By GiveGrove• 8 min read • Published 2026
Dr. Ashley compared a lot of auction software before Jonah's Joy: Home for Children held its Founder's Gala and Auction in Crossville, Tennessee, on October 22, 2026. She chose GiveGrove. By the end of the night, guests were paying for their auction wins from their own phones, and nobody was standing in line at a checkout table.
If you're choosing auction software for a nonprofit gala, the Jonah's Joy story is a useful test case, because the Founder's Gala was its first event on GiveGrove. The things Dr. Ashley valued weren't flashy features. Her team could learn the system quickly, a real person helped them on event night, live auction winners went into the system as each lot sold, and the payment records dropped straight into their accounting software.
Who Jonah's Joy serves
Jonah's Joy: Home for Children runs a faith-based residential treatment home in Crossville, Tennessee, for abused, neglected and troubled children and their families (see its website).
The Founder's Gala, themed "The Masterpiece," invited guests to become founding benefactors and help Jonah's Joy break ground on a home for adolescent girls. The evening had a dinner, a list of local sponsors, a silent auction and a live auction, all running on GiveGrove for the first time.
It was also a first-year event, and the goal was attendance more than dollars: fill the room so guests could hear the mission. Even so, the gala raised nearly $50,000 on GiveGrove.
How Jonah's Joy chose its auction software
Jonah's Joy picked GiveGrove after researching "many auction software options," in Dr. Ashley's words, and she called it "the best decision." What sold her was how the platform held up across the whole event, from ticket sales before the gala to payments after it.
Most auction platforms look about the same on a sales call. Everyone has an item page and a bid button. The differences show up later in the night, when the last live lot sells and guests start reaching for their coats. Dr. Ashley's summary of GiveGrove covers exactly that stretch: less stress "from ticket purchasing through payment processing at close of an event." If you're comparing platforms, that full stretch is what to test.
Does GiveGrove offer training and event-night support?
Yes. GiveGrove trained the Jonah's Joy team before the gala and stayed reachable during it. Dr. Ashley described the technology as "simple to learn," and she gave just as much credit to the help around it.
David, from GiveGrove's customer success team, ran live training sessions with Jonah's Joy and followed up with recorded video walkthroughs. The videos meant staff could rewatch a step when they actually got to it, instead of trying to remember a call from two weeks earlier. On the night of the gala, David was available remotely, in real time.
Ask every vendor about that last part. A help center article is fine in September. Twenty minutes before the live auction starts, you want a person who already knows your event. GiveGrove offers training to every organization, and groups that want someone in the room can hire a GiveGrove Liaison for the night.
How does entering live auction winners in real time speed up checkout?
Jonah's Joy entered each live auction winner into GiveGrove as the lot sold, and that habit is what made checkout easy. When staff enter a live auction winner, GiveGrove sends that guest a charge request by email, and by text if they've opted in. So by the time the auctioneer wrapped up, winners already had what they needed to pay.
The paper version goes like this. A volunteer writes paddle numbers on a clipboard, someone types them up after dessert, and winners wait at a table while it all gets sorted out. Some of them give up and go home, and collecting gets a lot harder after that. GiveGrove sees collection rates drop sharply once donors leave the building.
You don't need a big team to avoid this. One staff member or volunteer with a laptop, entering winners as the paddles go up, covers it.
Can gala guests pay for auction items from their phones?
Yes. Guests at the Founder's Gala paid from their own phones, and Dr. Ashley said attendees loved having "no line to stand in at the end of the night."
On GiveGrove, the two auctions handle payment a little differently. Silent auction winners don't check out at all. Guests confirm their payment information when they bid, so winners are charged automatically when the auction closes and get a receipt. Live auction winners pay the charge request that lands in their email or texts, and they can pay several charges at once, by card or bank.
You'll still want a table near the door. Someone has to hand over the gift baskets and the framed print. But nobody's waiting there with a credit card out while the babysitter's clock runs.
Illustration: a live auction charge request on a guest's phone.
Matching gala payments to your accounting software
After the gala, Jonah's Joy used spreadsheets from GiveGrove to confirm who had paid and move the numbers into its accounting software. Dr. Ashley called it "simple and easy to transfer."
Vendors rarely demo this part, and it's the one your bookkeeper will ask about first. Which pledges came in? Which are still pending? Does the total match the deposits? A clean export answers those in an afternoon instead of a weekend spent matching names against bank statements.
One habit helps here. If any guests pay by check or cash, mark those payments as resolved in GiveGrove so the records show them as closed. GiveGrove doesn't charge fees on offline payments, and whoever runs next year's gala will thank you for records that add up.
In Dr. Ashley's words
"After researching many auction software options, choosing GiveGrove was the best decision. The technology was simple to learn; David was available for live and video training and was available in real-time the night of the event. Being able to place auction winner bids in the system as they were happening made for an easy check-out process, as well as spreadsheets made the confirmations of payment simple and easy to transfer to accounting software. We highly recommend using GiveGrove for your next auction event to reduce stress from ticket purchasing through payment processing at close of an event. The attendees also loved the ease of access to make payments from their electronic devices with no line to stand in at the end of the night."
Dr. Ashley, L.C.S.W., Ph.D., Executive Director, Jonah's Joy: Home for Children, Crossville, Tennessee
What to look for in auction software for your gala
The right auction software for a nonprofit gala is the one your team can learn fast, get help with on event night, and close out cleanly afterward. Jonah's Joy's experience turns that into a few questions worth putting to every vendor before you sign.
Start with support. Who picks up when something goes sideways at 7:30 on gala night, and have they seen your event setup before? Recorded training your volunteers can rewatch counts for more than most people expect.
Then walk through the live auction from the winner's side. Can your staff enter winning bids while the auction is still going, and what does the winner get on their phone a minute later? If the honest answer is "they pay at the table when it's over," plan on a line.
Ask to see a sample payment export before you commit. Have your bookkeeper look at it too. If it doesn't map easily to your accounting software, you'll feel that in November.
Finally, count the tools. Jonah's Joy ran tickets, a silent auction and a live auction for its gala on one platform, which kept guests, payments and reports in one place. GiveGrove's nonprofit auction software covers live auctions and silent auctions alongside event ticketing. One note for planning: guests need a GiveGrove account to buy tickets or bid, so put the sign-up link in your invitations.
If you're planning a gala and want to see how this would work for your event, reach out to the GiveGrove team. We're happy to walk you through it.
Frequently asked questions
What should a nonprofit look for in gala auction software?
Look for software your team can learn quickly, live support on event night, a way to enter live auction winners during the event, mobile payments for guests, and payment reports that transfer easily to your accounting software. Jonah's Joy: Home for Children chose GiveGrove for its 2026 Founder's Gala on those grounds.
How do guests pay for live auction items on GiveGrove?
When staff enter a live auction winner in GiveGrove, the guest gets a charge request by email, and by text if they've opted in. The guest pays from their phone by card or bank and can pay several charges together. Entering winners during the event means most guests pay before they leave.
Do silent auction winners have to check out on GiveGrove?
No. Guests confirm their payment information when they place a bid, so GiveGrove charges silent auction winners automatically when the auction closes and sends a receipt. The organization still hands out items at the event, but it doesn't need to collect silent auction payments.
Does GiveGrove provide training for auction events?
Yes. GiveGrove trains organizations before their events, and Jonah's Joy received both live training and recorded video walkthroughs, plus remote, real-time help on gala night. Organizations that want someone on site can hire a GiveGrove Liaison for the event.
Do guests need an account to bid on GiveGrove?
Yes. Guests need a GiveGrove account to buy tickets and to bid in silent or live auctions. Sharing the event link early, in invitations and reminder emails, gives guests time to set up their accounts before the event.
GiveGrove makes events and auctions for fundraising easy. Email info@givegrove.com for more info. Click here to sign up for our mailing list.
