Damien's Birthday Project for Charity - JAN 18

[shimmery]

Hi Guys

There has been some discussion on the board about sending Damien a gift for his birthday.

As a birthday gift from our forum I'd like to suggest this -

Maybe we can find out if Damien is going to be a patron of a specific charity and then we can donate to that charity for his birthday.

This happens at another board I know about which has raised thousands over the years for that person's selected charity and made a significant difference to them.


No one would have to collect money. It would be completely free choice and anonymous if desired.


All we'd have to do is individually send that charity DIRECTLY a donation of individual choice, not through any middleman, with a note saying that it is in honour of Damien's birthday.


Then at the end the charity could let Damien (or us) know how much was raised that year in his honour and we could pass that info on to Damien in a birthday note for him.



This way no one would feel pressured to donate more than they can afford, it's completely safe with no risk of anyone here being responsible for collecting monies, and can really help someone out who needs that help.



Hope you like the idea. Neski, maybe you can stick this thread so everyone can see it? Thanks

[-- Janny --]

Do you reckon it will be a good idea to hold some sort activities/events that help ud raise some funds? I think it will be fun, but then again, I'm not sure whether it will go smoothly since Damien fans are scattered all over Australia

[shimmery]

Neski, I will write to Eils and see what she thinks, and which charity we should think about.

[shimmery]

In the past I've seen boards create their own items and sell them to raise the money as well as individual donations but this can be fraught with legalities and any time there is money collecting it needs to be audited so I'm not sure. That other board used to sell its items through cafepress but in the end the percentage left over for the charity was too little so that idea ended up stopping.

If it's just left to individual donations then we eliminate the concern of money being accountable by anyone but the charity itself.


The way it was done at the other place was like this, a letter was sent to the charity each year to let them know the Birthday Project was happenning.

Because Eils & Damien can be contacted, we can let them know that it's on as well.

Usually the board owner or moderators also collected Happy Birthday LETTERS OR CARDS ONLY from the board members to compile and send in a packet for their birthday, with a cover note to say how much was raised for the charity in donations sent direct to that charity in their name. We could get this information from the charity itself when they receive the donations.

[irishrokit]

I've seen signed cd's and stuff go for quite a bit on ebay especially when it's for charity but yeah some people would probably take advantage of that then keep the cash. Ebay would be a good idea though if it was set up properly but it's probably easier for people to just donate directly to the charity like ya said

[Neski]

Will make this stickied .. .and also on the news reader!

Irishrokit - thats not a bad idea ... if we have or can get something signed by damien, like an album and single pack or something, we could possibly raise money on ebay with what it is bought for, and then providing we are honest, send that cost into the charity!

[shimmery]

Thanks for the sticky Neski

That's a good idea about a charity auction - how about this


Maybe the signed item, if there is one, could be given directly to the charity from the forum to be placed for auction. That way no one at the board has to collect money and the charity would be in full control of the financials after the auction if there was one.

[shimmery]

Neski, I'll pm you in a moment regarding my message to Eils about this.

[irishrokit]

There is a few charities on there that sell things regularly and they get more because people know it's legit. They might not bid as much if they think it's just a fan who may pocket the money.

edit: I'm sure you could contact those sellers that sell mainly for charity and ask them about it. I'm sure there's one's that sell for all diff charities or there's sure to be one on there that sells for whatever charity Damien will support. But make sure it's legit first

[shimmery]

I think what is best is to know which charity we are looking at and let that charity tell us how or if they want to recommend an auction method.

[irishrokit]

Yeah it will help once you know what charity it is Also they often do charity balls not ebay auctions. They collect a whole lot of stuff over months or the year then auction it all off at once. Only thing with charity balls is fans don't often get invited so it's not fans that win the items, it's people that the items probably don't mean a lot too

I'm sure once you find out the charity they'll let you know

[shimmery]

Thanks for all those ideas Irishrokit!

If we are able to figure this out, we may be able to give a significant amount to charity each birthday as the years go by!

[winterlong]

I likes this idea...just tell me where to send the dosh ;D

[Mysterri]

Fantastic idea! it would be great to either send personal donations to Damien's nominated charity or as suggested, send them a signed album etc. so that they may auction themselves. It would be good if we had an official letterhead for all correspondence with the web address of dleithonline as well as say, Neski and Murf's postal address for all return correspondence. Quite often charities will send a receipt for all donations they receive. The letterhead could easily be put together in MS Word for example. Nothing to fancy or over the top, just an official letterhead to say who we are, The Shamrock Tarts! No, we can't put that on a letterhead! ;D

Having dealt with a huge amount of written correspondence over the years in my professional life, I know that if you have a good letterhead, it stands out from the 'crowd' of scribbled bits of paper. Anyway, it's just a thought and if Neski and Murf are in agreeance, send in your designs for our official letterhead.

[shimmery]

great stuff winter & mysterrri

We're just waiting on confirmation which charity Damien & Eils choose, & being the weekend we may not hear straight away. But when we do, we'll let everyone know straight away.