To wonder where my donated item went?

[LemonTreeSkies]

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.

When we get donations for a raffle, we often get too many, so we hold them back for the next draw … maybe it’s that?

I need to know.

They may have ebayed it .. my sister is a manager and regularly has a eBay and valuing pile .. only toiletries and around £10/15 items go in raffles .

They have targets to meet so try to get the most amount for every item .

It does sound as if it could be dodgy. What will you do if you find out that someone's kept it?

I agree

What is the item
Why did you hide it for 3 years and not let your husband choose
Why such apparently crazy secrecy about this gift / item and your ownership of it
What's happened to the item - has one of the charity staff purloined it
Is the item being held back for the next raffle
Was it raffled as agreed but you simply didn't see it there
Has it been advertised on vinted or ebay

Why am I so invested in this? 🙄

Just for solidarity with OP, I do absolutely bat shit things like hide gifts and wonder for 3 years if I've bought something pointless and let the anxiety of it live rent free in my head til it's donated 😂

I was thinking more along the lines of a massive Strap on. It ticks all the boxes

Not sure if husband would like it
Kids don't want it hidden in their rooms
Not suitable for public raffle

It's the only logical explanation

All waiting to hear!

I'm going for telescope!

Is it something that could be put to good use by the organisation instead? Eg game console or similar? They might have done that instead?

So far the guesses are

Telescope
Camera
Binoculars
Massive strap on

Updating guesses

Telescope
Camera
Binoculars
Massive strap on
Games console

I'd drop them an email saying you watched the raffle and was surprised to see your item that you donated as a prize wasn't in the raffle, so could they kindly let you know why it wasn't raffled, and if it was missed out by mistake you'll happily take it back and sell it then donate the money.

Does the charity have an eBay selling page perhaps?

Yeah I'd ask

Didn't take long, did it. Always someone who knows for a fact that ALL charity volunteers steal "the good stuff".

This could be entirely innocent OP, the organisers maybe had someone see your donation and say "Oh! I've always wanted a fancy set of hair straighteners, I'll give you £150 for them rather than you sticking them in the raffle" and the organiser has agreed. Or it may have been shoved in a box with lots of other things and forgotten about. Or lost. Or yes, taken/stolen.

There's no harm in asking about it, you made a donation and need to know what happened to it. There's no need to be accusatory about it though.

And can we PLEASE drop the bollocks about how all charities are "notorious".

I wouldn't be surprised if it was taken by the staff.

My office once took up a collection of new toys for a visiting area of a prison. I'd been there to see a client and the selection of toys was so depressing. My colleagues were so generous and put a lot of money and thought into choosing excellent quality, fun and educational toys and books.

My legal assistant dropped them off - the staff member raved about them, said they would put them straight in the visiting area.

I continued to visit my client- never saw the toys there. I asked about them - received non-answers for weeks.

Eventually one of us found them as a bundle on marketplace. We reported the theft and although the person selling them had the same name as the prison guard who was responsible for receiving and processing them- we were told that there wasn't enough evidence to charge them with anything.

Some people have no shame.

Looking forward to the update 😊 I’m so intrigued as to what it was!

Just ask. Not publicly on FB.

I’d assume they did it as a separate prize or realised they could sell it for more than they could get from raffle tickets or something like that. I’m quite glad I don’t immediately think ‘someone’s swiped it’ I think that would be a horrible way to live.

I think it’s a fancy coffee machine

I would ask a different contact to the one you communicated with in the process of donating. If possible, someone on the board or trustees or chief organiser. That is charitable money that someone has potentially pocketed. What a lovely gesture though OP!

I think it’s a signed poster- some sort of sport

Maybe they used it as a big prize on another stall? Either way I would definitely ask.

I think they might be keeping it back for another raffle at a later date. If they had a good number of high value prizes already that would make sense. But I think you should ask.

I was thinking this.
Many sell popular high value items separately so they can get as much as possible.

Not all charity workers are honest.
When my neighbour died, her family (who are rich and live distantly) kindly donated all her belongings to a Hospice shop.
She had some beautiful and quite valuable books and Art. When the workers came to empty her house I noticed that a couple of paintings had been wrapped in a bin bag and hidden in her back garden shed. I wasn't snooping by the way, I went into the garden regularly to water it as agreed with her relatives.
Anyway, that night at around 11pm a car arrived at her house, man with torch went around the back and emerged with the paintings which he put into his own car and drove off.
I gave the police the car reg but they said that it was a either false plate that did not belong to that vehicle or I had written it down wrongly.
I know that man stole those paintings.
Her relatives contacted the Hospice shop and reported the incident but they denied it.