National Geographic will kick off its first online charity auction Wednesday, putting items from its retail collection up for bid in hopes of drawing new and existing donors. The nonprofit organization is just one of thousands across the country that are leveraging the popularity of online auctions to bring in new sources of funds.
“So many people are so used to going to online auction sites like eBay,” said Julie Chapman, president of the D.C. chapter of NPower, a nonprofit that helps charities incorporate technology into their organizations.
“The degree of user comfort and bidding online is pretty high. So it’s natural for organizations to try and leverage that.”
National Geographic is holding its auction, which closes at 4 p.m. May 3, through eBay’s Giving Works, the online site’s dedicated program for charity listings. National Geographic is one of the more high-profile nonprofits to enter the world of online auctions, but in the Washington region — and across the nation — the popularity of online auctions among small- and medium-sized organizations is on the rise.
Since eBay launched Giving Works in 2000, nonprofits have raised more than $67 million and there are currently 7,000 registered charities on the site. EBay is the granddaddy of online auctions, but several other sites have popped up that are specifically dedicated to nonprofit auctions, boosting the numbers even higher.
The appeal of online auctions is that they open up local charities to a worldwide audience, said Eric Rigaud, director of Touch DC, a District-based online giving initiative of Washington Grantmakers.
“If a smaller organization even had the [resources] to do a live auction, there’s a limited amount of people,” he said. “With this it opens it up to the world.”
But though many seem to be jumping on the bandwagon, online auctions and online giving overall still only account for a small portion of charitable fundraising.
According to a survey released by the Association of Fundraising Professionals, only about 7 percent of nonprofits got more than 10 percent of their overall donations from online sources in 2004.
National Geographic’s online auction
» National Geographic will auction off items from its Home Collection, furniture inspired by the West Indies and South America, from Wednesday through May 3.
» Proceeds will benefit the World Cultures Fund, which supports the work of archaeologists, anthropologists and others working in remote areas of the world to preserve and document other cultures.
» For more information, visit www.NGSauction.com.
