Lutheran Services in America Successful 'Trading Graces' on eBay

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$5,000 bid that was withdrawn after the event, and a baseball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.
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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