Charity - without giving away your identity.
I recently was at the 19th Annual Symphony Lovers’ Ball, and yes, I do clean up pretty nice, if I do say so myself.
Like many of these charity events, there were a number of things to spend money on. Drinks—yes, there was a cash bar; raffle tickets—the main prize was a set of $18,000 Tiffany earrings and bracelet; and a live auction—conducting the VSO cost someone $10,500.
Then there was the silent auction. This one had about 40 items in it, from wine to handbags, golf trips toTVs—basically, something for everyone. I was particularly interested in the silent auction; and peoples willingness to give out personal infirmation to everyone in the room.
For the benefits of those who don’t know how a silent auction works, lets review.
There is an item. It’s typically donated, but sometimes it’s bought by the charity at a reduced cost. The item is usually sitting on a table, somewhat like a coffee mug sits on a table. (for the purposes of this, lets say it is a coffee mug up for silent auction)
So, our mug is sitting there, hoping someone wants it, hoping the person who wants it doesn’t have a lot of lipstick, or isn’t prone to breaking mugs, or leaves coffee in it for days at a time, basically wanting a good home.
There is a piece of paper sitting in front of the mug. It describes the mug.
“Blue 10 oz coffee mug, “worlds best dad” written on it.”
It will often have the “value”, in order to give the potential mug owner an idea of what they should be willing to spend on the mug. Something like this:
“Value $5.99″
Then, of course, a line telling you who donated the prize:
“Donated by ‘Mr. and Mrs. Warren Smith’”
Fine. We have our item, an idea of what we should be happy paying for it, and who graciously donated it for auction. The next part of the paper is very important. The bids.
The bids are typically a line by line sheet of blank paper. Divided into three columns. First one is Name, then Phone number, then bid. Everyone who wants to bid on our mug must write down their details on
the next line, and write the price they are willing to pay. So, for our cup, it might be something like:
Walter Murray 212-555-4534 $1
Larry Johnson 415-555-6690 $1.50
Margo Smith 603-555-4545 $1.75
Larry Johnson 415-555-6690 $2
Margo Smith 603-555-4545 $2.50
Larry Johnson 415-555-6690 $3.50
Ken Holmes 212-555-2300 $4.01
Margo Smith 603-555-4545 $5
Larry Johnson 415-555-6690 $5.50
So, Larry wins the auction! If he is not there at the end, then someone calls him up, and arranges to trade payment for the mug.
That’s it. The charity has their money, Larry has the beloved mug, to drink from or put pens in, or whatever, and I, thanks to my digital camera, have the names and numbers of everyone who bid on an item at this auction.
A rough count. I have a list of 100 of the city’s most charitable people, along with their phone numbers.
The trouble is that part of the reason for having people write their names down allows everyone else to see how generous they are. This practice is risky. I encourage everyone to push to have this practice stopped. Give people a code or number that only the people running the auction know. If people then want to have their name on the list, then have them only write down their first name.