After the excitement of looking into Richard’s heart and the discussion following on from that, I really needed a rest day today. So just a minor post today. 44 days until… what? I love Schnapszahlen. For once the German word is actually shorter and more evocative than the English translation: a number with all digits identical. So I was delighted to count and find that in 44 days it will be…
… Richard’s birthday, indeed. The 22nd of August has become a bit of a focal point, and after previous birthday fundraisers in 2016, 2017 and 2018 it can be said that the annual birthday auctions are a well-established tradition.
So, the auctions happening in 2019 also, is a foregone conclusion. I have been receiving donations for the auctions for months, and I have already put aside a couple of shrines to put into the auctions, too. However, I would like to gauge from you where this year’s auction proceeds should go to. In the previous years we have donated to Save the Children (2016), Young Minds (2017) and LOROS (2018). Richard is supporting other charities, too, of course. Any particular preferences as to where the donation should go to? Let me know in the comments.
Also – and I feel rather embarrassed to bring this up, but I think it is only fair to warn you now: Since my work circumstances changed last year, I am afraid I can not volunteer to take on the eBay and Paypal fees and pass on the donations that were offered by some lovely people for covering the costs. It makes me feel bad, because I’d rather that all donations are funnelled to the charity we are benefitting, but last year the fees accrued to about 250 Euro in total, a sum I cannot take on this year. I therefore propose to cover the fees from the proceeds of the auctions.
As for the auctions themselves: I have told my dear mother that I need to leave Germany in time for the auctions. 😂 Talk about priorities! Leaving for Germany tomorrow, I will be back 15 August the latest – hoping to conduct the fundraiser before Richard’s birthday. I would love to be able to actually transfer the donation *on* Richard’s birthday, as a proper present, but to do so, the auctions need to finish well before the 22nd. By experience, it always takes a couple of days until *all* transactions have been paid for and are finalised. So my preferred dates would be three days from 17/18 August onwards. Thoughts?
Looking forward to another year of celebrating Richard, fan art and fandom via the fundraiser. The countdown starts now!
Guylty Pleasure 
As usual, I’ll be at the beach then with wonky WiFi, so my chances of winning anything are sadly diminished.
But scheduling should be whatever is most convenient for you. This thing is enough work as it is.
As for charities, something to benefit the homeless since he just had that experience with the rough sleeper? I don’t have his list right now, so not sure if anything fits the bill.
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The charity is called Shelter.
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Great!
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Oh, forgot to add: I’d be happy to cover PayPal and eBay fees on my potential win. Or go with your plan. Whatever works best for you!
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Cheers – thank you! That’s all good input.
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I don’t think it should be too much to ask for the auction winner to cover the associated costs. It doesn’t seem fair to put that on you.
And I think Shelter would be an excellent charity.
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I would much rather that all auction proceeds go to the charity, but taking on the fees is just not an option for me this year. We’ll see when we get closer to it…
Shelter sounds good.
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I very much like the proposal that this year’s proceeds benefit Shelter. Homelessness has reached crisis proportions here in Southern California so the problem has been on my mind quite a lot. I also agree that the fees should be covered by the proceeds/direct donations. There’s no reason why you should have to cover those yourself in addition to doing all the work of the auction!
And speaking of all that work, thank you! Can’t wait to see what’s on offer this year! 💜💖💜
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Homelessness is indeed a problem that we should help battle with our fundraiser. And as someone already pointed out (Kate?), it’s an issue that RA himself encountered this year. That is a nice link!
As for what is on offer – it’s a brilliant array of things, from all kinds of projects of the past…
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My favorite local news team has been doing an ongoing series about homelessness in SoCal that is very eye-opening. Because of our milder weather, although our heat and cold can be problematic, we have a larger proportion than in northern states. My drive to work is a lengthy one and when I take surface streets instead of the freeway, I see a lot more tents on the sidewalks of almost every neighborhood. Far more than there used to be even a couple of years ago. Huh, I wonder what happened a couple of years ago that could be responsible? 🤔
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I think it is just the general cycles. There was a time when there were few homeless people to be seen on Dublin’s street. Then the crash happened, and there were lots of people sleeping rough. It never went back to pre-crash times.
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I´m with all of you when it comes to Shelter and the fees, etc. can definitely be covered by proceeds and donations… I´m also fine with the auction date…
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Great – thank you for the feedback. Just what I wanted to hear!
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I agree with all the comments above – Shelter would be a great charity to support, and I’m more than happy to cover any associated costs if I get lucky in the auction 😃
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Brilliant – thanks for the feedback. And fingers crossed there will be items on offer that you will be interested in 😉 xx
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Aaarrgh! Due to circs beyond my control, my hands are tied and again I can’t contribute this year. So disappointing. Will try to send a separate donation and a tip of the hat to the auction when all the details are set in stone.
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Jenny!!!! You have donated so much over the years already!!! Please, there is no obligation! xxx
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Donation to the LibDems?
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Never!! 😂
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*muhahahaha* to sponsor more of those yellow t-shirts…
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Ha ha yes!
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I’m on board for all of the above. Shelter is a great choice and I’m more than happy to share the cost of the fees. Even if I don’t have a winning bid, I still want to help. Have a wonderful stay with your mother.
p.s. I want some of Richard’s cake lol 🎂
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Thank you Donna – you’re a star, and you have done a lot already! xx
That cake… almost as sweet as himself. Yeah, I am cheesy.
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That was a joke. Shelter is a great idea – and thanks Guylty for organising. Agree cost could be carried by winner.
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Hehe, I know.
Maybe we can somehow make it clear in the auctions that fees are calculated in the price or something like that.
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if you donate 100% of the ebay auction to your chosen charity you don’t’ pay ebay fees
https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/account/donating-ebay-charity/buying-selling-ebay-benefit-nonprofit-organisations?id=4668#about
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Yep, I know – but I think you need to be a registered charity or someone who has been endorsed by the charity, no? (This is just an answer off the top of my hat – grah, is that the right phrase? But you know what I mean.) But thank you for the link. I will look at that now. If that is the case, it would be the solution!!! Thank you xx
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anyone can sell for charity-because ebay sends the fees directly to the charity of your choice. I quite often do a percentage of my sales to certain charitys. Hope that helps
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Oh, fantastic – ok, I am going to look into this now.
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Any charity that Richard supports would be great. Fees, I think, should come from the proceeds. If they are tacked onto the winning bid, it would be hard to know how much you are actually bidding! Thanks for doing this again… looking forward to bidding and losing once again! Lol. No, it’s all about the excitement and anticipation!
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Yep, that is a problem I see, too. We’ll come to some sort of conclusion and plan until then, I am sure. Thanks for weighing in!
And yes, the fun is in the fundraiser in general, no matter who wins the auctions.
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Shelter is a good choice of charity for this year. I’m always too slow off the mark with donations for the auction, despite good intentions every year *eyeroll* and from now on anyway, I’ll worry that anything I send won’t reach you after the most recent fail, so count me in for postage costs!
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No worries, Mezz. It’s all good – and you had the best of intentions this year but it seems as if the gods of the postal services were not on our side.
I am glad that everyone seems to be very keen on Shelter as the benefitting charity. I really like that idea, too.
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I love that you do this every year and I’ll be happy to cover any fees should I win something or make a donation to covering fees in general.
And Shelter as the charity to support would be fine by me!
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Great – thank you for that. All these answers help me settle on a procedure that the majority can agree with 😉
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can you pay by money transfer or cheque to avoid the paypal fees?
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just having a google, this might apply to you
https://www.paypal.com/us/smarthelp/article/FAQ4082
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For the auctions, you mean? Or the donation? The reason why Paypal – and the justgiving sites – are great for our donations, is that it provides a framework for me that I can show others as proof of donating. It also allows us to donate through a channel that RA directly gets to see the “fruits” of his fundraising labours…
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for the donations i meant, but possibly you may be able to avoid paypal fees for when people pay you if you check out that link
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Good point. I’ll have to think of this when I am putting the fundraiser together. Thanks for your advice!
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