In short
- A charity auction run sheet is not the gala timeline. It scripts the auction segment only.
- Build it as a table: clock time, duration, lot, who speaks, what AV and the committee do.
- Give each lot 90 seconds to three minutes. Six to eight lots fit in twenty minutes.
- Agree standby and go wording with the AV desk before doors, and put a name against every cue.
- The live pledge belongs on the same sheet, straight after the last lot, with its own cues.
I have run auctions off a scribbled list and off a proper run sheet, and the sheet wins every time. A charity auction run sheet is narrow: it covers the twenty-odd minutes in which most of the night’s money arrives. I am Kevin Durham, a charity auctioneer of twenty years with over £10 million raised, and this is how I build mine.
What is a charity auction run sheet?
A charity auction run sheet is a timed, cue-by-cue script for the live auction segment, written so someone who has never seen your event could stand up and run it. It lists every lot in order, how long each gets, who speaks, and what the desk and the floor do while they speak.
The idea comes from theatre. A cue sheet shows the sequence of technical cues for a show, usually as a table. An auction is a show with a till attached.
How does a run sheet differ from the gala running order?
The running order covers the whole evening; the run sheet covers one segment in far more detail. If the gala running order says the auction starts at 21:10 and runs twenty minutes, the run sheet says what happens in each of them.
They serve different people. The running order goes to the venue, the caterers and the speakers. The run sheet goes to five or six: auctioneer, AV operator, spotters, clerk, and whoever on the committee can decide mid-segment.
What goes in each column of the run sheet?
Six columns do the job. Production teams build these grids with key events down the first column and each department’s cues beside them, as this production cue sheet guide shows.
| Column | What it holds |
|---|---|
| Clock time | Real time, not elapsed. 21:12, not “minute two”. |
| Duration | Minutes allowed for this row. |
| Lot or segment | Lot number, short name, donor credit. |
| Auctioneer | Opening bid, increment ladder, reserve, closing line. |
| AV desk | Slide, film, sound, lighting state, totaliser. |
| Floor and committee | Spotter positions, who holds the paperwork. |
Two things sit in the header rather than a column: a version number and a time stamp. Production cue sheets are always given a version number, because they change and the crew must know which one they hold. Mine say “v3, 18:40”.
Why does lot order decide the total?
Because bidding momentum is a skill, not luck, and the sequence either builds it or flattens it. Open with something broad and affordable so the first hands go up. Hold your strongest lot for the middle, once the room has warmed. Finish on something with real pull.
My strong opinion, and it costs some auction companies money to hear it: around ten good lots beats fifty ordinary ones. A long catalogue splits the bidding. Put a one-line reason beside each lot, so nobody rearranges the order late on.
Order also protects the awkward lots. Note each lot’s status on the sheet, donated or consignment, and say it out loud. I did exactly that at one event, and the money followed the transparency.
How long should each lot get?
Between 90 seconds and three minutes. Six to eight lots, sold properly, fill twenty minutes without the room checking its watch. Anything longer means two bidders grinding each other down, and that is the moment to close.
Put the duration in as a number and keep a running total in the margin. When a lot overruns, take the time back from the weakest lot, never from the pledge.
A worked example charity auction run sheet
A twenty-one minute auction plus a ten minute pledge, as I would hand it to an AV desk I had never met.
| Time | Mins | Lot or segment | Auctioneer | AV desk | Floor and committee |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21:08 | 2 | Beneficiary film ends | Stage left, mic live | Hold frame, standby AV 1 | Spotters in position, clerk at laptop |
| 21:10 | 1 | Auction opens | Hold for quiet, then “it is time for the live auction” | AV 1 go: title slide, music out | Chair seated and visible |
| 21:11 | 2 | Lot 1, signed shirt, donated | Open £150, steps of £50 | AV 2 go: lot 1 | Spotter A left, B right |
| 21:13 | 3 | Lot 2, restaurant experience | Open £200, steps of £100 | AV 3 go: lot 2 | Clerk confirms winning table |
| 21:16 | 3 | Lot 3, hotel break, consignment | Open £300, state the reserve | AV 4 go: lot 3 | Committee checks reserve wording |
| 21:19 | 4 | Lot 4, headline experience | Open £1,000, duel the top two | AV 5 go: 30 second film | Spotters watch the back tables |
| 21:23 | 3 | Lot 5, closing lot, donated | Open £400, close on a lift | AV 6 go: lot 5 | Clerk totals, slip to chair |
| 21:26 | 2 | Raffle draw | Draw three tickets | AV 7 go: raffle slide | Sales closed 21:00, drum ready |
| 21:28 | 2 | Pledge set-up | Hand to chair, 60 seconds | Lights to 50%, standby tiers | Chair speaks from the floor |
| 21:30 | 10 | Live pledge | Tiers £5,000 to £100, hold at £500 | AV 8 go: tier slides, totaliser live | Four counters on paddles |
| 21:40 | 2 | Total and handover | Announce the total, hand back | AV 9 go: total slide | Clerk prints for the chair |
Change the lots, keep the shape, and a stranger could run it.
Who cues what between the auctioneer, the AV desk and the committee
Borrow the stage manager’s convention. A standby is called ten-ish seconds before the cue, then the cue name and “go” at the moment it happens. “Standby AV 4”, then “AV 4, go”. Write both in, so nobody invents their own language.
Then name people, not departments. Councils say the same about events: identifying specific responsibilities for everyone involved is essential to avoid overload. On an auction sheet that is a named AV operator, a named clerk, a named decision-maker, and spotters with a side each.
Volunteers need more than a name on a page. The fundraising code expects volunteer fundraisers to get training and support suited to their role, so brief the spotters: how to signal a bid, and what to do when two people claim it.
The lines your run sheet must spell out
Some rows exist for legal reasons, not theatrical ones. I check these twice.
- Reserves and consignment status. Guests should know where their money lands, and trustees must keep a charity open and accountable about fundraising.
- Any lot sold as a split payment. HMRC allows the excess over an item’s value to count as a donation only where the item is commercially available and the donor knew, at the winning bid, what it could be bought for. Put that split payment wording in the auctioneer column.
- The raffle cut-off. Tickets for an incidental lottery can only be sold at the event while it is taking place, and prizes cannot roll over. Give the cut-off and the draw their own rows.
- The Gift Aid prompt. Worth 25p on every eligible £1, but only with a declaration.
- A contingency row. The code requires a risk assessment before an event, plus a plan for anything you could reasonably expect. For an auction that is a drop-two-lots plan, and who makes that call.
What stops a run sheet working on the night?
Mostly the sheet existing and nobody reading it. A document emailed at 17:00 is decoration. Walk it through out loud, in the room, before doors open.
The other failures are familiar. Nobody commands the room before lot one, so the first lots are sold into noise: I lost a room that way once, and a man bid on an item he could not hear properly. Speeches overrun and the auction absorbs the loss. Three people end up working from v2. Or the sheet swells into a second auction catalogue.
Whoever holds the room holds the total. The sheet just helps you hold it.
Common questions about a charity auction run sheet
Who should write the auction run sheet?
The auctioneer, with the event manager. I draft the auction and the pledge, the organiser merges it into the evening timeline, and we both sign off a final version. More on that in my guide to briefing your auctioneer.
Where does the live pledge sit on the run sheet?
Immediately after the last lot, on the same sheet, with its own tier rows and cues. The live pledge is usually the biggest earner, so it gets the warmest minutes and the most detail. At one gala the auction brought in £27,000 against an expected £14,000, and the pledge added £30,600. That was a strong committee behind a strong cause, with the rows written down.
How many copies do you print?
Six: auctioneer, AV desk, clerk, chair and one per spotter. Paper, not phones, all the same version. You can hire an auctioneer for a free consultation if you want yours built with you.
Kevin Durham
Charity auctioneer & event host