Bursary fundraising
Help widen access through bursaries, scholarships and hardship funds.
For independent schools, foundations and development offices
Online auctions for independent schools
Run a private school fundraising auction for bursaries, scholarships, capital projects, sports facilities, performing arts, libraries or hardship funds by turning donated prizes into a simple online auction.
Create your auction, invite parents, alumni or guests, and let supporters bid online before, during or after your event.
- Build completely free
- Mobile-friendly bidding
- No Aucly commission
Build your auction completely free. Smaller auctions with up to 15 items qualify for Aucly’s free tier, and you only choose a paid plan if your auction needs one.
Ideal for independent schools, development offices, foundations and alumni organisations running fundraising events and appeals.
A practical fit for independent school fundraising
Extend the reach of your fundraising event
Aucly works well alongside bursary appeals, golf days, gala dinners, auctions of promises, alumni events, arts festivals, sports dinners, foundation events, charity balls and anniversary celebrations. Supporters can browse and bid online, so they can still take part even if they cannot be there in person.
Aucly is auction software: your fundraising money never passes through Aucly, winning bidders pay your organisation directly, and your team can start creating an auction immediately without lengthy organisation onboarding. See the organiser journey in How It Works.
- Open bidding to parents, alumni, staff and invited supporters who cannot attend in person.
- Give donated prizes a clear, shareable online listing.
- Keep bids, prize details and follow-up easier to manage in one place.
- Let proxy bidding keep supporters involved when they are busy.
Foundation fundraiser
Run an auction alongside the events you already host
Use your auction alongside a Golf Day, foundation dinner, alumni gathering, arts festival, sports event, anniversary celebration or development appeal. Share the link through school communications so your invited community can join in.
Independent school fundraising use cases
Built for foundation, alumni and development fundraising
Turn donated prizes into a simple online auction and raise money for access, facilities, enrichment and long-term school projects. If you are planning a state school or academy fundraiser, visit online auctions for schools.
Capital and facility projects
Support libraries, STEM spaces, performing arts venues or sports facilities.
Development appeals
Add an online auction to annual campaigns, anniversary appeals or foundation events.
Arts, music and sport
Raise funds for music programmes, theatre productions, team sport and enrichment.
Alumni fundraising
Give alumni and friends of the school a clear way to support a focused appeal.
Events and auctions of promises
Pair online bidding with gala dinners, sports dinners, arts festivals or promise auctions.
Built for development teams and volunteer organisers
Simple tools for independent school fundraising auctions
Aucly helps foundations, development offices and volunteer committees build before committing, share one clear auction page, keep invited supporters bidding on mobile and raise funds without Aucly commission.
Build first
Set up safely before launch
Build for free, add prizes and preview your auction before choosing a plan.
Preview before paying
Choose a plan when ready
Share one link
Send one auction page to parents, alumni and invited guests.
More people can take part
Supporters can browse prizes and bid from their phone wherever they are.
Keep supporters engaged
Proxy bidding and outbid emails help interested bidders stay involved.
Spend less time chasing bids
Keep bids, winners and follow-up in one place instead of juggling spreadsheets and messages.
Stay in control of payments
Aucly takes no commission. Winners pay your organisation directly, and optional Stripe payments go into your own Stripe account.
No Aucly commission
Aucly never takes commission on winning bids, so organisers stay in control of the money they raise.
From prizes to winners
Auction prizes for foundation events and development appeals
Luxury weekend stays, hospitality packages, artwork, four-ball golf vouchers, theatre tickets, dining experiences, sports memorabilia, headteacher experiences and VIP school event access can all work well when they are easy to browse and bid on.
Luxury weekend stays
Hospitality packages
Artwork
Four-ball golf vouchers
Theatre tickets
Dining experiences
How Aucly works
A simple five-step auction flow
Create the auction, add prizes, invite supporters, let people bid online, then follow up winners.
- Create your auctionSet up the page and add the basic details.
- Add your prizesGive each donated item its own listing, photos and description.
- Invite supportersSend it to parents, alumni, staff and invited guests.
- Let people bid onlineSupporters can bid from their phone, with proxy bidding and outbid emails.
- Follow up winnersSee who won, track payments and arrange collection or delivery.
Case study: The Lingfield Foundation raised £2,500 with an online auction alongside its Golf Day
The Lingfield Foundation ran approximately one month of online bidding alongside its Golf Day, opening the auction to the wider school community rather than limiting it to people at the event.
The campaign raised £2,500. The organiser said Aucly was very easy to use and that the Foundation intended to use the platform again.
Read the Lingfield case study
Private and invitation-only auctions
Keep your auction for the right audience
Independent schools often want bidding to stay within a known community. Aucly lets organisers restrict access to invited bidders, run auctions for parents, alumni or invited guests, and keep auctions out of public search engines if desired.
Because Aucly is auction software rather than a fundraising intermediary, you can start creating an auction immediately without lengthy organisation onboarding.
FAQ
Independent school auction questions
Answers for foundations, development offices and volunteers planning an online auction around donated prizes and independent school fundraising.
Yes. Aucly works well alongside bursary appeals, golf days, gala dinners, alumni events, arts festivals, sports dinners, foundation events and anniversary celebrations.
Organisers choose how widely to share the auction link and can restrict access to invited bidders such as parents, alumni or invited guests.
Luxury weekend stays, hospitality packages, artwork, four-ball golf vouchers, theatre tickets, dining experiences, sports memorabilia, headteacher experiences and VIP school event access can all work well.
Yes. Independent schools can use Aucly for auctions supporting bursaries, scholarships, hardship funds, capital projects, arts, music, sport, libraries and development appeals.
No. Aucly is auction software rather than a fundraising intermediary, so organisers can start creating an auction immediately. Winning bidders pay the organisation directly, and Stripe funds go to the organiser’s own Stripe account when enabled.
Ready to run your independent school auction online?
Start building your auction for free. Add prizes, preview the page and send it to parents, alumni and invited supporters. Aucly charges a flat platform fee for paid auctions, with no commission on funds raised.