I had a great experience with a local charity over the past month and wanted to share it with anyone who is thinking about donating to such causes.
A month or so ago I was approached by a Director of "The Neediest Kids", a local (to me) charity which works to ensure that at-risk school children
have items that are essential to their attendance and success in school. After explaining the particulars, I volunteered to donate a pen to the silent auction which accompanies their Benefit Gala.
The organization provided me with a letter confirming my donation and invited me to have brochures and/or business cards available at the silent auction. Within 24 hours I also had received an email of thanks.
The event planners pulled the relevant information off of my website for inclusion in their silent auction listing book and included my web address.
The event took place yesterday and I was in attendance. A nice crowd of nearly a thousand attended. The bidding at the silent auction took place during the cocktail reception, prior to the gala benefit dinner and dance.
Bidding went well and I was able to interact with quite a few folks who admired my donation. When 7:30 p.m. rolled around, dinner was announced and the staff pulled all of the donations and auction sheets such that they could be sorted and picked up that evening.
I was informed within a few minutes that the pen had indeed been auctioned and for a significant premium over my price on the website. Of course, I slept very well last night, knowing that I had contributed to such a good cause which was so well-managed.
This morning I received a thank you email with the particulars of the item and the amount that it helped raise. Of course, I'm hooked for next year.
Now I don't want the credit for this idea. You see, Russ Fairfield made a suggestion a few months ago that we might look into our local charities and see if they needed fund raising help. I did. They did. Thanks, Russ!
A month or so ago I was approached by a Director of "The Neediest Kids", a local (to me) charity which works to ensure that at-risk school children
have items that are essential to their attendance and success in school. After explaining the particulars, I volunteered to donate a pen to the silent auction which accompanies their Benefit Gala.
The organization provided me with a letter confirming my donation and invited me to have brochures and/or business cards available at the silent auction. Within 24 hours I also had received an email of thanks.
The event planners pulled the relevant information off of my website for inclusion in their silent auction listing book and included my web address.
The event took place yesterday and I was in attendance. A nice crowd of nearly a thousand attended. The bidding at the silent auction took place during the cocktail reception, prior to the gala benefit dinner and dance.
Bidding went well and I was able to interact with quite a few folks who admired my donation. When 7:30 p.m. rolled around, dinner was announced and the staff pulled all of the donations and auction sheets such that they could be sorted and picked up that evening.
I was informed within a few minutes that the pen had indeed been auctioned and for a significant premium over my price on the website. Of course, I slept very well last night, knowing that I had contributed to such a good cause which was so well-managed.
This morning I received a thank you email with the particulars of the item and the amount that it helped raise. Of course, I'm hooked for next year.
Now I don't want the credit for this idea. You see, Russ Fairfield made a suggestion a few months ago that we might look into our local charities and see if they needed fund raising help. I did. They did. Thanks, Russ!
