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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wonder where my donated item went?

294 replies

LemonTreeSkies · 16/04/2023 04:11

There is a local charity that does great work. They had a fundraiser planned for today and we’re asking for raffle items. I sent the organiser a photo of a brand new items that was appropriate to their audience that I was willing to donate if they wanted it. It was worth about £200. He said yes, great, they’d appreciate it.
fundraiser event was today. Someone posted a video of a walk through of the raffle items and I didn’t see my item there.
I’ve just watched a replay of the live video of all the tickets being drawn and my donation wasn’t there. I’m not sure if IBU to be a bit peeved.
Im not sure if I should message asking what happened to the item I donated or just take the attitude I was willing to donate it so it shouldn’t matter what happened to it.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
6
Itakecreaminmycoffee · 18/04/2023 08:53

I don't understand why people pay a lot for things like this (gullible?)

The poster is worth about £20 and the frame could be bought at The Range or an online picture frame company for about £15.

It really isn't worth £200! I'd be gutted if I won that at auction.

I bet you a tenner the guy who viewed it fancied it for himself but knew no one would want it at auction so has taken it home!

Notsoivorytower · 18/04/2023 09:02

Oh my goodness I'm having kittens trying to guess what £200 gift you hid from your husband for 3 years that you decided he wouldn't like and didn't give him and randomly donated. You actually sound like me! (I'm currently trying to have a clear out and am finding boxes of stuff - new stuff - that I bought the kids, decided they wouldn't like, and am now giving away to people for school raffles, etc) it is pure madness the amount of money I've spent on things and just wasted! I'm a bugger for buying things - I'm a magpie.

I'm desperate to know what they've done with your prize and indeed what it is. You must find out and please do tell!!

mainsfed · 18/04/2023 09:05

@Notsoivorytower don't have kittens! Click 'See all' on at the bottom of OP's posts and read all her posts - she has said what the gift was!

AndyandTeddyarewavinggoodbye · 18/04/2023 09:15

@Notsoivorytower

Why not just read the thread and then you won't need to keep guessing?

Fraaahnces · 18/04/2023 09:25

Not entirely on the subject, but the leg lamp reminded me of a HUGE argument I had with my DH. (I should preface this by stating that he barely copes if I move the furniture to vacuum and has a LOT of opinions about how things should be - and never lifts a finger to do anything, so was pretty over it all when this all came up anyway.)
My DH used to play baseball semi-professionally. Used to. A VERY long time ago. He saw this online and thought it was a great idea for either side of the bed. I told him he might end up being electrocuted in his sleep if I come home and see anything of the sort. Then he thought of the next monstrosity for over the dining table. I suggested that I could make one made of dildos and life-like sculptures of his face, and perhaps if he wants to get into decorating, he should consider buying himself a shed. (Or maybe a plot in the nearest cemetary…)

Morgysmum · 18/04/2023 09:26

Maybe ask them and say, I was just wondering how much my x that I donated went for. I looked for it in the video that someone posted but didn't see it.
I just wanted to know, if it fetched as much as I thought it would, or went for less.

Fraaahnces · 18/04/2023 09:26

Sorry - they didn’t load!

To wonder where my donated item went?
To wonder where my donated item went?
Pr1mr0se · 18/04/2023 09:33

I'd contact them and ask.
If it makes you feel any better, you're not the only one this has happened too as I was another thread on the same lines some time ago.

RobertsRadio · 18/04/2023 10:20

Fraaahnces · 18/04/2023 09:26

Sorry - they didn’t load!

@Fraaahnces

OMG, they are truly in a league of their own in their hideousness.

MyMNprofile · 18/04/2023 10:48

I’m sure the charity would have accepted that but I can’t imagine they’d auction it. They’d probably bung it in one of their shops and sell it for the value of the frame. I know you paid £200 for it but it’s really not something that is worth that or would generate any interest in an auction, even an auction specifically for bikers as it’s such a common print.

Dishwashy · 18/04/2023 11:16

@MyMNprofile it's a raffle not an auction. And that was quite rude.

I hope you find out OP. If it has gone AWOL you mentioning it might just mean a donation goes in for it, or they find it and get something for it elsewhere.

ChilledBeez · 18/04/2023 12:01

You really need to ask - especially as it was such an expensive item. Sadly, people who work around charity are not always honest. I volunteered in a charity shop and was amazed at how many top shelf donations just disappeared. Also, some (not all, obviously) shop managers have business relationships with dealers who get a call when certain items come in and they get a little something something for their trouble. I have personally seen this happen. There is no way I would just let this one go.

MyMNprofile · 18/04/2023 12:21

@Dishwashy it was a raffle where you buy tickets for particular items. No one is going to buy a ticket to win a crappy photo frame, even if the tickets are only 50p. Sorry but I’ve worked in charity shops, we very rarely turn items away and always thank donors profusely because people take real umbrage at having their 10 year old t-shirt with stains on from Primark declined. We manage to sell most stuff or sell by weight to the rag man for around 50p a bun liner full. It’s much easier than telling donors you don’t want their stuff and them then bad mouthing you as being picky to everyone.

like I said, it’s an item that would probably sell in a charity shop but it really wouldn’t benefit anyone in a raffle and would be a large, inconvenient item to haul there and back again. I don’t think it’s rude to say this - OP herself said she bought it from a charity in the first place so knows she paid way over the odds for it.

Annemaria · 18/04/2023 12:34

I had an aunt who years ago offered me some stuff that had been donated to a charity she was involved with. Not everyone is principled, so, given my experience, I think you are right to be suspicious. My local charity shop always lets me know what my donated stuff sold for, which the charity you donated to could have done, at only the bother of sending an email, for example.

ChocChipHandbag · 18/04/2023 12:34

Dishwashy · 18/04/2023 11:16

@MyMNprofile it's a raffle not an auction. And that was quite rude.

I hope you find out OP. If it has gone AWOL you mentioning it might just mean a donation goes in for it, or they find it and get something for it elsewhere.

OP actually explained that it is a selection of individual raffles where people put their names in hats for each item and so are only in the running to win things they chose.

So it's not a raffle in the usual sense, where you might win any one of a selection of prizes and have to be potentially Halley with all of them.

Salome61 · 18/04/2023 12:35

Have you looked on ebay? I donate my daughter's very expensive and perfect prom dress to our local animal charity, apparently they are going to 'ebay' it.

justasking111 · 18/04/2023 12:43

Salome61 · 18/04/2023 12:35

Have you looked on ebay? I donate my daughter's very expensive and perfect prom dress to our local animal charity, apparently they are going to 'ebay' it.

Our hospice do that with some donations.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 18/04/2023 12:57

Of all the truly beautiful things I've ever seen in this world, that leg lamp.... isn't one of them!

LouisCatorze · 18/04/2023 13:06

Did you get the frame made-to-measure for the poster, OP? That could easily make it worth £200, as custom-made frames don't come cheap. However, it doesn't mean someone else would regard a ten-a-penny-framed-poster as worth that amount. I have a lot of framed paintings and prints stored with nowhere to currently hang them. I've held onto them for the very reason that they did cost a considerable amount to frame. I'm reluctant to get rid of them for that very reason. If I donated them to charity shops, they'd likely only sell for a fraction of what I paid for prints and frames.

Bookworm20 · 18/04/2023 13:13

Its actually irrelevant if some peoples opinions of it is that no one would want it. OP clearly stated what she donated linked to the type of audience of the raffle. And charity raffles i've been to have had prizes of varying price ranges, some probably only about a tenner right up to thousands.
And she firstly asked if they would like it to be included in the raffle.
They said yes.
OP dropped it off to be raffled. It should have been included in the raffle as that is what she donated it for and what they said they would like it for.
I would certianly be asking why it wasn't.

StepAwayFromTheBiscuitJar · 18/04/2023 13:17

I'd really want to be sure it wasn't hanging on one of the organiser's walls.

Manth0914 · 18/04/2023 13:52

I work for a small charity, it may be that they think your donation was worth more to them as a separate sale perhaps online so kept it aside. We always welcome questions from donors. Give them a call or pop in. I wouldn't automatically assume someone had whipped it away.

ireallycantthinkofaname · 18/04/2023 14:02

Oddly invested in finding out what's happened to it now. Not sure why.
I give stuff to local charity shops/events a lot though if I can't be bothered to sell them on eBay for whatever reason but they're worth too much to just take to the tip.

JocelynBurnell · 18/04/2023 14:25

It's a common poster print. It is not something that would generate interest in an auction.

It could be sold in a charity shop for £5 (or £10 at most) for the frame.

Original poster
LemonTreeSkies · 18/04/2023 15:46

JocelynBurnell · 18/04/2023 14:25

It's a common poster print. It is not something that would generate interest in an auction.

It could be sold in a charity shop for £5 (or £10 at most) for the frame.

Yeah….. except it wasn’t an auction. As I mentioned once or twice.
If someone quite liked it then they could have potentially got it for a quid, or whatever the cost of one ticket was.

For those saying I could have bought the frame for pennies at The Range, that shop doesn’t exist here, as I’ve mentioned before. I’ve also mentioned that frames are quite expensive here. Here being Not The UK.

I think @AllHopeandRainbows might have the answer.

I’ve lost interest now. There were better things to steal, things worth more than 20p, so not worth thieving. I shall continue to support the organisation- which is not a charity shop - because they do amazing work in an area no one else wants to touch.

OP posts: