How The Lingfield Foundation raised £2,500 with an online charity auction alongside its Golf Day

The Lingfield Foundation added an online auction to its Golf Day fundraising and raised £2,500 for its access and bursary work.

Sally Ross, Fundraising and Development Officer at Lingfield College, set up the auction on Aucly. Because it was online, people did not have to be at the Golf Day to take part — parents, supporters and the wider school community could browse the lots and bid in their own time.

Sally’s experience of using Aucly

Sally and The Lingfield Foundation team found Aucly easy to use overall, both when setting up the auction and managing it while it was live. The simplicity of the platform was a real strength and helped keep the work straightforward.

The fundraising context

The Lingfield Foundation supports Lingfield College by widening access to the school. Its work includes transformational bursaries, with the first bursary student intended for September 2026, and Lingfield Ignite, a fully funded Saturday programme for local children not currently attending the school, launching in January 2027.

The Golf Day gave the Foundation a clear fundraising moment with a ready-made audience of parents, supporters and the wider school community. The online auction helped turn donated prizes into an additional fundraising stream for that work.

How the auction worked alongside the event

Rather than limiting the auction to people attending on the day, The Lingfield Foundation used Aucly to keep bidding open online. Supporters could browse the lots, place bids from their phone and return to the auction while it was live.

That meant the auction could build interest before the Golf Day, reach people beyond those on the course, and give each donated prize its own clear listing.

How Lingfield College promoted the auction

Lingfield College shared the auction on social media and sent direct links to people booked onto the Golf Day. They also opened it up to the wider school community, not just people attending on the course. That gave the auction a bigger audience and meant supporters had around a month to browse, bid and come back to it.

The auction was live for around a month before closing, giving the team time to build interest rather than relying only on activity on the day itself.

The prize mix

The prize list fitted the event without being limited to it. Rounds of golf sat alongside school-community prizes, local experiences and hospitality gifts, giving both Golf Day guests and wider supporters a reason to browse.

Golf examples included two St George’s Hill Golf Club rounds of golf, which closed at £410 and £400, and a Royal Ashdown Forest round at £375. The wider mix included a Headmaster’s parking space, Lingfield Racecourse hospitality, local meals and restaurant prizes.

Why this worked

The nice thing about this example is that it does not only apply to golf days. A school dinner, fair, alumni event or giving day could use the same idea: put the prizes online, share one link, and give people time to bid even if they are not there in person.

For The Lingfield Foundation, the auction supported the wider fundraising campaign without being limited to people attending in person. It also meant the team did not have to track bids on spreadsheets or chase manual updates during the event.

What other schools can learn

• Tie the auction to an existing school fundraising event.
• Open bidding to people beyond the event attendees.
• Give the auction enough time to build interest.
• Share direct links repeatedly with guests, parents, alumni and supporters.
• Use social media and school-community channels to widen reach.
• Source donated prizes that fit both the event audience and the wider school community.
• Keep the auction simple to set up and manage, preferring an established online platform.