# KidLitPhil Donations

UPDATE 11/30: Thank you to everyone who donated items to the auction. I am no longer accepting donations of items or services. If you wish to help, please bid on one of the many wonderful items currently open for bids.  

Thank you for your interest in donating. Please read this carefully before deciding to donate.

Your donations will be made available in an on-line auction. (Bidders will leave their bids in the comments). Winning bidders will donate to one of two organizations: Mercy Corps or Unicef. I chose these two organizations because they allow donors to designate their contributions to specific relief efforts and they each are highly rated based on the percent of the money that goes directly to those in need (as opposed to going toward administrative or fundraising costs).  

Source: http://charitynavigator.org/

I will not handle any money or donations. Winning bidders will send me a copy of their receipts, I’ll connect bidders and donors, and donors will send the items directly to the winning bidders. Any shipping costs will be paid by the donor (you) unless otherwise noted in your donation description.

Please make sure your description clearly defines what you are offering. All services should be provided at the convenience of both the donor and the winning bidder, but this should happen within three months of the auction’s end unless something else is agreed upon by both parties or noted in your description.

I will open the auction as soon as I am able, perhaps as soon as Monday, November 25^th.  All updates will be shared through social media and on my blog.

Once I have received all of the donations, I will set up firm guidelines regarding how many items will be released each day, etc.  At this point, I estimate between 3 and 5 items per day and that they’ll each be open for about 5  days. But that’s my best guess right now. It  may have to change. Since I am one person, I may need to limit the number of donations I can manage. That would be a good problem to have.

Therefore, for obvious reasons, I am especially seeking bigger ticket items. In addition, in the interest of staying focused, I’m only accepting donations from the KidLit writing/illustrating community.

I’m especially seeking donations such as these:

1.       manuscript and portfolio critiques from editors, agents, and published kidLit authors/illustrators.

2.       “jump the slush pile” critiques with editors/art directors

3.       Original art or prints from KidLit illustrators.

4.       Skype visits by published KidLit authors/illustrators.

5.       School visits from published authors/illustrators.

6.       Something else exciting or creative that you might dream up. Please don’t let this list limit you.

Those ideas don’t work? Maybe one of these?

• If you are an author or illustrator, perhaps your donation could be to help secure a critique or portfolio review by your editor, art director, or agent.
• Maybe several people would like to work together on something? (Keep the auction format in mind, though. Make sure it will work).
• Name a character in your next book after the highest bidder (or a name of his/her choosing).

Thank you, in advance, for donating, bidding, or spreading the word however you can. 

Other ways to stay informed:

1. Subscribe to/follow this blog.
2. “Like” the Facebook page. 
3. Follow the twitter account @KidLitPhil 
4. Use the hashtag #KidLitPhil

Please make all donations through the on-line form. (11/30: The on-line form is now closed)

ADDED 11/25: I've been monitoring the on-line form and all seems to be working well. Due to the volume of work, I'm unable to send individual acknowledgment emails. I will publish a final list of donors before the auction goes live so you can let me know if anything is missing. Thank you for your understanding. If the form stops working, please let me know by leaving a comment.