FundRaiser Blog

The FundRaiser Software Blog is an excellent resource for nonprofit organizations looking to learn more about fundraising, donor management, membership management, and much more.

Handling Holiday Auction Gifts

auction-blog-header

Auctions are a popular part of holiday fundraising and festivities. People are often looking for gifts and a charitable donation while they’re marking off items on their holiday list creates a great way to raise funds and provide value to your donors. Auctions also provide a way for local businesses to promote themselves and do good in the local community. Once the auction is over, how do you enter in the money raised from the auction?

The good news is that auction gifts can be entered in the same way you input regular donations into your database with just a few adjustments. First, use an appropriate motivation code. On gifts, the motivation code is what encouraged someone to give. Thus, if you’re operating a holiday auction, perhaps as part of a banquet or gala, then the auction, and the item they purchased, are the motivating factors.

However while a general donation is most often 100% tax deductible, an auction item often isn’t. There is a value to the item won, and this value is subtracted from the total auction to get the net gift. Don’t worry. FundRaiser handles net gifts by allowing you to enter in the benefit amount (the value of the item) and the description (what the item is). These fields are conveniently included in the letter fields so you can provide a net gift.

Finally, you might want to include a note above and beyond the regular thank you letter. In the picture you can see the fields (benefit amount, benefit description, and merge notes) completed on the gift and how they’ll appear in our sample letter.

Auctions can be a great way to generate participation from your donors, as well as fun events for your organization to hold. Making sure those gifts are entered into FundRaiser isn’t that different from entering in regular gifts, and with the tools built into FundRaiser, is easy to do. We wish you all the success with your holiday fundraising efforts.

If you'd like more help on editing or creating thank you letters, we welcome you to contact FundRaiser Technical Support at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 800-543-4131 or register for our Word Processing and Mail Merge class.

Our Heartfelt Thanks As We Roll into the New Year
Gift Thank Yous Are the Heart of Appreciation

Related Posts

Wait a minute, while we are rendering the calendar
letter reports arts salutation accounting software texting donors foundations Groupings donor engagement premiums letter templates tech tip new donors appeal FundRaiser Hosted donation history new version upgrade flash sales announcements corporate sponsors Importing Data community broadcasting membersip benefits moves management correspondence ticketsales targeted mailings Thank You grassroots campaign password protection recurring gifts case study lapsed donor membership programs Donor Portal upgrading donors In-Kind gifts FundRaiser Basic new features holiday giving development director animal rescue Company culture small donations on site training large donations backing up data motivation donor preferences volunteers brick campaign understanding giving trends entering auction gifts advanced tab grants annual campaign online donations SYBUNTS Task List anonymous donors giving levels adding personal notes to letters fundraising letters Crowdfunding Campaign how to handle auction gifts Tickles GoFundMe project membership benefits donor attrition rate donor slip technical support Facebook campaign major donors charity golf tournaments pledges user spotlights support product news how-to videos Snow Birds security Excel event management major gift prospects happiness donor recognition transparency training personalizing letters follow up customer portal donor advised funds Facebook importing csv customer service Reminders phoning donors LYBUNTS vacation donor gift entry solicitors Personalizing prospects capital campaign legacy giving appeal letters donor relations data analysis giving history look and feel planned giving new leadership publicity materials Thanksgiving new nonprofit volunteering New Year relationship tracking donor contact information change of address updating custom page donor prospects End of Year Letters raffle Network for Good pictures passwords training tip Volunteer module add ons campaign management planning Cloud Alternative Addresses Codes holiday letters office annual maintenance plan disaster relief in honor of donations tax summary letters community arts nonprofits mission driven merge fields PayPal social media tribute gifts ROI welcome packet holiday monthly giving thank you letters spare fields Constant Contact auction board members the Ask fundraising nonprofit fundraising Congratulations donor loyalty donor retention rate correspondance community supported gardens donor attrition FundRaiser Spark general donor source donor targeting operating systems email banquet operational costs overview data conversion campaign motivation code data entry mailing donor profile communications spreadsheets GivingTuesday gift acceptance policy mode code budget increasing giving amounts endowment campaign ticket sales Resiliency merge notes donor retention role of nonprofits online donations memorial giving repeat donors building donor relationships user interface government grants NCOA processing alumni National Change of Address Reporting to IRS word processor features gift notes field updates direct mail segmenting donors #GivingTuesday

Connect With Us

  800-880-3454 ext 3
  Email Us
  Request More Information
  Monday-Friday
      8:30AM-5:30PM CST

Customer Portal Login Form

User Name:
Password:

If you are not sure about your Customer User Name, please call 800-543-4131 and we will be able to help you.

Or you have lost your password, Request Password