San Diego Site Pros, Inc.
"As an event management company, we're always constantly looking for various silent auction systems that simplifies the process from ticket registration to generating ticket reports. In every event, one of our goals is making our guests and our clients experience flawless and memorable. Silent Auction Pro enable us to achieve our goals with its simple check-in and check-out process, data entry of auction items, and printing of auction item materials. Our event staff and volunteer training hours has been reduced using the Silent Auction system due to it's simplicity and easy to understand. We've used various systems before and it was not user-friendly and our volunteers were having difficulty in navigating to the old system. Silent Auction Pro makes everything seamless and enable us to make our clients happy as we help them achieve their goals. I would highly recommend to any organization with fundraising events."
Helna
President/Co-founder
Raised over $30,000
Haleakala Waldorf School
"Getting this software took us from the stone age to the modern age. It has saved tons of time and effort! Every step of our silent auction timeline was simplified. You guys pretty much thought of everything.
I love how easy it is for anyone on our auction team to access information. The cloud based system takes away any fear of losing data.
I love how easy it is for me as the group administrator to quickly reference any detail I might need, before, during, and after the auction. I look forward to using Silent Auction Pro next year."
Marion H.
Auction Chair
Raised over $28000
London PTO
"I cannot say enough good things about Silent Auction Pro! It was so easy to use and made the work of our London PTO Fall Fest & Auction look so organized and professional. The Auction Day component was worth every penny. The bid entry personnel finished in record time of less than 30 minutes for over 300 items. Check out was a breeze and accepting credit cards was a wonderful addition to our event. We have had nothing but positive comments on our auction from volunteers and guests. This was our first year to use Silent Auction Pro, but certainly will not be our last. Thank you for creating such a wonderful program at a reasonable price."
Brandie H.
Auction Chair
Raised over $35,500
Gourmets for God
"We love that our Silent Auction completes on a Sunday and by Wednesday we've easily processed 90% of the payments on over 600+ items and the winners receipts are automatically emailed out. We had 100% paid on all of the items won within 60 days of the auction close. Thanks Silent Auction Pro!"
Monica H.
Auction Chair
Raised over $38,000
Breckenridge Music Festival
"I am a big fan of Silent Auction Pro, and maybe because not only is the HELP menu online well done and resolves most topics, Silent Auction Pro's technical support is quick to respond. Also, having compared several programs, Silent Auction Pro is competitively priced and really is the simplest to train a group on. Since it's online versus purchased software, everyone on your committee can access it from their computer wherever they are. We had 2 people doing just ticket sales and table/seating assignments; 4 doing silent/live auction items log in for example.
We have used Silent Auction Pro for the past 3 years for the Breckenridge Music Festival Annual Gala. We have close to 300 items in a silent auction, 20 "biggies" in the Live Auction, 250+ people attending and we do the entire event (excluding site expenses) including everything for the live & silent auction (donations database, auction # records, bidding sheets etc) ticket sales, seating & food info, name/seating cards/bid numbers with Silent Auction Pro. We also use their online auction module which works quite well, so therefore we also use their merchant account and credit card swipers. Twenty minutes after the event we have the outcomes excluding site expenses which we have to do manually, and the next day I can print off thank you letters to attendees, donors (with tax info), and bid winners (with tax info). "
Bette
Auction Chair
Raised over $180,000
Powderhorn Elementary School
"Silent Auction Pro was a huge part of the success of our event last year. Our auction raised well over $30K last year and the year prior I think we did around $20K. The system was great for organizing and tracking all of our donations. We had over 200 donations, and when it came time for our event, we loved the bid sheets and our check out has never run smoother. Another feature we loved was the gift certificates you could print right off the site. We had quite a few donors that did not create a certificate for us and so we loved that we could go right into Silent Auction Pro and print one off. I know our committee is using the program again this year and it was so nice to be able to send a donation letter to all of our previous years donors by just hitting a button. This is a great feature if you plan to use the software year after year.
It was a little scary the first year but we had no problems the night of our event and we were able to check everyone out so quickly. The best part is we had totals immediately following our event. And then the reporting section was so helpful so we could see in what areas we raised the most money. Oh, and we loved being able to sell tickets to our event through this site too. That was great and it made check in the night of our event seamless. We could print bid numbers for our attendees right off the site which was great!
There is a bit of a learning curve the first year but the Silent Auction Pro help desk was great with answering any and all of our questions. Our committee did look at other silent auction software programs but this was by far the best software for the money.
I really have nothing negative to say. I think it is an incredible program and a blessing to non-profits that are trying to raise money but do not have huge budgets to work with. I ran our silent auction for 4 years and last years auction was by far our most successful."
Erin
Auction Chair
Raised over $30,000
Westlake Village
"Thank you to Silent Auction Pro for helping our school raise over $60,000 for our technology fund! We decided to use Silent Auction Pro due to the success of another charity, and we are glad we did. As treasurer of our organization, I loved the fact that I didn't need to get involved with our ticket sales. People were able to easily go on-line and order tickets themselves, and we could just print out the list of guests. We also received excellent support- the Silent Auction Pro team was always available to help us get our questions answered, and the website had all the information we needed as well. For an organization run by volunteers, we needed all the help we could get, and Silent Auction Pro definitely helped us out. We used many of its features including on-line bidding and credit card support. Our event ran smoothly, and the tips Silent Auction Pro gave us came in very handy. Now we are able to easily print out what money we received. All in all, we had a major success with this tool!"
Kessie C
Treasurer
Raised over $60,000
St. Margaret Mary Parish
"Special thanks from the entire St. Margaret Mary Dinner Dance & Auction Committee! It was a great experience and the software worked like a charm the other night and we are still getting compliments from our attendees. What was a nightmare for us last year was a dream come true this year. Our goal was to make checkout as easy, quick and accurate as possible and thanks to your software - we did just that and we were even able to get a dance in. There was a not a single hiccup or dispute the entire evening. I was talking with another couple that night who runs an auction for their Parish and they are definitely interested. Thanks again to the entire Silent Auction Pro Team - your software was a blessing to our very important Church fundraiser"
Chris C.
Auction Chair
Raised over $40,000
NEF Lighthouse
"This is our second year of using Silent Auction Pro for our annual fundraising auction for our public schools and we can highly recommend it.
We looked at several competing products last year before deciding it offered the most-bang-for-the-buck for an Internet-based cloud solution (important for the ability to share access with many users). With only a few weeks to prepare, we were able to import the bidder and donor lists from previous auctions, set up all the new donation and auction items, export all the content for our printed program, run our auction smoothly and efficiently (the check-in and check-out process was MUCH improved from the previous years using spreadsheets), generate all reports needed to review and reconcile the results and easily print thank you letters directly from the software. Our bidders were all very impressed with how much better the auction ran that year and we raised over $41,000.
Our experience was so positive with Silent Aucion Pro, that this year we decided to try to take advantage of almost all of its many features. We added the online bidding option after again reviewing competing solutions, including those that cost thousands of dollars. This year, with more time to prepare, we had almost 300 items listed for bidding online, complete with pictures and links to donor web sites, and collected bids totalling more than $30,000 before our live event even started! I cannot begin to describe how excited our hardworking volunteers were to literally see the fruits of their labor increasing on their computer screens with larger and larger bid results every day of that online auction.
We also took advantage of the integrated credit card processing feature, which allowed us to easily pre-register bidders and sell tickets online. We even had volunteers using iPads to check people in and enter bid results during the auction. And within minutes of the completion of final bidding at our live auction, I checked the results on my phone's browser and realized we had just raised over $56,000 this year. Wow! THANK YOU SILENT AUCTION PRO! And a special thank you to your tech support for all the emails and phone calls you supported us with throughout the whole process.
Look no further. You have found a terrific solution to your online, silent and live auction headaches. We'll certainly be back again next year!"
Scott & Steph W.
Auction Co-Chairs
Raised over $97,000
Tahoe Women's Services
"Silent Auction Pro was a fabulous tool for our annual Chocolate Festival. From helping us manage our contacts in the community, to tracking the status of various donated items, it was useful to help us get organized before the event. But the software really shines the day of the event. Our attendees were so impressed with the professional interaction they had. Beautifully printed bidder numbers; bid sheets with pre-filled minimum bids, bid increments, and "Buy It Now" prices; and invoices calculated to include all of the winning items and tax. Even after the event was done, Silent Auction Pro immediately produced statistics, letting us review the outcome of our event before we even left the venue. I can't say enough about what this technology did for us."
Michele P.
Development Manager
Raised over $21,000
Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church
"It was the right decision to go with Silent Auction Pro! It made our whole event much easier to manage and helped us almost triple our fund raising goal. The system was very easy to use, and we were able to get started with it immediately. Knowing we could call for support anytime with questions and that they were available to us at the time of our event, gave us comfort and confidence! Our check-in and check-out process went smoothly. The pre-printed bid sheets virtually eliminated bidding problems. We also loved the ease of producing the donor thank you notes. We look forward to using Silent Auction Pro for our next event."
Amy D.
Manager of Financial Services
Raised over $13,500
Kiwanis Club of North Lake Tahoe
"We have used Silent Auction Pro to manage our annual Kiwanis auction for the last five years. The program has been vital to the success of our event. Silent Auction Pro is simple to learn and use, literally anticipating the needs of the user. We have improved our bottom line each year since putting the program in place and have raised over $235,000 for our community."
Joseph H.
Past President & Auction Chair 2004 - 2008
Raised over $235,000
Soroptimists
"I can not say enough about Silent Auction Pro. This is the second year we have used the program. It has certainly made it easier to track our auction items: what we have, where they are and which members are pulling their weight. When it comes time to put the program together, it is a ''piece of cake''. It is great for keeping in contact with the donors and the attendees and it is fantastic that at the end of the evening when the last guest leaves the event, we can pull up all the stats and know what we have made and where we have made it. Sales tax is done and we are ready to do our thank you notes. It is fun to use it and I love it."
Nancy O.
Co-chair for The Chocolate Affair
Raised over $57,000
Montessori School of Mt Pleasant
"This was our first year using Silent Auction Pro. The ease of use and comprehensive on-line reporting made a huge difference for us! It took the stress out of the process and allowed our entire team to have visibility throughout the entire project. We loved the on-line brochure! It allowed people to see the items ahead of time & participate with absentee bidding! We are already looking forward to planning next year's event and using Silent Auction Pro again!"
Andrea D.
Booster Club Member
Raised over $10,000
Trinity Luthern Church
"We used Silent Auction Pro for the first time this year for an event we have held for the past 8 years. The improvements Silent Auction Pro made on our previous system were remarkable. Many volunteers are a part of this event annually, and they were amazed by the difference this program made on the preparation, execution, and follow up of our auction. As the leader of this event, Silent Auction Pro allowed me to delegate responsibilities more freely as we were all able to access the same information online. If any sort of problem arose, Silent Auction Pro staff members were available, and even called us first to resolve the issue. We are looking forward to using this system for our event again next year!"
Kara R.
Associate Director of Youth and Family Ministry
Raised over $21,000
International Preschools
"Thank you again for developing the perfect solution to the chaos that was our annual auction. This year's process was simple from the moment we created an event with Silent Auction Pro. In allowing multiple committee members to enter contact inquiries and donations, everyone was on the same page and we avoided embarrassing double-solicitations. The auction administrator and assistants were able to easily sort donations as they arrived based on the software, nothing was misplaced or left out. Follow up was easy for our uncollected donations because the committee members and auction chairs were able to edit the item status from committed to received by member to received by auction admin. The process of converting donations to auction items (silent, live, or raffle) was intuitive and quick. The help file's comprehensive instructions and pointers were invaluable! Everyone who commented on the auction had a positive reaction to check in and check out, we had no lines all night with 160+ attendees and 200+ items and only 3 computers! The emails the Silent Auction Pro support staff sent as the event neared with checklists and reminders made it seem like we had an extra person assisting with the event organization. Thank you! We will be using Silent Auction Pro for every auction we have in the future."
Andrea
Executive Director, International Preschools
Raised over $19,000
P'nai Or
"This is the first time we have done a large silent and live auction. We were encouraged to purchase the use of software to keep our data accurate and to make sure we could effectively track our donations and attendees.
We decided to use Silent Auction Pro because it seemed very comprehensive and very reasonably priced compared to others available thru the internet. Although having a fundraiser is a labor intensive experience, we found that Silent Auction Pro had every aspect of our event covered. There were many aspects of the software that supported us during the planning and implementation process. The support staff was exceptional in their willingness to answer questions and coach us thru email or even phone calls. They even phoned me the day of the auction to make sure all was going well. I was impressed!!
Now that our auction is over..we know exactly how much money was raised thru ticket sales, cash donations, and our silent and live auction. Everything is well organized..item by item. I feel this software was a bargain considering all we learned and received from using it."
Esther
Auction Chair
Raised over $22,000
St. Christopher's Montessori Preschool - Canada
"For several years, our school has hosted live and silent auction fundraisers where parent volunteers generated MS Excel worksheets and Access databases to track contacts, donations and auction items. This year we were thrilled to discover Silent Auction Pro! Multiple users, many with little computer skill, were able to log on to Silent Auction Pro from any computer and track all of the data necessary to run a successful auction.
From managing contacts to bundling auction items, we were constantly impressed with the level of functionality of this software. In addition, the ability to accept credit cards for payment really increased our profits. The Silent Auction Pro support staff went above and beyond to answer our questions in a timely fashion ensuring that the data management aspect of our auction ran very smoothly. We will definitely be using Silent Auction Pro in the future to simplify our fundraising efforts."
Heather
Auction Chair
Raised over $14,000
BookEnds
"In 2010, we successfully used Silent Auction Pro to manage and organize our silent auction, which included nearly 200 auction packages. Beginning in the early planning stage through to the post-auction tasks, Silent Auction Pro's customer service and technical support were phenomenal. Any questions or concerns were immediately responded to, either via email or telephone, in a thorough and thoughtful manner. We also found the company's prices to be extremely competitive and in line with what our event budget allowed. With the use of Silent Auction Pro, our 200 guests registered and checked-in with ease and convenience. Our silent auction was smooth and efficient, and was our most financially successful one yet. The check-out process was markedly improved from years past and this was in large part due to Silent Auction Pro. The post-event reports, produced by Silent Auction Pro, were also outstanding and provide important data that will be helpful to us in planning future auctions and events. Thank you Silent Auction Pro!"
Teresa M.
Auction Chair
Raised over $24,000