Two envelopes stamped in Turkey arrived in my house today. Sent separately by a generous benefactress (who wishes to remain anonymous but is known to me), the envelopes contained two items to go into auction. And their arrival reminded me that it is high time to make it official:
Coming in less than three weeks: The 2017 RA birthday auctions!
Since we can’t celebrate with Richard, how about we celebrate with a purpose? I know that a great many of you are getting ready to make donations in honour of Richard’s birthday – a great idea and following Richard’s own suggestion. Once again, this year you also have the opportunity to not only do good with a donation – *but* to possibly get something back besides the good feeling of helping those in need: You could bid on (and win) fan items via the birthday auctions, with all of the proceeds going entirely to charity.
The exact parameters have not been decided yet, but here is what I am planning to do (and what I am looking for feedback for): Like last year, I would like to run the auctions via eBay. The automatic bidding worked out pretty well for me (less work, less room for error, wider reach), so I am looking at the same procedure. The auctions will finish on August 22 in order for us to get a final sum of the funds raised – our birthday present for RA. As in previous years, I will take on the postage costs myself (in order for the entire auction proceeds to go into the donation pot). How long should the auctions run? Last year it was three days…
I am not sure yet how many items will be available. At this point I have ten auctions on my list. Here is a sneak preview of the items that arrived in the post today…
There will be a Plushie courtesy of Sinnamin, there shall be pocket shrines, and there are some other mystery fan items, too…
As for the big question: Which charity is going to benefit from the fundraiser? I am undecided yet. In the past I had reacted to the urgent appeals for Nepal (May 2015) and the Syrian Children’s Fund (September 2015 and August 2016) via Save the Children. I am open to other suggestions for this year’s fundraiser; for transparency’s sake and easiness of transaction I prefer charities to whom I can donate the raised funds via Paypal.
If you have any suggestions what items you would like to see in the auctions, which hashtag to use, which charity to benefit, or any other idea/response/demand, please let me know in the comments or by mail. Offers of donations/help gratefully received – as well as help with publicising.
Feel free to use the turquoise auction announcement ‘poster’ in your own communications.
Looking forward to another year of “celebrating with a purpose”!
Guylty Pleasure 
Young Minds, a more recent choice from Richard, imo young people are being let down finally our top judges are saying it
J
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👍🏻 I’ve donated to them before, too. Worthy cause.
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Reblogged this on zee's muse.
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Thank you for reblogging xx
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Cool! Looking forward to it!
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THanks Grati x
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I have something you could put up for auction. I am on vacation and will return this weekend. Can contact u afterwards?.
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Hi Val – sure, of course you can. The auctions haven’t been finalised yet. Ahem. Far from it 😉
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No worries. It might take me a bit to get back to reality. BTW, it’s Carolyn aka on Twitter as TeasingArmitage…lol Val is my husbands name, hence the valsgal.
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Ooops, I am getting confused with the various names we have on different platforms. I should make a big list 🙂
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Uh, can’t wait. I like your words Celebrating with a purpose, so here’s your first proposition for hashtag celebratewithpurpose (shorter version).
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Yay, great! That’s a nice suggestion. Or should we reference the birthday of the master in the hashtag?
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Hm like # birthdaywithpurpose? celebratebirthdaywithpurpose (a bit too long?)
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yeah, probably too long. Maybe just a simply #RAbdayAuction…
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Hooray for you, Guylty, for organizing this wonderful celebration. And what age will The Man be when this birthday has passed?
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Thanks, Linnet :-). He’ll be 46 but psssst, ever since he turned 35 he doesn’t like his age to be mentioned 😉
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I can sympathize 😀
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So can I… I have a massive problem with my age.
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Great! What a good idea! This year I will be on holidays on the same date because it is my birthday, too. I hope the wifi will work in our summer residence so maybe I could make a nice gift to myself.
I like #celebRAtewithpurpose
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Oh, the same day!! Keeping my fingers crossed that there’ll be wifi. Would be nice to have you on board, too 😊
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Ob der mann eigentlich weiss was in seinem Namen alles so passiert ?
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Also, er weiß theoretisch jedenfalls von den Auktionen – so er denn seine Autogrammwunschkorrespondenz doch auch noch höchstselbst liest. Denn ich habe ihm da bereits geschrieben, dass ich Autogramme haben möchte, um sie zu versteigern…
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Rubbing hands in pleasure 🙂 I like this time of the year 🙂 Well, Childline or Young Minds or Anthony Nolan as far as i’m concerned all good causes 🙂 Worked well last time, 4-5 days auction should just about do it but not overdo it, what do you think?
Thanks for all the generous gifting!
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Oh, thanks for that feedback. You are the second person to mention Young Minds, so I am thinking that I might earmark them for the funds raised in this round of the auctions. Have to check whether Paypal donations are possible, though…
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I just thought about it because mental health issues are very much part of current discussions and also young people have a difficult time with these confusing realities! Us too, but i feel as if we need to support young people more than ever and provide hope for the future however crazy day to day seems to be these days.
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I couldn’t agree more with you. I am glad we are going to support this charity.
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Reblogged this on Opera is Magic and commented:
Ready, steady and go! Prepare yourselves and make sure you check out the teasers too! For me it will be the annual time of the year where we celebrate good causes and also great theater! More to come 🙂
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