How do we get big auction items without asking the same families and local businesses every year?

Committees at Catholic and Christian schools turn over almost every year. The advancement office and parent volunteers do the heavy lifting, and the room is full of families, grandparents, alumni, and parishioners who know each other well. Trust matters in that room. When you keep returning to the same families and local businesses for big auction items, you risk wearing out relationships that took years to build.

You do not pay anything upfront. Each travel or experience package has a set cost, and you keep every dollar above that cost. If an item does not sell, you owe nothing. You can sell the same package to multiple winning bidders when the bidding gets hot. That is normal practice, not a rare event.

This week, pick two or three big live-auction slots you would normally fill with a donation ask. Giveback XP can show you travel and experience packages that fit your school’s gala. You only pay for an experience if it sells, keep 100% over the cost, and can sell experiences multiple times if the bidding gets hot. You are not too late: items can be added the same day as your event.

Your donated items, the ones your community gives willingly, stay in the silent auction where they belong. The live auction gets fresh travel packages families can picture themselves in. Next year’s committee picks up a clean process, and nobody has to make the same ask twice.