Dear MN Towers -- please come and talk to me about how we might manage a 'Donate (or Auction?) an Item for Mile for Maude (or A.N.Other MN-related charidee)

[Tutter]

a couple of times recently i have passed on unwanted items (pregnancy/baby-related - e.g. bfing tops) in exchange for a small donation to mile for maude

am planning on doing the same with a few other things, and it occurred to me that i may not be alone in wanting to donate any money raised

can't quite get my head around how this might work - i've only ever passed items on to regulars who i "know" and therefore trust to make a donation to mfm

i don't want to create a monster a la 'for sale boards' so maybe we keep it really simple and let individuals manage the process themselves

but - in case one of you is a brighter spark than i am, and can think of a simple solution which can be put to the wider MN audience - i thought i'd run the idea past you

thoughts?

Tutter....May be wayyyyyyyy off here, but what about contacting ebay? as i know you can donate money made from items selling to charity when you list something, not sure how it would work really though, just an idea?

Do you know we were just having this very discussion today on our own private little talk board? We'd like to have an annual MN charity - chosen by you of course - for folks to donate to and which we could offer some free promotion/ ads to. We are just going to look into the financial implications - tax etc - and to make sure we don't break any laws (ie I'm going to give our accountant a bell tomorrow) - to check that we do it right. If anyone has any advice on how it might operate do let us know...

Justine, I think that is a wonderful idea. The only thing that I would consider to be really important is that there is the option for to 'gift aid' donations, so that for those of us who pay shed loads of tax, the charity gets as much as possible of it back.

sounds great but i do hope it won't just benefit the big charities.

i'm sure a lot of the art & crafters would be happy to donate something handmade that could be auctioned off to raise money, i know i would.

sorry, should have added, as long as there isn't any flaming or accusations of buying and selling

I think a charity of the year type thing would be great. A lot of companies get their staff to vote on a shortlist of three, certainly think FSID should be one of them.

I don't think it takes long to do a charity of the year. It's just a marketing thing I think. ie, MN promotes the charity, give them advertising etc. The charity might set up a "MN Fund" so we can see what the accumulated total is. They might even be able to set up a specific "Donate here" button to go on MN home page that links direct with them (charity then deals with the Gift Aid) The Ebay charity thing is really easy for sellers to give via that, I believe. And anyone can set up a justgiving page, in which case justgiving handle all the gift aid claims. It's just down to us lot to think of some fundraising ideas for it then.

sorry littlelapin , my last comment wasn't aimed at you, just the whole buying/selling dilemma as a whole

if you did an auction through ebay, does that open it up to anyone and not just mnetters, and also, would you have to pay ebay fee's?

I'd love that, what a great idea.
Can only speak for myself at this precise moment, but I suspect a number of Mumsknitters would not mind rustling up a blanket to be auctioned
...or indeed, putting up a "commission promise" (you pay Mn charity £25 and I will knit you a giant wonky matinee jacket in organic cotton )

LL, hey

have posted a link to this thread in a&c to see if anyone else is interested in donating something hand made

Ooh I would bid lots of money for a Mumsknitters matinee jacket Marina

I might need to put you in touch with my dsis then Olivia. She will confirm that the whole of her NCT Group fits into the one I produced for the niecelet

I have followed Lucykate's post on a&c and am willing to donate something crafty....I don't know what ...jewellery I suppose... as cupcakes wouldn't post so well.

Well the offer still stands. I would love a hand knitted matinee jacket for this one and I will offer good money at some point in the future.

LL- dont know about a knitters blog.. but there is a mumsknitters forum on ravelry.. knitters are allowed on the a&c blog though its still in its infancy as it were.

I'd be happy to donate something

Jewellery?

I think a temporary Charity Auction topic is a lovely idea. The success of Christmas secret santa shows how generous people can be. We could donate specific items or promises - which gives people who can't afford to contribute monetarily the opportunity to take part.

Hi all

Just to let you know that we haven't forgotten about this but have been doing some thinking and investigating.

We think a nominated charity of the year for Mumsnet would be a great idea, though we also agree that having one nominated charity shouldn't mean the end of impromptu collections for other good causes, Mumsnet teaming up to campaign with other charities on things we all feel strongly about and all the other charitable stuff that happens on the boards, secret santa etc.

We thought the idea of asking for nominations on the boards and then voting on a shortlist of 3 seemed sensible.

Once the charity had been nominated it would be a question of thinking up fundraising ideas and asking folks to take charge of a project.

We'd set up a Just Giving page so all money could be collected there (and could therefore be gift aided) rather than come via Mumsnet.

Does that all sound sensible?
Do post your thoughts and suggestions here

Thanks
MNHQ

PS A note for the mumsknitters on here. We've been talking to Oxfam about a big knitting project that they'd like us to be involved with - so keep your needles handy