Stitching for Charity 2012

[Servotron]

The Ebay action for the quilt is now over! We raised $202.50 in total which is approximately £126.37. Congratulations everybody! (Now get working on next years....)

[tnitnetny]

Too Bad Lord Libidan put the post up on the actual site after the auction was over. I am really disappointed with the amount it raised. It was all over the Child's Play twitter and facebook, but we didn't get any other publicity.

I am wondering if we have two quilts next year if we should raffle one of them off instead of auctioning.

[Yurtle]

I think we would also need to figure out a way to open up the bidding to at least all of North America if we wanted more bids. I know a lot of people in the gaming community in Canada who probably would have loved to bid on it but the charity's restrictions on location really squashed that. And also having the auction end over Thanksgiving weekend probably didn't help!

[katdun]

I am wondering if we have two quilts next year if we should raffle one of them off instead of auctioning.

That sounds like a good idea! More people would probably be able to afford a ticket than pay what we think the quilt should go for. Or we could start advertising way earlier if we went for the auction again. We could decide what day the auction will start and post about it a couple weeks ahead of time so everyone knows it's coming up and can plan for it.

[Stardrifter]

I am really disappointed with the amount it raised.

It is good to know that I am not the only one who was disappointed =( The quilt from last year made over $2000 at the dinner auction and knowing that made this time pretty disappointing to me.

I am of the mind that we should just send everything to the dinner auction since that is where we have made the most money in the past, because the dinner auction itself gets the most publicity and people who go to it are more willing to donate a lot of money. However, the idea of experimenting with other options sounds OK.. because I guess we won't really know until we try.

I just feel really bad at the amount of work that went into that quilt only to have it make $200. It takes me like 3+ months to make one of those squares and I can only imagine the time it takes others (I am a slow stitcher but I can't be the only one, lol), on top all the quilting that you do Toni. And materials on top of that. And cost of shipping squares, sometimes overseas, etc.

My square wasn't even in this one but it still makes me a bit sad that it didn't make a bagillion dollars, I guess. I feel like it was priceless and was disappointed by the price it was given.

I feel like I'm being greedy expecting it to make more than it did. Can you be greedy for charity? Is that even a thing?^^;

*edit - I keep chastising myself for thinking this way >.>; I thought I'd clarify a bit though - any amount is better than no amount but I just want SO much money to go to Child's Play, yanno?^^;;

[blackmageheart]

I'm disappointed too, mostly because of all our hard work, but any money raised for a good cause is good money and I think we just have to think like that.
Is it possible to have reserves on charity listings on Ebay? That might be something to think about if it is. Or a higher starting price if that's possible. I don't know much about listing an item for charity.
I also like the raffle idea, more people could probably afford to buy a ticket or a few tickets.
And publicity is going to be key - we'll have to get on that a lot quicker next time

But here's a thought - if somebody had commissioned me to make that Ecco square it would have cost them about half the price of the quilt, so somebody got really lucky!

[tnitnetny]

Stardrifter, we can only really send one quilt to the dinner auction each year. If we send more than one, then it won't raise as much because you are not bidding against each other any more.

I was just upset that the only publicity it got was a tweet on the Child's Play twitter. I received a lot of emails and communications from people that told me that would hype it up when it went on sale and then nothing. I am definitely reconsidering Ebay for next year if we have more than one quilt.

Let's concentrate on the other quilt now. That one is still going to be auctioned off. Anyone know someone that is going to the dinner?

[Stardrifter]

Stardrifter, we can only really send one quilt to the dinner auction each year. If we send more than one, then it won't raise as much because you are not bidding against each other any more.

I see, I see. I didn't think of it like that.

any money raised for a good cause is good money and I think we just have to think like that.

I'm still learning that talent, lol^^; but you are right. I will start thinking more positive, because after all, there is the one at the dinner auction. It has many much potential.

We have learned something at least, about publicity and getting the word out. We could do a private auction that the whole world could participate in and then donate the money. I'm sure we can brainstorm up something awesome =)

[tnitnetny]

I found out today that one of the makers of a square is the one that won the quilt. That makes me so happy and makes it so much better!!! I was just afraid that whoever won it wouldn't understand the work we did. Now I know they definitely will appreciate it.

[kuja.girl]

I think a few things could have helped, but frankly I'm not super surprised that it didn't go very high. People who shop on Ebay are either looking for something specific or something cheap, and ours was neither - it was a specialty good. If we had been able to get the word out in a more timely fashion and across more channels I think it could have worked but it was going to be an uphill battle. I'm glad we raised some money and I'm glad it went to one of the contributors (I actually meant to bid on it as well) but it was a bit of a let down as well.

Some things that might help next time:
a) A more detailed listing (dimensions, a more of the story of how it was made, a list of all the games, and detailed photos of the squares.)
We can help with these things, so tnitnetny it's not all on you. I know you said that most other quilts don't list dimensions but I know I hesitated when I couldn't find an a listed size that made sense to me. We need to make the listing non-crafter friendly :) Listing all the games that in the quilt will improve search results - something that's pretty important! I also noticed that the words "video game" were not in the title, which likely made it hard to find too. I know something about search/retrieval systems so I can help with this.

b) Coordination with more media for advertising - I'm sorry that the people who promised to help didn't come through. I did what I could but I only have so many friends on Facebook and many of them are students with limited budgets. Contacting places like Boing Boing, who regularly spread the word on fundraisers, would have been worth a shot.