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FVR made a nice archery bow last year for the kiddies auction. Should we, as a collective, have a collection for some charitable event? I know, every place we work and shop nickles and dimes us. However, this is our chance to see our money go where we want.
sounds worthy indeed. i'm in no position right now, but if the idea takes off i'd be happy to see what i could contribute.
rebel, great idea, let's put this together. If nobody has experience with these types of events, or doesn't want to take the lead, I'm willing. I have a lot of experience with this. It takes time, and first we need to decide what charity we want to donate the profits to. Again this is a great Idea! Let's do it!!!!.
Well as I said I have a lot of experience with non-profits as Director of Fundraising for some, on the Board of Directors as Executive VP for one of the largest Counties Boys and Girls Clubs (9 years) all volunteer never as a paid position. So if the Pack members really want to do this, and if Chris is for it, I'd be proud to take the lead.
I'd be in...maybe we could try to find some under funded scout troop or something and donate gear and/or $$$ to help them get out and about
Sarge, Rick and Chris, can we make this a sticky?
before i finish these jobs i'm working on and head back north, i'll see if i can get more of that mahogany obsidian slab, my source lives here. if i do and i can turn out anything decent i'll be sure to let you know. i know there's at least some workable black chert where i'm heading.
the only staves i have to work with now are poplar [the bows i'm working on atm probably won't hold up very long for anything other than decoration, i started them for tillering practice], though i have a new source for bamboo, and i'm close to getting my shop back together and the prospect of some decent wood is getting closer.
i will certainly see what i can do, but far from a position to promise anything yet and i still need to see if flanders still wanted any of those rose thorn gouges and if owl girl still had any interest in one of my bows [where have you two been?] for the record: sorry flanders, i've been in rough straights lately.
Chris, Sarge and Rick, I would like your input on this. I think the best way of doing this is to first decide if it will be done, then decide on the charity (which needs to be a 501(c)(3) non-profit), that needs the money. Everyone needs to understand that doing this is not a week or month project, it is at the minimum a six to 8 month time frame.
I don't think I have a say in it any more than the rest of you. Since it resides on Chris's forum he's the one that would have to give it's blessing from a litigious stand point.
That's why it needs to be money that's donated, not products. The products donated to this event, would be turned into the money we donate.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rick
I liked the auction idea, we put together items for auction and post the pics or send them to one person running the event, all proceeds would go to whatever charity we decide. (Boy Scouts is my vote) We do this here for kids, its called "Shop With A Cop" and take the money and kids to buy presents at christmas, or take a group to Bass Pro for camping gear.
Oh yeah I'm on board btw. Chris has the final say, it may even draw us some new members and sponsors for the site.
If Chris gives his blessing for this I guess we would need a place to have an auction for the items.
Rules for the auction.
Then a place to send the proceeds from the auctioned items.
A benefactor (s).
The Boy Scouts Of America have solid financial backing. But, we could use the money for "Scholarships" to sponsor kids who can not afford to belong to the Boy Scouts. Take a look at how much it costs to belong, including the uniforms. Now imagine if you had 2 or 3 kids.....
i was offered some of that mahogany slab and some cactus spine wood for handles today. i've also been trimming up some of my split bamboo for bow backings which i'd be glad to set aside for a few bows to auction if i can come up with a couple good staves of suitable limb/core wood.
count me tentatively in.
secured that slab and the cactus wood for handles:
That's great canid.
Chris would you let me know if this is a project that you're interested in, or have any questions about. Please PM me. As I've stated, I have the experience and would be proud to take the lead. It takes a lot of time and planning, and I don't want to waste my time or get people involved or interested if it's something that you can't or don't want done in the name of Wilderness Survival.
Thanking you in advance...
Gray Wolf
So what... you guys want to all donate gear to be auctioned to other forum members with the proceeds going to charity?
I don't have a problem with that.
Might I suggest Donorschoose.com - you can find specific types of school things you want to donate in, then you get pictures and stuff back showing how your donation was used:
http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/p...=185731&zone=0
For instance that.
or
http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/p...=175401&zone=0
So what? People would post what they have available, others would bid, the payments would go to say Gray Wolf if he wants to handle it, then he would make the donation on behalf of the forum. Or I guess I could accept the payments, if people don't trust Gray Wolf (nothing personal, but I'd be "official" i guess right?). My only concern is my accounting, I need to ask my accountant how to appropriate record the payments & donation for my business balance sheet.
The only problem I see is that someone bids on something only to have it not be delivered or be delivered in poor condition.
If you guys want to do this I could make a general chat subforum to handle it.
There're alot of potential problems. It would take someone with alot of time to stay on top of things. In addition to damaged goods, what about bad checks?
i think a wider scope of auction venue would be in order, personally.
ebay could be great for that. the rest would be a matter of drumming up outside interest. everybody here will know of it, however it is to be arranged, but the more people know of the event, and the more they know about it, the better the turnout and interest. lets see what graywolf and everybody else has in mind.
This approach would aleviate some of the problems too.Quote:
Originally Posted by canid
yeah, an establised auction broker such as i mentioned can potentially offer various levels of insurance, protection against non-paying bidders, etc
in the event of an all out loss due to the unforseen, the liability of loss could fall to the fund or be elected by the r providing the item, as is appropriate of the situation and agreeable to the vollunteer [eg. replacement of a damaged item, or refund of payment by the fund].
common terms would not be too hard to write up in any event, and i think a general donate at our own risk attitude would be helpfull. in any event, liability should be clearly disclaimed and preclude for the party making donations.
items should probably be auctioned 'as is', and it made clear to the buyer that they are donations made in good faith.
how does that saying go? cover your hind-parts...
The down side to an online broker is the fee charged. The up side is protection from fraud and a larger audience. Just my view. I do like the Donorchoose program. I had never seen that and I'm sure some worthy group(s) could be identified.
The other option is also just a simple donation without the auction. The forum has 1900+ members. If only 100 members donated $10 each that would be $1000 and would help three of the organizations like Chris picked out on Donorchoose if they average about $300 each.
Still another thought. The pass around knife could be expanded to pass around products and each one signing up could donate $5 or $10 to the pot to review and test the product.
Or....some combination of all of the above.
A minimum could also be added to cover costs such as fees and materials. Just an idea.
I like the idea of providing equipment or handmade items for auction. I'm sorry, but I haven't any experience in managing this type of thing, but I'm all for donating some items to it. I'll keep an eye out for developments and as soon as your ready I'll provide what I can.
Ebay doesn't allow auctions that profess to donate to charity unless they're like officially registered charities with ebay ie... you gotta do some behind the work PR work with ebay to get them to allow such things.
And yes, the fees can be quite high.
A lot of concerns (that have and have not been mentioned) can be covered, as not to pose a problem. I will write up a proposed idea, then take feedback from everyone. I will write and post it here next week.
Not to be a downer, but I see problems. The site that I donated the bow to a few years back, you log on with your handle, but to register you have to use your real name. Now, you go putting your real name and then you have to be accountable.
There are many here that are accountable, many that are honest upstanding types that I would invite to share a fire and a few mugs of applepie with any day. Then there are those not so honorable fly by night visitors, those that will steal and not pay. It has already happened once here on the first pass around knife.
There is just no accountability.
On the other site, they just raised over 55 gran for Saint Judes Hospital. Make a bad deal there, you will have people knocking on your door and in your face. The participants don't mess around, they take things seriously, and they are all over the world. He ll, the guy who started the site lives right up the road, a few members live right down the road and we hunt the same woods, that's just the members from Georgia, I know most of them.
You pull some bs like that little bastard did with the knife, your gonna get your arse kicked, or, the police members will just pay you a little visit.
As soon as you get accountablity, I will donate a rainbow obsidian antler knife that I just finished. May have more as I'm getting the knapping bug and just switched from stone points to steel.
FVR, I will address those concerns and more. I remember you donated a amazing hand made axe.
We could always have pay first rules, which means only the people donating the items would then be able to rip off.Quote:
Originally Posted by FVR
Or, we could take it a step further, and have pay first and send first... ie everyone sends their stuff to me, I take payments, then ship the goods on. But... then that'd be double shipping for everything and more work for me.
To cut down the shipping, the winner of the auction sends payment to Chris as he would be collecting it then sending it to the organization.
When Chris rec's payment, he then emails us who put the goods that it's good to ship.
When the winner wins, he will need to send payment to Chris and the shipping address to the donator.
Most times, the shipping cost is the actual shipping cost and can be posted. Of course there will have to be consideration for non US shipments and those out there to Calif., non US shipments.LOL.
If we're serious about this, let's wait to hear what Gray Wolf has to say since he has done this before. I defer to the experts whenever I can.
I understand ALL the concerns, as I've stated, I have more than a decade putting together many types of fundraisers, 9 years with the Boys and Girls Clubs, which is part of the United Way. We always have had to follow their rules and regulations (which work).
I just got back tonight, took my wife away for our Anniversary, and will try to have a proposal put together by this weekend. We never have gotten burned doing these type of Fundraisers. I have used the same model for other non-profit orgs that I was the Director of Fundraising, and again, we never have gotten burned. These events take time, planning and commitment. But it's worth it!
I would go with the ship to Chris and the ship out to the winners. Then to cut dow on the cost just like the kife you pay one way. So the donor of say a throwing ax would pay for the shipment to Chris while the person buying would pay for the shipment to him from Chris. I don't know to me that seems like a good idea as its all for a good cause.I to am worried about the stealing part. I would hate to limit this to say members who are regular and people trust as this will drop our profits. More people will donate and buy if this has extra security. I also like the Boy Scout membership fee idea. Sadly I don't think I will be able to donate anything, but if this thing happens ill try.
Just my 2 cents
Just to keep everyone up do date, I'm still waiting to hear back from the BSA, to see if we can work with them as far as setting up a Scholarship type of program, for those parents that can't afford the costs to let one or more of their children to join. I will keep everyone updated.
Thanks for doing the leg-work on this Gray Wolf.
I'd love to help. I make traditional Native American items, like chokers and leather bags. If I can help, please let me know.
No one mentioned using Paypal. I've had an an account for years. The thing is, the buyer pays first, THEN the item is shipped to them. That's the accepted online way of doing business. However I don't know how many people here have a Paypal account. It is free to sign up, and when someone (a central person) receives funds from another person, the receiver is charged about 1.5%.
well, it's been a while now, is there any wind left in these sails?
[QUOTE= what about bad checks?[/QUOTE]
Good idea,now I know why I came here:clap:
Payment by US Postal Money Order only.
E bay:smash::smash: