What's actually in a charity auction catalogue or brochure

A charity auction catalogue is the document your guests read before, and sometimes during, the bidding, whether that is a printed brochure on the table or a page inside your silent auction software. Get it right and it does real selling work before anyone picks up a paddle. Get it wrong and even a strong lot underperforms.

What does a charity auction catalogue need to include?

A charity auction catalogue needs, at minimum, a clear description of each lot, its estimated value, any reserve price if one applies, sponsor or donor credit, and how the winner actually redeems the item.

Miss any one of these and you create friction at exactly the point you want bidding to feel effortless. A guest who cannot quickly work out what they are bidding on, what it is roughly worth, or how they collect it if they win, hesitates. Hesitation is the enemy of a good auction.

How should you write a lot description that actually sells?

A good lot description leads with the specific, tangible outcome for the bidder, not a generic summary of the item, and answers the obvious practical questions before anyone has to ask them.

“A weekend away” undersells the lot. “Two nights in a countryside spa hotel, including breakfast and one treatment, valid for twelve months” gives a guest something concrete to picture and act on. I have watched a room respond noticeably differently to the same lot depending purely on how specifically it was written up. Specificity is not decoration. It is what converts interest into a bid. My guide to sourcing auction lots covers how to find items worth describing this well in the first place.

Should every lot have a stated value?

Yes. Every lot should carry an honest estimated value, because it gives bidders a reference point for what a fair bid looks like and removes the guesswork that otherwise slows the room down.

Some organisers worry that stating a value caps the bidding. In my experience the opposite is usually true: bidders who do not know roughly what something is worth bid cautiously, if at all, because nobody wants to overpay in front of a room of people they know. A clear value gives them permission to bid confidently, and a strong lot with genuine competition will comfortably clear its stated value anyway.

Do you need a reserve price in the catalogue?

Not every lot needs a reserve, but where one exists, it should be disclosed rather than hidden, since bidders who suspect an undisclosed reserve tend to bid more cautiously across the whole evening, not just on that one lot.

Reserves make the most sense for higher-value or consignment-style items where the donor has a genuine minimum in mind. For most donated lots, I would rather skip the reserve entirely and let the room’s energy set the price. A catalogue full of hidden reserves creates a subtle wariness that works against you all night.

Why does sponsor credit in the catalogue actually matter?

Sponsor and donor credit in the catalogue matters because it is a large part of why a business donates a lot again the following year, and getting it wrong quietly costs you next year’s donations.

This is a detail organisers underrate constantly. A local business that donates a lot wants to see its name printed clearly, not buried in small print at the bottom of the page. Treat the catalogue as part of your relationship with that sponsor, not just a bidding aid for guests, and you protect a pipeline of future donations that costs nothing beyond getting the credit right.

The printed auction catalogue vs what happens on stage

No. The printed or digital catalogue and what I say from the stage are two different documents doing two different jobs: the catalogue informs, and what happens on stage sells.

The catalogue gives guests the facts in advance so nobody is confused about what a lot is or what it is worth. What I do on stage is different: building the story around the lot in the moment, reading the room, and pushing the pace so bidding actually competes rather than trickles. A catalogue cannot do that work for you, no matter how well it is written. It sets the stage. The room still needs someone running it.

Silent auction catalogue format

For a silent auction, the catalogue doubles as the bidding interface itself, whether on paper bid sheets or inside software, so it needs the same five essentials as the live auction catalogue, presented clearly enough that a guest can bid without asking a volunteer for help.

I offer guidance on structuring this in-house, since a badly laid out silent auction sheet or screen creates exactly the same hesitation as a vague live auction description, just multiplied across every lot running at once with nobody standing next to it to sell it verbally.

★★★★★

“We hired Kevin to run our live auction and we raised a staggering amount of money. It was hilarious, stimulated the audience, and I highly recommend it.”

We raised a staggering amount

Catalogue checklist

• A specific, concrete description for every lot, not a generic summary.
• An honest estimated value, stated plainly rather than left for guests to guess.
• A disclosed reserve, only where one genuinely applies.
• Clear sponsor or donor credit, printed prominently enough that it protects next year’s donation.
• Redemption details, so the winner knows exactly how and when to claim the item.

Once the catalogue is right, most of the friction that slows a room down on the night has already been removed before the auctioneer even picks up the microphone. If you want help sourcing lots worth cataloguing well in the first place, my piece on the best auction items for charity events is the natural next read.