2011 Charity Auction Planning Thread --- BIG NEWS!

[dsheinem]

Some updates:

First, Thanks to all of you who voted - as you can see, we have selected the Alzheimer's Association, a charity that does very important work to research a horribly debilitating disease and to help those going through it (and their loved ones) to cope. Over the next few weeks I will be (attempting) to work with them to figure out if we might be able to do something special with our contribution, but in the meantime you should all take a look at http://www.alz.org and educate yourself about the charity. You might also find these articles interesting: Gamers fighting Alzheimer's and Gaming with Alzheimer's.

Next, I will be creating a call for donations in the very near future - probably sometime mid-week. Details will be given soon, but once again we are going to try to emphasize that people donate quality items, unique offerings, and items that they sincerely think will bring in high bids. Start looking around your collection and make some hard choices about what you might be willing to give up. Please don't send me info yet, but you may want to start writing up descriptions and taking pictures.

Finally - the BIG NEWS! This year we will be partnering with Game Gavel to take the auction public. This change will serve several important purposes: it will automate the bidding and payments, it will create more publicity (and hopefully money) for the charity, and it will save me a lot of editing and updating work. Mike Kennedy at Game Gavel has generously offered to give us fee-free listings and to help with the auction in a myriad of ways (helping me list them, promoting them around the web, etc.). It is my hope that everyone will create a free account over on Game Gavel so that you can bid on this year's items. While doing it on the forum and limiting it to bids from the community has been nice, the increase in the amount of work from the first year to the second almost made me consider canceling the auction this year - Mike's offer of help is really making it possible for me to do more with the auction, and I hope to have some other big announcements about special items in the near future.

Look for that call for items post soon!



PREVIOUS POST:

It is that time of year again - time to start thinking about the December charity auction. Last year we raised almost $6000 for Make A Wish!

As was the case last year, we'll spend most of November collecting donations of items (don't tell me about them yet, your pm will be ignored!) and most of December doing the bidding.

What we need to do now is figure out what charity we want to donate to this year.

I have my own ideas, but I'll chime in a little later on. For now, I will just share my general thoughts:

-I'd like to choose a charity that we know/think is going to be helpful to one or more members of our community. If you know of someone from RB who is going through a hard time and want to PM me about the situation, I will be happy to look into charity options.

-I'd like to choose a smaller charity that will gain a more immediate impact from our donation. Make A Wish always sends me mail about donors contributing hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars, and so our 6K is like a drop in the bucket. I would like to see the money go to a local charity or a smaller group that we can verify as legitimate. The more well known the charity, the less likely that they are in need of donations...

-I'd like to develop a relationship with the charity during the auction, so that we can have a better idea of what their needs are and what is going on. Maybe they can promote the auction to their regular donors, too...

Anyway, feel free to take or leave those thoughts. I also have some other planning issues that we need to discuss, but we can do so after we've selected a charity. For now, let's keep the discussion (and PMs) focused on getting this first task out of the way.

So, what charity would you like us to donate to this year?






Ok, so here are the charities for us to vote on. Please research a bit before voting. Poll closes On October 30th near 5pm EST. Please vote for TWO charities.

The Tomorrow Fund - http://www.tomorrowfund.org/
Mission: The Tomorrow Fund was founded in 1985 to ease the traumatic financial and emotional effects of childhood cancer. Our founders - a group that included doctors, child life specialists, and parents of children with cancer - recognized that, in addition to the very best medical care, children with cancer and their families need financial and emotional assistance to cope with the overwhelming challenges of this insidious disease.

At the time of our founding, children with cancer at Rhode Island Hospital shared space with adult oncology patients. The dream of having a local oncology clinic dedicated solely to the treatment of children became a reality with the opening of The Tomorrow Fund Clinic at Hasbro Children's Hospital in 1995. Led by Dr. Cindyt Schwartz, Director of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, the Clinic is widely recognized for its outstanding medical treatment and its compassionate approach to children and their families.
Today, more than 90% of children with cancer in Rhode Island, nearby Massachusetts, and Connecticut are treated in The Tomorrow Fund Clinic.
At The Tomorrow Fund, we fulfill our mission through three major programs:
• Direct financial and emotional assistance to families and children in treatment
• Support for The Tomorrow Fund Clinic
• Outreach to inform the community about the effects of childhood cancer

The Epilepsy Foundation - http://www.epilepsyfoundation.org/
Mission: The Epilepsy Foundation of America® is the national voluntary agency dedicated solely to the welfare of the almost 3 million people with epilepsy in the U.S. and their families. The organization works to ensure that people with seizures are able to participate in all life experiences; to improve how people with epilepsy are perceived, accepted and valued in society; and to promote research for a cure. In addition to programs conducted at the national level, epilepsy clients throughout the United States are served by more than 50 Epilepsy Foundation affiliates around the country.

The Epilepsy Foundation is funded primarily through individual donations from the general public and receives restricted grant support from the federal government, foundations and private industry. The organization is a participant in the Combined Federal Campaign and a member of the National Health Council and of the International Bureau for Epilepsy.

Food Bank of the Rockies - http://www.foodbankrockies.org/
Mission: Food Bank of the Rockies (FBR) was founded in 1978 and was known as the Colorado Food Clearing House. Operating from a 900-square-foot schoolroom in northwest Denver, the fledgling organization collected food from nearby Safeway stores and distributed it to one agency.

Today, FBR has extended its reach across Northern Colorado and Wyoming, providing food supplies to more than 1100 hunger-relief programs. In its first 30 years, FBR has provided nearly 392 million pounds of food to our member agencies, which translates to more than 306 million meals for people in need. Last year, we distributed 35.7 million pounds of food, enough to provide 76,000 meals each day to children, seniors and families in need. FBR is a member of Feeding America.

Alzheimer's Association - http://www.alz.org
Mission: The Alzheimer’s Association works on a global, national and local level to enhance care and support for all those affected by Alzheimer’s and related dementias. We are here to help. We have local chapters across the nation, providing services within each community.

Our professionally staffed 24/7 Helpline (1.800.272.3900) offers information and advice to more than 250,000 callers each year and provides translation services in more than 170 languages.
We run more than 4,500 support groups throughout the country and connect people across the globe through our online message boards. We help people find clinical trials through our free service Alzheimer’s Association TrialMatch, which makes it easy to search opportunities based on personal criteria. We deliver 20,000 education programs annually and offer online information in 17 languages. We house the Alzheimer's Association Green-Field Library, the nation's largest library and resource center devoted to increasing knowledge about Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.

As the largest, private non-profit funder of Alzheimer's research, the Association is committed to accelerating progress of new treatments, preventions and ultimately, a cure. Through our partnerships and funded projects, we have been part of every major research advancement over the past 30 years.

Partners in Health - http://www.pih.org
Mission: At its root, our mission is both medical and moral. It is based on solidarity, rather than charity alone. When a person in Peru, or Siberia, or rural Haiti falls ill, PIH uses all of the means at our disposal to make them well—from pressuring drug manufacturers, to lobbying policy makers, to providing medical care and social services. Whatever it takes. Just as we would do if a member of our own family—or we ourselves—were ill. PIH has 11,000 employees working in 49 health centers and hospitals across 11 countries

(from aaron's post) PIH strives to provide an alternative to the conventional curative method of treatment for the sick and instead tries to prevent diseases before they occur. This model believes that primary health care is essential because health is a right and therefore, it should be available to everyone. PIH strives to bring good medical care to the poor by establishing long-term partnerships with local sister organizations. The organization's model is described as being one in which: clinical and community barriers to care are removed as diagnosis and treatment are declared a public good and made available free of charge to patients living in poverty. For people living in poverty stricken areas, the treatment of AIDS and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) has been made possible by this model of care.

PLEASE VOTE FOR TWO CHARITIES

[Luke]

I'm going to once again suggest Alzheimer's Research.

[Ziggy]

I read that experts project heating oil will be the highest price ever this winter. With the economy the way it is and all that, maybe there's a charity out there that can help working families that are struggling to make ends meet.

Just a thought. I'm down for pretty much any charity we end up choosing.

[dsheinem]

great suggestions so far, but specific charities that we can go read about are even better...

[Flake]

The problem with finding smaller charities is that we also want to avoid a US-centric effort given the diverse cast of characters we have around here.

Edit: Withdrew Suggestion

[dsheinem]

The problem with finding smaller charities is that we also want to avoid a US-centric effort given the diverse cast of characters we have around here.

http://www.ifaw.org

International fund for Animal Welfare. It's about as small as an international charity gets. It's a conservation effort aimed at improving the lot of animals all over the world - and not just rare ones.

Yeah, though about 90% of the auction activity is from members in the US...

Last year we gave half to Make A Wish International, and so I don't have a huge problem not choosing a charity with international connections this year. It would be nice, but I don't know if I want to limit our choices based solely on that factor.

[Flake]

Edit: Withdrew Suggestion

[noiseredux]

I'd really like to suggest the Tomorrow Fund.

http://www.tomorrowfund.org/

Our Mission

“To provide financial and emotional support to children with cancer and their families who are treated in The Tomorrow Fund Clinic Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Center at Hasbro Children’s Hospital.”

They basically do all they can to keep a family financially stable while they're focusing on getting their child better. They give the family a stipend, help pay bills, or just about anything they can do within their power upon request. Please read their page. Truly a beautiful charity.

I can't help but go back to something related to children for these. Like I said last year: we are adults who are on a forum because we all have a special childhood memory that we cling to with games. Because of that, I find this sort of charity so appropriate.

[Flake]

I think I second Noise's suggestion, even over my own two.

[noiseredux]

I think I second Noise's suggestion, even over my own two.

thank you Flake. I have a buddy whose son had Leukemia and they utilized this charity a few years back. When I heard of them 6 months or so ago, I knew already that I would be putting my vote in for them here.