Miffed about my donation of DVC for a fundraising auction

[iankh]

Just need to vent a little. I donated 3 nights in an OKW studio to my synagogue's fundraiser auction.

I found out that nobody bid on it. Not one bid. Not one penny.

I think the problem was with how it was handled. First of all it was put into the silent auction rather than the live auction, and to top it all off it was labeled, "Three Nights in a Florida Studio Apartment."

Is it just me, or am I crazy to think that it might have received more attention had they said, "Three Nights in Disney World, Deluxe Accomodation?"

I was really quite bothered by the whole thing, beginning with the obtuse title, the silent auction part and then no one bidding on it. Originally I was quite excited that it might draw some attention and contribute to the fundraising.

Well, I am floored but there you go. I guess we have more points for ourselves now. We're just going to have to console ourselves in our dump of a cold water, vermin infested flat, in some broken down, roadside town in Florida somewhere.

 

[Anewman]

I would be upset if somebody bid like $20, and WON.

And did you submit the item as anything other than "Three Nights in Disney World, Deluxe Accomodations"?

I would imagine they referred to it as a "Florida studio apartment", because that is the way they understood it.

 

[rinkwide]

With such a short stay involved I bet people assumed they'd be required to attend a "brief 90 minute sales presentation".

 

[Wish I lived in Fl]

Filet Mignon labeled as "dead cow"!

 

[Cruelladeville]

Maybe you should have put it on the rent/trade board, and just donated the money. Obviously, you have far better taste than anyone else in your church(syn--can't spell the rest!)

 

[DrTomorrow]

I'm with rinky - that sure sounds like a 'timeshare come-on'....

 

[iankh]

When I made the donation, it was entitled, 3 nights in Disney World, but I guess the event organizers had a better idea of how to package and market it.

 

[keys2kingdom]

Ian, I would have been miffed too!! I'm glad to see someone else actually gets "miffed", I haven't heard anyone but me say that in quite a while.
BTW I think your donation was very generous, those people don't know what they missed out on!!

 

[shantay1008]

It really is too bad. Maybe next time (if you decide to do it again), you could have a little photo album showing pictures of your family enjoying themselves in your room and at WDW. That might help people understand what it's really about.

 

[rocketriter]

Amateur event organizers are often folks who couldn't stay afloat running professional events. The only thing you can do is explain to them very precisely but politely how they deflated the value of your contribution, and then donate elsewhere.

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

Okay...I'll bid $100 (which I think is very generous considering it's just a studio apartment on the wrong side of the tracks).

Seriously, I would be really upset too!

 

[Disneyaholic]

You might want to bring this to the attention of the event organizers, to let them know that they missed out on some potential funds that might have been raised. Actually, silent auctions CAN be very effective fundraisers, if handled properly; your generous donation obviously was not.

And you should write the letter while YOU are sitting in that dumpy studio apartment!

 

[Geyser Gazer]

We donated 4 nights at Beach Club last Fall. The auctioneer opened at $1300 (cash rate) and I watched it dive to less than $300 before it finally sold at $520. Needless to say I was getting a little queasy as this was unfolding but at least it sold for just over what we would have considerd renting for in the end.

 

[Sherri]

Wow! I think it could have been handled much better then it was.
I think anyone would love a chance to bid on Disney property. It brings me to my next thought, what if other things on the auction block were down played as well?I think they need a new person in charge of the event next year.

 

[msmayor]

Its wonderful that you were willing to donate your points for a stay.

But...its also possible that folks considered the cost to get down there, meals, tickets, etc. and decided that they would have rather bid on an entire vacation 'package', rather than just a place to stay.

I know that would have been the case for me.

 

[NMW]

I think it was nice of you to donate the nights in the first place. And yes, I do think they made it sound like a timeshare sales thing.

 

[dianeschlicht]

I donated 5 nights in a studio at OKW once for our son's private high school fund raiser. I made sure they presented it the way I did, and I not only wrote up a discription, but also had photos of the studio, the resort, and WDW. The school packaged it with some free airline passes, and put the whole package up for voice auction. I believe it went for $5000 with the airline tickets included. The family who got it booked the air tickets first, and then I booked the OKW studio. It was a great donation for the school that way.

 

[Disney Doll]

I would probably take a picture from the deck of my "Florida studio apartment" and send it, along with a note to the event organizers. In the note I would express my concerns about how they handled your generous donation, and how the fact that they worded it so...nebulously...probably made people think it was a timeshare presentation instead of what it was...the chance to get beautiful accomodations in WDW at a great price!

I am sure that if folks bidding in the auction knew that they were truly bidding on a deluxe unit in Disneyworld with no strings attached, the response would have been much better.

Meanwhile, what a generous donation to make!

 

[goldilocks_63]

Iankh,

You tried to do something nice. That's all you can do.

You made me crack up with your vermin infested description....

FYI - Last year, over Easter, I had a 2BR reservation at OKW at 100 points per night, and everyone, except DD-6 and me cancelled.....

I posted on the disboards / wdwinfo website that free OKW accomodations were available, (yes, had to share, but you would have your own bedroom), and do you know even with 1 week notice nobody took me up on it....

So I guess you just can never tell.....

Enjoy your points,
Goldi

 

[shantay1008]

Amateur event organizers are often folks who couldn't stay afloat running professional events. The only thing you can do is explain to them very precisely but politely how they deflated the value of your contribution, and then donate elsewhere.

Ouch! Where's the ref?