The fundraising dream is to have an auction where donors are whipped into a frenzy on items, raising more money than expected. While that often happens, 2.12% of silent auction items receive no bids at all.
Autographed items receive the most bids, 8.25 on average, followed by school-related items at 7.53 and food at 6.56 bids. The worst performing category is health and fitness at an average 3.72 bids, according to data released by GiveSmart by Community Brands.
The data was collected from more than 880,000 lines of silent auction data accrued from 2019 and 2020 campaigns on GiveSmart. The data was focused on silent and live auction items that included fair market value data and category information. The study included 16 categories of auction items.
The data shows that the Average Fair Market Value for all silent auction items was $374.09 during 2019.
When comparing 2020 to 2019 auctions, the Return on Fair Market Value increased across the country with the greatest increase in the Southwest region. Starting bid price decreased across the country, but with the positive growth in return on fair market value, this is a sign that popularity in auction items continued in 2020, according to Steve Greanias, general manager at GiveSmart.
Return on Fair Market Value (FMV) is the calculation of the purchase price versus the Fair Market Value of an item. The formula is Purchase price / FMV = Ret on FMV. A return of 100% or more means the item was sold for at least the total FMV.
In 2019, all auction items in the study collected an 87.45% return on FMV.
Auction items with the most action varied by time of year. Golf outings averaged 7.31 bids per item and a 229.91% return on starting bid during the first quarter of the year. Autographed items averaged 7.01 bids per item and 109.24% return on FMV. School-related packages averaged 7.93 bids per item and 329.62% return on starting bid price, according to the data.
During the third quarter of the year, autographed items averaged 13.76 bids per item and had a 551.42% return on starting bid price. Food and Meals averaged 6.46 bids per item. School-related packages averaged 9.09 bids per item and 132.69% return on FMV.
To receive a copy of the 44-page report, click here … https://www.givesmart.com/resource/ultimate-silent-auction-study/
