Charities Find Perfect Place for Odd Donations: Online Auctions

Charity officials have started turning to Internet auctions as a way to make money from artwork,

automobiles, jewelry, dishes, wedding dresses, and scores of other goods they have received from donors but can’t use. In some instances, selling such items online has become so popular and profitable that nonprofit groups now actively solicit donors, volunteers, and others to scour their attics and basements for such gifts.

Among items the Baltimore Opera Company has sold on eBay, the popular online auction site: designer shoes, discontinued patterns of china, and opera memorabilia.

The opera has raised around $10,000 through eBay sales, and it now seeks donated goods through a flier it inserts into all of its mailings as a way to encourage people who buy opera tickets to become contributors.

While the money the donated goods have produced is helpful, it is minor compared with the $3.5-million total the organization raised last year. Yet beyond the money, the opera’s fund raisers say, the auctioned gifts present a good opportunity to persuade people to give something, even if they don’t have a lot of money.

One reason the eBay arrangement has worked so well for the Baltimore Opera Company is that a husband-and-wife team volunteers to manage the day-to-day operations. Paula Minsk, the fund raiser who, until recently, coordinated the donated-goods program at the opera, says that without volunteer help she doubts the online auctions would be worth the effort. “Could we do it on our own? Probably,” says Ms. Minsk. “Would it be worth the effort? Maybe not.”

Auction Fees

In addition to the Baltimore Opera, scores of other charities — including Abilene Adult Day Care, in Texas, the Southeast Kansas Humane Society, in Pittsburg, and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, in Memphis — are among the 42 million people and organizations that have registered to sell a wide range of items on eBay since it started in 1995.

Charities pay the same fees as other users to sell items on eBay. Charges range from 30 cents to $3.30 to list an item, and eBay also keeps 5.25 percent of final sales under $25, with the percentage rising with the price of the item. Sellers can also pay additional fees to have items featured prominently on the site.

The Virginia Living Museum, in Newport News, began selling donated items on eBay two years ago and so far has raised nearly $30,000 through sales of watches, dolls, collectible plates, and even a Ford Windstar van. However, the science and nature museum won’t accept everything: guns, pianos, fur coats, and alligator purses are out, says Virginia Gabriele, marketing director. “We’re getting the word out: Here’s a way to help the museum without taking money out of your pocket,” she says.

‘Lady Bug’ Rocks

While eBay was designed to appeal to the general public, another online auction site, MissionFish (http://www.missionfish.com) sprang up two years ago specifically to cater to charities. It works two ways: Either charities sell items or individuals, associations, or companies sell items and gives the proceeds to the charity of their choice.

More than 225 charities — including the American Heart Association, in Dallas, and First Book, a group in Washington that provides new books to poor children — have sold such items as rides in hot-air balloons, wedding dresses, and hand-blown Christmas ornaments on the site, says Clam Lorenz, communications manager. Among the oddest sales: a set of flat river rocks, painted like lady bugs and signed by the singers Donny and Marie Osmond, that fetched $150 for the Lupus Foundation of America, in Rockville, Md., says Mr. Lorenz.

While at eBay charities shoulder a fee to list items and are responsible for sending donors tax receipts, charities that work with MissionFish pay only the transaction charge levied by credit companies on sales. MissionFish takes care of sending donors tax receipts as well. A for-profit company started by three former employees of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta, MissionFish earns money by charging the buyer a 10-percent fee based on an item’s final price.

The name comes from the founders’ belief that auction sales can help charities maintain a steady source of revenue, enabling them to focus more on their missions and less on raising money.

Internet auctions have also been a lucrative way for Goodwill Industries International, in Bethesda, Md., to increase revenue from its chain of thrift stores. Goodwill Industries International built its own site, http://www.shopgoodwill.com, to sell donated goods online instead of relying on a third party. Any affiliate can use the site to promote items that might prove hard to sell at their market value in a local Goodwill thrift shop. For example, a signed Picasso etching was originally in a Goodwill bin with a price tag of $3; after putting the artwork online, it sold for $1,801.

Since the site was created in August 1999, Goodwill affiliates have raised $3.9-million from online sales, says Christine Nyirjesy Bragale, Goodwill’s director of media relations. Proceeds benefit the charity’s education, job-training, and job-placement programs for people with disabilities.

Goodwill Industries International charges its affiliates a fee to list items, as well as a percentage of the sale to cover costs. However, if a local Goodwill sells multiple items, Goodwill Industries accepts a lower percentage of each sale. Local Goodwills can also pay additional fees to have an item featured on the site.

“Selling items on shopgoodwill.com allows Goodwill to bring its inventory to a larger market,” says Ms. Bragale. “And it enables us to maximize the donations we receive from the public.”