What Silent Partners does

Silent Partners Inc. is a privately held, founder-led professional services firm founded in 1998 and headquartered in Pasadena, California, that provides end-to-end silent and live auction coordination for nonprofit fundraising events. The company's offering is structured around four integrated solutions: a Mobile Bidding Solution powered by the OneCause platform (smartphone bidding, automatic outbid notifications, maximum bid automation, instant text receipts, and automated reconciliation), a Procurement Solution leveraging a curated database of 35,000+ donor contacts across airlines, hotels, restaurants, entertainment venues, and luxury brands, a Production Solution covering item cataloging, auction website design, tent cards, and donation storage, and a Reconciliation Solution providing on-site event management and final itemized reporting. Revenue is generated through custom, quote-based professional services fees tied to event scope; the firm guarantees that items procured from its donor database will more than cover the service fee, and comparable event planners charge $20,000+ for similar work. The company serves "hundreds of nonprofit organizations per year" across education, healthcare, and charity verticals, working with clients 3-6 months in advance of events via direct outreach, toll-free phone consultation, and a sales-led GTM motion. The business is bootstrapped, founder-owned, and operates with a 1-10 employee footprint, with President and founder Scott Merrin (21 years in the airline industry at American Airlines and Qantas) serving as the central relationship asset driving donor access.

Name

Silent Partners

Legal name

Silent Partners Inc.

Website

https://4silent.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1998

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Silent Partners is a privately held, founder-led professional services firm founded in 1998 that provides end-to-end silent and live auction coordination for nonprofit fundraising events, combining a 35,000+ contact donor database with OneCause-powered mobile bidding technology to serve hundreds of nonprofits annually.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Pasadena

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Auction Coordination Services: Full-service professional auction coordination for nonprofit organizations including procurement solution, production solution, mobile bidding solution, and reconciliation solution. Pricing is customized based on event size and scope, with the company guaranteeing that procured items will more than pay for their fee.
2. Donation Procurement Services: Solicitation and procurement of auction donations from their extensive database of 35,000+ contacts including hotels, airlines, restaurants, entertainment venues, and luxury brands. Letters are sent on client letterhead to secure donations.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Silent Partners Inc. provides full-service silent and live auction coordination for nonprofit fundraising events. The firm sources donated auction items (procurement), deploys mobile bidding technology through a partnership with OneCause, manages on-site event production, and handles post-event financial reconciliation for its nonprofit clients.

Product overview

Silent Partners offers a suite of four integrated auction management services for nonprofit organizations: The Mobile Bidding Solution (powered by OneCause technology for smartphone-based bidding), The Procurement Solution (donor database and solicitation services), The Production Solution (cataloging, website creation, and storage), and The Reconciliation Solution (on-site setup and distribution). These services work together to provide end-to-end silent and live auction coordination, from donation solicitation through final reconciliation reports.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• The Mobile Bidding Solution

Quantifiable outcome

• Organizations can achieve 10% return rate on solicitation letters, receiving 100-200 auction donations
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers11 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Feature3 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• OneCausecoreTechnology or IntegrationOneCause has partnered with Silent Partners to bring a winning formula for auction fundraising to the nonprofit industry. OneCause provides the mobile bidding technology platform while Silent Partners provides the professional auction coordination services. This partnership combines OneCause's automated mobile auction technology with Silent Partners' procurement expertise and event coordination.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• Handbid: Handbid is a mobile bidding and auction management platform purpose-built for nonprofit fundraising events, offering smartphone-based bidding, ticketing, and event management. It is directly comparable to Silent Partners' mobile bidding solution and serves the same nonprofit galas, school auctions, and charity event market.
• Qtego: Qtego is a mobile and online auction platform specializing in charity and nonprofit silent auctions, offering smartphone bidding, item management, and event reporting. It serves the same nonprofit fundraising auction market that Silent Partners addresses with its services.
• Auctria: Auctria is an online silent auction management platform used by nonprofits to run silent auctions, including item cataloging, bidding, and reporting. It is comparable to Silent Partners as a software-based alternative to the same silent auction coordination use case, though offered as a self-serve tool rather than a full service.
• GalaBid: GalaBid is a mobile and online auction platform designed specifically for charity galas and nonprofit fundraising events, offering bidding, ticketing, and event management features. It is directly comparable to Silent Partners' mobile bidding solution and targets the same nonprofit event use case.

Broad incumbents

• Bonterra (Network for Good): Bonterra is a large nonprofit software suite that includes donor management, fundraising, and event tools used by many of the same nonprofit customers that engage Silent Partners. It is comparable as a broad incumbent serving the same vertical with technology-led (rather than services-led) solutions.
• Classy (GoFundMe Pro): Classy, now part of GoFundMe Pro, is a leading online fundraising and event management platform for nonprofits. It overlaps with Silent Partners in the nonprofit event and campaign fundraising space, particularly for organizations running large-scale digital fundraising and ticketed events.
• OneCause: OneCause is the mobile bidding technology platform that Silent Partners white-labels/partners with for live and silent auctions. It is directly comparable because it provides the same core technology stack (mobile bidding, online auctions, payment processing) to the same nonprofit customer base, and increasingly offers services and support that compete with Silent Partners' wrap-around offering.

Emerging players

• Funraise: Funraise is a nonprofit fundraising platform featuring online donations, event management, peer-to-peer campaigns, and auction tools. It competes for the same nonprofit development budgets as Silent Partners, particularly among organizations that prefer software-led fundraising over a managed services partner.
• Givebutter: Givebutter is a modern, fast-growing online fundraising platform for nonprofits offering donations, events, auctions, ticketing, and peer-to-peer campaigns. It is comparable to Silent Partners as an alternative nonprofit fundraising solution, though it is a self-serve software product rather than a full-service coordination offering.

Others

• Eventbrite: Eventbrite is a large-scale event ticketing and management platform that nonprofits commonly use for galas, fundraisers, and ticketed events. While it does not focus on silent auction coordination specifically, it is a peripheral alternative for nonprofits budgeting their event technology stack.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/auctionvault
• Facebookfacebook.com/silentpartners

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Silent Partners