In bid
for cash, schools opt for online
auctions
Friday, December 10, 2004 • BY BEV McCARRON
• Star-Ledger Staff
A chance to watch TV news from the CBS control
room.
A makeover, courtesy of celebrity makeup artist Bobbi
Brown.
For sports fans, an authentic Duke University basketball
net, taken right off the Blue Devils' court.
These things are up for sale by charity auctions
organized by schools and education organizations, but now
you don't have to be anywhere near the premises to buy.
Tapping into the eBay craze, school groups from here to
Hawaii, pre-kindergarten to college, are moving their
fund-raising auctions online. Millions of shoppers have
grown accustomed to bidding for anything from collectibles
to concert tickets online, and charity groups are seeing the
potential for expanding their markets.
"EBay has opened the doors of acceptance to a lot of
people where they feel comfortable in participating in
auctions," said John Hotaling, president of
AuctionAnything.com. The site provides nonprofit
organizations their own cyber auction locations.
Organizations setting up sites include the national PTA
and the University of Hawaii student employment office,
which is offering golf packages, sports tickets and
cruises.
Montclair Community Pre-K turned to an online auction
this year after several years of throwing lavish
dinner-auctions. The organizers didn't want to overtax the
celebrity hosts who help out each year, or the volunteers
who labor to put on the fancy events.
"We wanted to do something different. The party is very
work-intensive, and we have wonderful volunteers, but it is
a lot of work," said Eve Robinson, executive director of the
school, which is holding its first cyber auction through
Dec. 20. "We're hoping for success."
Posted online (http:// auction.montclairprek.org) the
school auction offerings include: the Bobbi Brown makeover;
a book autographed by Olympia Dukakis; the CBS news visit
and a vacation stay on Martha's Vineyard.
Seton Hall Law School's student organization, the Public
Interest Network, is also going online to sell paintings,
dinners with professors, gift baskets and gift certificates
in a week-long auction scheduled to begin in February.
In previous years, the goods were laid out for a day in
the law school's atrium for bidders to see as part of a
silent auction.
"We just know people can't get here for the auctions.
This will cast a wider net," said law student Lauren Walter,
who is organizing the auction. The proceeds will fund a
fellowship for students who take on unpaid public interest
cases over the summer.
Duke University's athletic department began holding an
online auction four years ago. Eyes widened when first one
brought in $30,000, and the idea took off.
The market: mainly Duke basketball fans and almuni, who
snap up autographed mementos of storied players. Recently,
when a piece of a bleacher broke off in the university's
basketball arena, it wasn't trashed, but passed to the men's
and women's teams to autograph. Look for it online.
Nets taken down from the court have fetched as much as
$500.
"All it really takes is one person who really wants it.
What's best is, if you get two people who really want it,"
said Scott Yakola, a professor in sports marketing and
director of Duke's online auction, which runs from October
through April (http:// goduke.collegesports.com/)
So far, the auction has raised $150,000 for the Duke
University Women's Scholarship endowment.
Duke set up its own online auction site, but most
schools sign up with a server, such as AuctionAnything.com
or cMarket.com, that charge a flat fee or take a percentage
of the auction sales. eBay teamed up with national nonprofit
MissionFish last year and began offering its own
service.
"We have a number of education nonprofits as well as
schools -- private and public schools alike -- that have
been doing this," said Clam Lorenz, director of operations
for MissionFish. "Schools like any other nonprofit are
constantly looking for new sources of funding."
The national PTA just finished its second auction on
cMarket.com. Vicki Loise, development director, said the
total wasn't added up yet, but the proceeds appeared higher
than last year's, which raised $18,000 on such things as
trips, toys, books, school supplies and equipment.
"There's very little risk for us to do this," she said.
"It's far less labor intensive than a live auction, and that
fact that it's online makes it much simpler to
administer."
Of course, not everyone favors cyberspace auctions.
Barbara Crane, owner of Auction Systems, which sells
software designed to help groups run live auctions, thinks
it's an impersonal way to raise money.
"It's so anonymous. There is a huge amount of pride and
ego involved in an auction," she said. "You might have two
or three guys standing there, egging each other on,
challenging each other to top that. Can you get the
equivalent in an online event? I can't picture it."
Bev McCarron covers education. She can be reached at
(908) 429-3018, or bmccarron@starledger.com
© 2004 The Star-Ledger. Used by NJ.com with
permission.
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