March 26, 1007

To: Becky Elam

From: John Seed

Re: Using eBay for Fundraising

Goal:

I believe that eBay can be used as a highly effective tool to raise funds towards the commission of public works of art on the MSJC campus. Initially, the goal would be to use eBay auctions to raise up to $15,000.00 towards commissioning a work by Max DeMoss to be sited on the Menifee campus adjacent to the Tech Building. Additional funds, up to $10,000 could be provided by the district, to fabricate the setting – possibly a fountain – and install the commissioned work.

To Start:

The MSJC Foundation needs to sign up with eBay – which works with a website called missionfish.com as a partner -- as a registered non-profit organization. A number of Community College Foundations -- including Coastline Community College, Palomar, Long Beach City College, Butte College, and San Mateo Community College – are already registered and active.

A link to accomplish this, along with information pertaining to how this process works can be found at:

The Missionfish account will assist the foundation in tracking proceeds from auctions and also will provide a webpage describing the fundraising goals of the MSJC Foundation and eventually show all listed auctions.

Community eBay Selling:

eBay provides several ways that items can be auctioned to support a charitable cause.

I would suggest that MSJC initially try “Community Selling.” What this means is that we can inform members of our college community of our fundraising drive -- most likely this can be done entirely via the internet – and they can then list eBay items from their homes and designate a portion of the proceeds to the MSJC Foundation. If desired, MSJC could also contract with local businesses in Hemet/San Jacinto and Temecula to serve as drop off points for merchandise to be listing. This generally costs 30% of final auction value.

Information about Community Selling can be found at:

Additional Aspects:

I believe that all fundraising could be done via the internet. A page could be added to the MSJC website with information about the fundraising goals, and links to the current auctions. This page could also include a PayPal link for those who simply wanted to donate funds rather than auctioning merchandise on eBay.

The college community could be notified as follows:

-By a link from the MSJC main page

-By an e-mail sent to all students via MSJC e-mail

-Through notices in local newspapers and campus publications

Responsible Parties:

John Seed: Chairperson, responsible for designing and overseeing fundraising tools

Becky Elam/MSJC Business Services: Accounting and Legal oversight

Chris Klein/MSJC Foundation: Reporting on Fundraising and thanking donors

MSJC Webmaster: Implementing site features

MSJC Blackboard Technicians: Sending out e-mail to campus community