (again 100% over the opening bid) at the end of the evening.

So why not take one big job off your list for your next event and let Socially Funded do it all! Give us a call today at 813-446-5897.