Auctions

An auction of the contents of philanthropist Brooke Astor's two homes brought in more than $18.8 million, Sotheby's said Tuesday. Sotheby's offered 901 objects in all, including European and Asian furnishings, Old Masters, Qing Dynasty paintings, tea sets, silverware, jewelry, a porcelain menagerie, more than 100 dog paintings and even the uniforms of her domestic staff at a two-day auction that began Monday.

Proceeds will go to institutions and charities, including the New York Public Library and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, under a settlement negotiated by the state attorney general's office.

A deep-pocketed anonymous bidder forked over nearly $3.5 million in a Glide Foundation charity auction to dine with billionaire Warren Buffet. The charity event set a record for the Glide Foundation, which helps the homeless, located in San Francisco’s Tenderloin District.

Ted Hart speaks with fundraising auction expert Jon Carson, founder and CEO of BiddingForGood, on his Nonprofit Coach radio show.

By integrating a live fundraising event with an online auction, you can expand your bidder community and increase participation. By adding mobile bidding, you can bring all the advantages of online auctions to your live event and increase bids to raise more money.

Buffalo Trace Distillery wants to give a piece of history to charities. It’s offering nonprofits 174 bottles of Kentucky straight bourbon aged for 11 years in its Millennium Barrel and bottled on Dec. 31, 1999.

Nonprofits have until midnight New York time tonight, July 26, to request a bottle of Millennium bourbon. If chosen, organizations must auction it off for charity by Dec. 31. More than 150 charities have signed up, and Kris Comstock, Buffalo Trace’s brand manager, said the bottles could fetch bids of $1,000 each or more.

An anonymous bidder agreed Friday to pay more than $2.6 million for a lunch with billionaire investor Warren Buffett, offering a final amount after the auction closed that topped last year’s bid that set a record for the most expensive charity item ever sold on eBay.

All proceeds go to the Glide Foundation, which provides social services to the poor and homeless in San Francisco.

The wave of destructive tornadoes throughout the United States this spring has resulted in an outpouring of charitable donations. PGA Charities auctioned a broken Charles Barkley golf club on eBay to raise money for tornado relief. Ellen DeGeneres is auctioning sports memorabilia. Bruno Mars auctioned signed items.

While all donations help the cause, raising funds through eBay auctions can be particularly effective, both for consumers and sellers, according to research by a strategy professor at Olin Business School, Washington University in St. Louis.

The online component of the second annual Bid to Save the Earth auction was launched Thursday and runs through April 7. A live companion sale is scheduled for March 29 at Christie's auction house.

The event will benefit the Central Park Conservancy, Conservation International, the Natural Resources Defense Council and Oceana. It raised $2.4 million for the four organizations last year.

After the dot-com bubble burst and took down his online grocery store, Webvan Group Inc., Coppy Holzman got back in the game by auctioning unique experiences for charities, like a backstage meeting with Paul McCartney. Then he took it global on the Web.

With his Charitybuzz.com, Holzman serves as a broker who finds the celebrity and runs the online auction. Instead of an upfront fee, he gets 20 percent of the sale proceeds. He doubled Charitybuzz’s business to $25 million this year over 2009.

In their presentation held on July 28 at the 2010 Bridge Conference in National Harbor, Md., "Marketing and Fundraising for Campaigns, Special Initiatives and Anniversary Celebrations," Jeanne G. Jacob, executive director of Goodwin House Foundation, and Barbara Ciconte, senior vice president of Donor Strategies, offered some great tips for successful fundraising. Here are some highlights.