Is your auction helping you, or hurting you?

[FIRST NAME GOES HERE],

Hot take: your gala's auction might be hurting you more than helping you.

I know. Auctions can be viewed as a staple. They're expected. Your board loves them. Your guests have come to anticipate them. But let’s dig in.

You've spent months - sometimes the better part of a year - designing a meaningful experience. Building connection. Telling your story. Moving people closer to your mission. Creating the conditions for genuine generosity.

And then, right in the middle of it: a vacation package to Hawaii and a signed football jersey.

Fun? Absolutely. But how does it serve the experience you just built? Does it deepen the connection your guests are feeling - or does it interrupt it?

I've watched live auctions exhaust teams and drain the energy right out of a room. The momentum you've carefully built over the course of an evening can stall in an instant. Guests who weren't planning to bid pull out their phones. The emotional through-line you worked so hard to maintain gets lost.

And yet organizations keep doing them - because it's what they've always done.

Here's what I've seen work instead.

The most powerful fundraising moments I've witnessed weren't auctions. They were a well-told story followed by a single, clear, emotionally resonant ask. A moment where the room is still and every person in it understands exactly what they're being invited to do - and why it matters.

I'm a huge fan of a well-executed paddle raise. There's something extraordinary about a room full of people witnessing each other commit. The collective power is palpable. It deepens the experience rather than interrupting it. And it keeps the emotional momentum of the evening moving forward rather than grinding it to a halt.

Here's my full take: auctions aren't inherently bad. Used strategically, they can work - and I especially love auction items that tie directly to the mission, that give guests a tangible piece of the work to take home with them. But too often they're included out of habit. Because it's always been done. Because someone else is doing it. Without ever asking whether the juice is worth the squeeze.

Not everything that raises money is worth what it costs the room.

Before your next event, I'd encourage you to ask: is every fundraising lever we're pulling actually serving the experience we're trying to create? Or are some of them working against it?

That's a question we love working through with our clients — thinking carefully about which levers add to the overall experience, keep guests emotionally engaged, and deliver real ROI across every dimension that matters.