I have donated small quilts to our guild silent auction and to a non-profit community agency. I offered a suggested starting bid and both were sold after higher bids were placed. The guild was a baby quilt and the agency was a leaf pattern wall/door hanging. JMO, but I think 'universal' designs such as stars, leaves, well known quilt blocks like log cabin, etc. would be appealing to most people. But, you should make whatever you feel comfortable making, knowing that it will be going to a new home.

Teresa

No, I haven't personally donated a quilt. Never thought mine was quite the quality to do so, but still working at improving and hoping to reach that point someday.

I have, however, been a donator of other goods for charity fund raising and seen how several quilting groups have done it and their failures and successes.

It's going to depend a good deal on the venue. One of churches my husband was a member of had a huge winter craft show and sales. For many years it was very well advertised and attended. The church's quilting circle always had a raffle for a gorgeous, large, hand quilted quilt. They felt that they absolutely had to have a $500 return (modest, considering the materials, quality, time and work going into it) and it was raffled. Ticket sales started before the craft show and continued up until the number was drawn at the day of the show. They sold a hundred tickets at five dollars per.

We won the last quilt ever offered. I'm suspecting that was because the craft show attendance kept dwindling. My DH ended up purchasing half the tickets so they would meet their goal.........not with the intent of winning. That was certainly the handwriting on the wall for the quilting group. If he hadn't.........they would have only received $250 for their work. Even though we spent $250 for half the chances, it was a steal. Now they just custom quilt for people who make the tops.

What I am saying is this.....if you decide to raffle it, make sure you have some enthusiastic and aggressive volunters outreaching to sell the tickets. People don't beat a path to your door. Also if you plan on doing it at an 'event' don't limit your ticket sales to that timeframe.

We have another annual fund-raiser here twice a year at a Christmas festival. Many groups and merchants (myself included) have donated to it and the prizes were bigger ticket items. There is radio and newspaper coverage and all items are displayed well before the event at the meeting hall and then auctioned with bids accepted both in person and by phone live 'on air'. The merchants and groups do it for the advertisement value, and it's a win/win for them and the community. The bidders are often businesses too wanting their name to get on the air. Major, major money is spent,and some buyers get real bargains, and some end up spending more 'for charity' than the products are worth.

I think a quilt could also be a money maker at a Chinese auction if there were enough attendees. You know that most everyone will drop in a lot of their tickets for something like a quilt.

I guess I'm saying they can all be good revenue sources, but it depends on active participation by a group and it depends on how many people you can reach which method works best. If I offered a quilt at a plain auction, I'd certainly put a reserve on it, and if it weren't met, then try a different approach. So many people really have no clue as to the value of a handmade quilt.

I made some quilts to be raffled off for a school event. Unfortunately I came up with the idea 2 weeks before (can you tell I am a procrastinator?)and did not let the school know till the week before (I wanted to make sure I could actually finish them so I made sure the tops were done.) I think it would have been much more beneficial to the school if I had let them know far enough ahead so they could have included it with their advertising for the event. I sent them to be raffled because the event was not set up to auction them.

I have also donated quilts to another school fundraiser where things are auctioned. The quilts that have been part of the live auction did pretty well, the ones that have been put in the silent auction have gone for prices so low that the material costs were not even covered. I will not donate a quilt to the silent auction part again - it is a waste of time and resources and is of minimal benefit to the fundraiser. I will do a smaller item like a bag for the silent auction and will not donate a quilt unless it will be part of the live auction.
Karlene

At our church community picnic, several of us were asked if we would donate something that we made to put towards the cost of hiring the band. The idea was that it would be considered a door prize. When asking those attending the picnic for donations to help pay for the band, they were told if they donated $3.00 or more they would get a ticket towards a drawing to win one of the door prizes. I must say that were was a wonderful selection of items donated. The end result the band was more than paid for with the special ticket sale.Tickets were randemly selected and attached to the items before the drawing took place.

I made a small quilt suitable for a wall hanging or table topper. I used a simple fall leaf pattern in the quilt(the picnic was in August). The funny part was that I won the quilt! Several people who won other prizes asked me if I would trade as the quilt was what they wanted to win. I actually gave the quilt to someone I knew at the picnic whose daughter had a brain tumor and really wanted it.

So guess what I am saying is - go for it, make the quilt, keep the quilt simple and consider it a donation towards a worthy cause and that you helped the cause in some small way. You will be glad you did.

I have donated quilts to be raffled or auctioned and I have to echo Calliope's words

"What I am saying is this.....if you decide to raffle it, make sure you have some enthusiastic and aggressive volunteres outreaching to sell the tickets. People don't beat a path to your door. Also if you plan on doing it at an 'event' don't limit your ticket sales to that timeframe."

I have worked on quilts for the Church craft group with raffle sales done well in advance and with good results.
Personally, I did two items for auctions, both with disappointing results. One was a silent auction, the other a live auction. I think you have to know the group at these events to tailor the item made for them.
And one smallish baby-sized quilt was used as a doorprize.

Many people will pay a few dollars for raffle tickets for a chance to win, who would never, ever pay $100 or more for a quilt in a silent auction.

But this really depends on the crowd. I've told the story before - when I made a quilt for my stepdad's church for their yearly silent auction, the Church Ladies Group told me I'd be lucky to get $50 for it. I had my mom put in the first bid for me at $200. I was absolutely willing to buy back my own quilt. It did sell for about $250. They would have done much better with a raffle in that case, because the community was small and they were not affluent. But I'd bet that many would have dropped a dollar or two for the chance. A dollar supports the cause without hurting the wallet, and maybe they get a great quilt.

That said, I'm now making a large quilt for a silent auction to be held Memorial Day. The benefit is for Selah Ranch Preserve here in Texas. They hold a picnic and silent auction each year. The crowd is several hundred (all of whom have paid $50/head just to be there), and they all could buy and sell me several times over, LOL!

In this case, a silent auction works well. There will be many fine handicrafts to bid on, and the artisan sets the minimum bid. Last year a beautiful handmade bench had a minimum bid of $400, and it went for $975. Small jars of honey from the ranch were going for $7/half pint. This crowd was here to support the cause. They aren't looking for bargains, and would probably be donating big bucks anyway.

So, as said above, you need some sort of judgement about the attendees. If it's going to be a raffle, you need lots of people selling the tickets well in advance, as well as having them available at the venue.

Good luck Kate!!

When I was working at a hospital a few years ago I donated a 30x42 wall hanging to raise money for a lady we worked with whose husband was very ill. It was raffled off at $5 ea. and displayed in a public area for 2-3 wks. (can't remember exactly), at the end it brought in over $300's for the lady. Not too long ago the person who won it remined me that she still had it. As I remember it was done in fall colors with a design suited for a kitchen/eating area.

Kate, when I read your post my first question was, Do they have either an auction or a raffle already set up? If not, do they want to do it?

My only experience is with the guild's donation quilts. As you know, all members are expected to sell $10 or $15 worth of tickets (in the past they've been $1 each or 6 for $5). Also, the supplies and labor are donated. I don't think you should even consider the true cost of the quilt, though several here have mentioned it. The purpose is to raise money for the charity.

Anyway, the guild does pretty well with the donation quilt, but we start selling tickets a year in advance and are pretty aggressive about going to other events and to quilt shops to sell the tickets.

Donna

Thank you all for the great information! There is lots here that I had not considered and all of it is appreciated. I can see that I don't want to rush into this and that marketing is going to be very important. I was leading with my heart and not my brain! Armed with this new information I'm going to contact the local ALS group and work with them to set it up.

Kate