Online Fundraising: Silent Auctions

Description

Originally, my chapter was going to host a raffle. However, we found out that raffles are illegal in the state of Alabama, so we figured out the second best thing was a silent auction. The goal of this fundraiser was to raise money for sending students to the 2026 CMAA World Conference, and we did raise a decent amount of money. The other goal with this fundraiser was to show people what we as an organization are doing and why, and to help spread awareness of what the CMAA is and how amazing it is to be involved as a student.

Implementation

This idea was implemented in place of a raffle, with the support of all chapter members. The chapter members have been supportive in getting the word out that there is a silent auction going on and what it's purpose is. The silent auction was implemented online, which came with its challenges and advantages. Setting up an online auction through Google Sheets and Forms was a bit tedious, but it worked in the end as the University of North Alabama does not allow third party integration for fundraising activities. We were able to reach a lot of people with the online format, but it was difficult to get people to engage, and there was also the challenge of how to get the items to the bid winners. All in all, I think we did as well as we could have with this being the first time our chapter tried a fundraising platform like this. The members are excited that we got support from the auction, and are looking forward to improving upon fundraiser success each year!