How about a Charity?

[Daddy1]

I was thinking about doing a fundraiser for charity. My thoughts are asking for pens to be donated and have a local charity(united way) hold an auction or sale for charity. I have a friend who is high up in United Way out of Detroit who could help organize.

Anyone interested? Do you have any other ideas? I think this would be a gr8 annual event. I am open to suggestions and I promise I will not keep the pens for my own selfish reasons.
It would be all done in the name of IAP

 

[Paul in OKC]

The Yahoo pen group used to do a thing called 'Pens For Friends'. Some one would host it their area, and folks would send them their pens. The host would then donate the pens to the charity they had chosen. Hasn't been done in a while, but it was a fun thing.

 

[jhs494]

Great idea. I would donate a pen for something like this.
As this unfolds just keep me in the loop, and let me know where and when to send it.

 

[carverken]

I have on several occasions donated my pens or pen and pencil sets to area charities that I support. Most of them are in a silent auction type setting. I have found that the pens go at what I normally sell them at + or - $5.00. (just an interesting observation) I too would be interested in sending a pen along for the right charity.

 

[Proud_Poppa_of_2]

Is it practical to do an online auction under the auspices of IAP with the proceeds going to a designated charity? I have seen rather sophisticated auction software available that costs next to nothing when used for not-for-profit purposes. An advantage is that we can all monitor the proceedings from wherever we are and each of us can encourage friends, family, neighbors, mistresses, etc. to participate.

 

[DCBluesman]

While a big, splashy donation of pens on a national or international basis sounds like a great idea, I prefer to donate to local charities such that I can watch how they spend the funds. Virtually every community in the world has a hospice, free clinic, shelter, humane society or the like that desperately needs assistance. Think globally, act locally. [8D]

 

[jeff]

Kevin

I applaud your idea! One thing is for sure, and that is that woodworkers in general, and particularly our IAP members, are especially generous when it comes to those less fortunate.

One point however... please don't commit the IAP name, approval, or sponsorship to any activity until I've had a chance to discuss it with you. I believe that all the members here would agree that we need to have a strategy, and understand the risks and exposure before embarking on something like this. Without proper management and oversight, there can be some unhappy outcomes.

 

[gerryr]

I would just add that something similar was done a few years ago and as Jeff noted, the outcome was not all that everyone thought it would or should have been. In other words, there may be quite a few people who are "gun shy."

 

[Russianwolf]

I'm with Jeff.

I have been donating pens to several charities either for their direct use (freedom pens) or for auctions (In talks with an auction that goes 100% to St. Judes).

While I think a larger auction would be nice, I wouldn't want to have alot of customers coming to IAP and seeing alot of the information posted here.

 

[Ron in Drums PA]

Originally posted by gerryr

I would just add that something similar was done a few years ago and as Jeff noted, the outcome was not all that everyone thought it would or should have been. In other words, there may be quite a few people who are "gun shy."

I remember that, we never did find out if all the pens where used for raising funds for the charity.

 

[Daddy1]

Sorry, I did not mean to step on any toes or over stretch my bounds. I am just excited with what we all do and the impact we can have since are such a large group. Let me know if there is anything I can do or help in anyway. I was just feeling a little guilty because I take so much from this group so I thought I would try and give back by organizing something positive.

 

[Dario]

Kevin,

I am with those who mentioned doing something locally. I donate my pens for auctions too and while it doesn't produce as much "impact" as what you envisioned...it is a drop in the bucket that helps fill it.

Good idea but as mentioned, some may be a bit gun shy because a previous (similar) donation auction was not as some expected it to be.

 

[Ron in Drums PA]

Don't feel bad Kevin, your heart was in the right place.

 

[Randy_]

I, too, agree that it is a worthy idea; but one that gets tripped up by the details. As some others have mentioned, my preference would lie in the area of a local charity unless the subject of our efforts was of a universal nature like the Freedom Pen Project.

Also a consideration, my one or two hand crafted pens might draw a significant price premium at a local auction, whereas an auction for a hundred different pens for a single charity could their value so much that they might not even attract a true market price??