Title: Lutheran Services in America Successful 'Trading Graces' on eBay ELCA NEWS SERVICE
June 15, 2006
Lutheran Services in America Successful 'Trading Graces' on eBay 06-082-FI
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "Trading Graces," the first annual online auction of Lutheran Services in America (LSA), listed more than 2,100 items on eBay for bidding from noon Feb. 26 to noon March 8 and sold 952 or about 45 percent of the items to raise $61,840 for Lutheran social ministry organizations across the United States and Caribbean.
"Our first annual Trading Graces online auction event was a tremendous success," said John B. Carter, LSA's Trading Graces online auction event manager. "We exceeded our participation goals and made an impressive impact in the media by raising awareness for Lutheran health and human services organizations."
Two million viewers visited the LSA Web site in February. Media impressions through television, radio and print topped 25 million, as news of the event was broadcast on ABC World News Tonight and printed in the national edition of USA Today.
Trading Graces brought together Lutheran organizations from 31 states in the inaugural event, using the Internet to raise funds. Fifty-four organizations sold items ranging in price from $5.50 to $8,100. Twenty items raised more than $1,000 each.
Seventy-six social ministry organizations participated, and 66 organizations listed auction items. The value of all items, at the minimum opening bids, totaled more than $700,000. Items listed but not sold included an antique car that received a $5,000 bid that was withdrawn after the event, and a baseball card collection valued at $250,000.
"It was one of eBay's largest single offerings of listed items and one of the broadest in scope," said Matt Winters, eBay high-profile events/cause marketing. "It involved more than 66 different nonprofit organizations from across the country in a well-coordinated effort," he said.
Ken-Crest Centers, Plymouth Meeting, Pa., and Lutheran Family Services in the Carolinas, Raleigh, N.C., were the top earners, selling $11,227 and $5,870 in goods respectively.
Trading Graces items ranged across the spectrum of eBay categories. "Grace," the 11-foot tall wooden giraffe, LSA's Trading Graces mascot, was sold to a buyer in Pennsylvania who also paid the freight for moving the giraffe from California.
Lutheran Family Services of Virginia, Roanoke, listed only two items and sold both: a lunch with former Attorney General Edwin Meese for $500; and a 1987 World Series Minnesota Twins Championship baseball bat for $1,000.
Participating social ministry organizations reported using 521 volunteer hours and recruiting 55 new volunteers -- 23 of whom were under age 30. Almost half of the organizations reported recruiting new donors.
"Our event motto, 'Because everyone has something to give,' is really true," Carter said. "We hope that more Lutherans will partner with LSA member organizations to make the next event an even greater success," he said. The second Trading Graces online auction is scheduled for Feb. 25-March 7, 2007.
Among the "lessons learned" from the first online auction, Carter said, "We clearly agreed that Trading Graces is a labor intensive effort." In preparation for the second auction, more attention will be given to the quality and value of the items to sell on eBay, he said.
LSA is an alliance of nearly 300 social ministry organizations, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. eBay is a platform on the World Wide Web where millions of items are traded each day.
Lutheran health and human service organizations in thousands of communities provide care -- ranging from health care to disaster response, from services for children and families to care for the elderly, from adoption to advocacy -- to 6 million people annually, and employ a quarter of a million staff and volunteers.
During the auction, potential bidders accessed Trading Graces online through the LSA Preview Gallery, by logging on to eBay at http://www.ebay.com or by searching for items at http://www.missionfish.org/ by a specific nonprofit organization's name.
MissionFish provided technical support for Trading Graces. MissionFish has conducted online auctions since 2000, and teamed up with eBay in 2003 as the exclusive charity solution provider for eBay Giving Works and as a service of the Points of Light Foundation.
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, a nonprofit financial services organization based in Minneapolis, helped fund Trading Graces. -- -- --
The home page for Lutheran Services in America is at http://www.lutheranservices.org/ on the Web.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org http://www.elca.org/news ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog