Helping run a fundraiser event for a friend to raise money for the homeless and looking for advice on running a sales thread. 5 5

[VintageComics]

OK, will likely get started on this in the next week or so. 

Is there ANYONE interested in being a 2nd set of eyes or being involved?

As I said, I'll make sure to post the details of the donation afterward but if someone is interested drop me a PM.

Thanks. 

 

 

[VintageComics]

Moving forward with this, I'm going to make some announcements that I think will interest the comic community. 

First, I'm going to be sponsoring the event as Vintage Comics and I'll be donating a comic book at the suggestion of the Founder of the event. I just wish I'd thought of it.

I plan on donating a Marvel Super Special #1 KISS Magazine, which is the issue they put their blood in the red ink. I think people will love it. 

 

2nd, I was at the Dallas Collector's Summit this past weekend and spoke to Heritage about the event. 

As most of you may have heard, Mikey Halperin the son of the owner of Heritage passed away earlier this year. Mikey was a friend to a lot of us and a staple on the comic con circuit. Because of this, Heritage has agreed to sponsor the event and offer a donation which will be announced at the event. 

They're also donating some swag that will go into 50 totes we are giving away to 50 VIP ticket holders.

We have about 18 sponsors currently. 

Edited November 10, 2023 by VintageComics

[VintageComics]

And finally, the talent we are dealing with is just off the charts. 

We were trying to get Sammy Hagar to sponsor the event but couldn't make it happen this year, so Sammy has donated a signed guitar for our raffle draw. 

Jonathan Davis from Korn has donated a signed guitar. 

John Dolmayan from Torpedo Comics - and you may know him as the drummer for System of a Down has agreed to donate a signed drum skin and sticks which will be framed!

There will also be more prizes including a 2 night stay at a prominent Sunset Strip hotel and more!

---------------------

If you like rock and roll, you'll love this:

We're thrilled to announce that creative direction will be done by Billy from Biohazard! 

We also have Charlie Paulson from Goldfinger, Chris Wyse from Hollywood Vampires and many more to announce in the coming weeks. 

And frankly, I'm about to pee myself because I'm so excited about the potential artists we've been in talks with but I can't say anything just yet...

 

[VintageComics]

I'd like to gauge whether people here would be interested in donating to an auction thread if I hosted one in the Marketplace. 

Would love to hear from everyone. 

@CGC Mike if this thread is a problem, feel free to move it to the Dealer area, but I was hoping to get some traction here before it gets moved, simply because not even I go into that forum. 

Gang, thanks for allowing me to indulge. 

[CGC Mike]

On 11/9/2023 at 9:15 PM, VintageComics said:

@CGC Mike if this thread is a problem, feel free to move it to the Dealer area, but I was hoping to get some traction here before it gets moved, simply because not even I go into that forum. 

I'll leave it here for a while longer.

[VintageComics]

On 11/9/2023 at 9:17 PM, CGC Mike said:

I'll leave it here for a while longer.

Thank you. 

[KCOComics]

On 11/9/2023 at 9:15 PM, VintageComics said:

I'd like to gauge whether people here would be interested in donating to an auction thread if I hosted one in the Marketplace. 

Would love to hear from everyone. 

@CGC Mike if this thread is a problem, feel free to move it to the Dealer area, but I was hoping to get some traction here before it gets moved, simply because not even I go into that forum. 

Gang, thanks for allowing me to indulge. 

Roy - what does this money go for? 

Is it a straight donation to Midnight Mission? Or is it a contribution to stand up the event, which will raise money for midnight mission? 

 

Regardless, if you stand up a thread here,  I'll donate some books.  I'm not sure what exactly, but I'll pull together something. 

[DougC]

If there is still time you should reach out to Stuart Sayger for his Kiss and Alice Cooper covers/prints... they are awesome.

Stuart is a great guy and very active on FB.

[VintageComics]

On 11/9/2023 at 9:52 PM, KCOComics said:

Roy - what does this money go for? 

Is it a straight donation to Midnight Mission? Or is it a contribution to stand up the event, which will raise money for midnight mission? 

Great question.

None of the funds go towards anyone involved with the event, not even the artists. The only people who are getting paid are the Whisky staff, and they're being paid by the employer. Everyone involved with this event is volunteering their time. This is personally my 2nd year being involved. 

All proceeds collected from my boards sales thread will do directly to The Midnight Mission.

I will be cutting a check made out to The Midnight Mission and for the total amount of the money raised here and will be giving it to The Mission directly at the event. 

Because the Midnight Mission is a registered charity, I can give every person who donates here a receipt from The Mission for their donation.

---------------------

Additionally, 

1/2 of ticket sales go directly to The Midnight Mission. 

All raffle ticket sale proceeds go directly to The Midnight Mission.

All physical and monetary donations go directly to The Midnight Mission. 

All proceeds from sponsor donations go directly to The Midnight Mission. 

The Midnight Mission will be attending the event to collect proceeds at the end of the evening. 

And of course, I can offer tax receipts to anyone who offers either a physical or cash donation.

I'd be happy to answer any other questions. 

 

On 11/9/2023 at 9:52 PM, KCOComics said:

Regardless, if you stand up a thread here,  I'll donate some books.  I'm not sure what exactly, but I'll pull together something. 

Awesome. Thank you. 

 

Edited November 10, 2023 by VintageComics
Edited for clarity because my brain is mush!

[VintageComics]

On 11/9/2023 at 9:55 PM, DougC said:

If there is still time you should reach out to Stuart Sayger for his Kiss and Alice Cooper covers/prints... they are awesome.

Stuart is a great guy and very active on FB.

Those are so cool. Thanks for suggesting it!

These would be PERFECT for a rock and roll / comic book event!

[VintageComics]

These is a media ad made for the event and they offer some helpful information if anyone wants to know more about donations.

Just throwing this out there as I just thought of it, but I can give anyone a US shipping address if they want to donate any physical items.  

And of course, I can get you a tax deductible receipt for the value of your physical donations as well. 

 

Edited November 10, 2023 by VintageComics

[skypinkblu]

On 11/9/2023 at 10:09 PM, VintageComics said:

Great question.

None of the funds go towards anyone involved with the event, not even the artists. The only people who are getting paid are the Whisky staff, and they're being paid by the employer. Everyone involved with this event is volunteering their time. This is personally my 2nd year being involved. 

All proceeds collected from my boards sales thread will do directly to The Midnight Mission.

I will be cutting a check made out to The Midnight Mission and for the total amount of the money raised here and will be giving it to The Mission directly at the event. 

Because the Midnight Mission is a registered charity, I can give every person who donates here a receipt from The Mission for their donation.

---------------------

Additionally, 

1/2 of ticket sales go directly to The Midnight Mission. 

All raffle ticket sale proceeds go directly to The Midnight Mission.

All physical and monetary donations go directly to The Midnight Mission. 

All proceeds from sponsor donations go directly to The Midnight Mission. 

The Midnight Mission will be attending the event to collect proceeds at the end of the evening. 

And of course, I can offer tax receipts to anyone who offers either a physical or cash donation.

I'd be happy to answer any other questions. 

 

Awesome. Thank you. 

 

You might want to check that out with an accountant, or IRS. If you are the one "cutting the check"   I'm also not sure it matters that much to anyone since the charitable donation rules have changed...but it might to a couple of people

[VintageComics]

On 11/9/2023 at 11:29 PM, skypinkblu said:

You might want to check that out with an accountant, or IRS. If you are the one "cutting the check"   I'm also not sure it matters that much to anyone since the charitable donation rules have changed...but it might to a couple of people

Thanks. I'll do that and report back. 

[mattn792]

On 11/9/2023 at 10:29 PM, skypinkblu said:

You might want to check that out with an accountant, or IRS. If you are the one "cutting the check"   I'm also not sure it matters that much to anyone since the charitable donation rules have changed...but it might to a couple of people

 

On 11/9/2023 at 10:48 PM, VintageComics said:

Thanks. I'll do that and report back. 

I would think that as long as any donor could could provide proof of their contribution to the overall check that Roy cuts, it would work out, i.e - document what the book sold for, how it is associated to this fundraiser, and pair those with the tax receipt.

[Cat]

On 11/11/2023 at 12:04 AM, mattn792 said:

 

I would think that as long as any donor could could provide proof of their contribution to the overall check that Roy cuts, it would work out, i.e - document what the book sold for, how it is associated to this fundraiser, and pair those with the tax receipt.

Not that I'm an expert on American law, but you may struggle if audited to prove it was a charitable donation if it was given to some guy without a 501(c)3. Hence I think why Shazza is suggesting to get it given out by the charity itself? 

[skypinkblu]

On 11/10/2023 at 9:41 AM, Cat said:

Not that I'm an expert on American law, but you may struggle if audited to prove it was a charitable donation if it was given to some guy without a 501(c)3. Hence I think why Shazza is suggesting to get it given out by the charity itself? 

I'm not a tax expert, but I'm married to one. He won't comment, he says that you should contact your own tax advisor.. So I would suggest talking to an expert. I know when I ran charity threads, if a 501c3   registered charity, I had the donor pay the charity directly. The person donating money got the "write off" If you were donating goods, it would have had to go to the charity and if they were a registered charity, they could give you a receipt. 

If I gathered funds from friends and write a check to the Red Cross, I'm the one who gets the tax receipt....not my friends.  I am not a charity, I can't give someone a receipt. Maybe it works differently in Canada.

If it was just a helping charity thread with no formal designation, no one could take it off their taxes, you were just helping out. It's not easy to get charitable status. I didn't read to see if Roy's charity had that.

Edited November 10, 2023 by skypinkblu

[VintageComics]

On 11/10/2023 at 9:04 AM, mattn792 said:

 

I would think that as long as any donor could could provide proof of their contribution to the overall check that Roy cuts, it would work out, i.e - document what the book sold for, how it is associated to this fundraiser, and pair those with the tax receipt.

 

On 11/10/2023 at 10:11 AM, skypinkblu said:

I'm not a tax expert, but I'm married to one. He won't comment, he says that you should contact your own tax advisor.. So I would suggest talking to an expert. I know when I ran charity threads, if a 501c3   registered charity, I had the donor pay the charity directly. The person donating money got the "write off" If you were donating goods, it would have had to go to the charity and if they were a registered charity, they could give you a receipt. 

If I gathered funds from friends and write a check to the Red Cross, I'm the one who gets the tax receipt....not my friends.  I am not a charity, I can't give someone a receipt. Maybe it works differently in Canada.

If it was just a helping charity thread with no formal designation, no one could take it off their taxes, you were just helping out. It's not easy to get charitable status. I didn't read to see if Roy's charity had that.

OK, appreciate all the help gang and thanks to Sharon in particular. 

I'm waiting to hear back from a Tax accountant but I think everyone's questions have already been answered.

I spoke to a project development manager from The Midnight Mission and they said they do stuff like this all the time, and this was their advice:

The easiest way is to have people making purchases from another boardie here donate directly to The Midnight Mission through their online donation feature in the amount of their purchase, and they'll immediately get an online receipt.

Then the buyer can provide me with a receipt of payment / donation from the Mission via PM and I can give the go-ahead to the seller to ship the book.

Does that work for everyone?

My intent was to streamline the process for people and do most of the heavy lifting to make it easier for everyone else, but it seems that it may not work that way in the real work so I appreciate the direction. Thank you.

 

The Midnight Mission has a donation option on every page of their site and they accept credit cards and Paypal as payment.

This looks like a win-win for everyone as it makes it easier for me and more direct for all involved. 

https://www.midnightmission.org/donate/

 

On 10/17/2023 at 12:38 AM, DougC said:

1. Fixed Price; if you are going to use the forums it is what has worked best in the past. Forums generally are not set-up for auction style listings without a ton of involvement.

2. All books donated are first presented to you via DM. Then you post the book in the thread, once claimed the payment is done via the donation website, the receipt is copied to you to verify, and then the person who donated the book mails it to the new owner.

3. I believe anytime is alright; You could start on a Monday afternoon posting donations for sale everyday with bigger ticket items showcased (in the first post) and then put up on certain days to bring additional traffic.

I really like @DougC's advice here and I would run the event the way he described. 

One thing I would add in line 2., is that after the sale is over, I'd open a 3 way PM thread between myself and each individual buyer / seller so that everyone would be on the same page. 

 

I think this is an elegant solution. Thank you so much for your suggestions, everyone. 

Does anyone have any more suggestions or concerns? 

Edited November 10, 2023 by VintageComics

[VintageComics]

On 11/10/2023 at 10:11 AM, skypinkblu said:

I didn't read to see if Roy's charity had that.

For the sake of transparency, it's not my event. The event is put on by the Founder Jowell and all help is volunteer only. Jowell's been a friend of mine for a few years now and as anyone who's been involved with these sorts of events can attest, it can be very busy and time consuming work so I'm thrilled to be able to help her in any way I can. 

The event started in her parent's backyard in Los Angeles as a family and friends gathering. It has unexpectedly grown into an enterprise level event over the last 7 years. 

This is the 3rd year the event is being held at The Whisky, but last year was really the 'break out' year for this event. Last year she sold 250 tickets to the event and she never expected it to get as big as it has so quickly. As such, she is in the process of registering as an actual charity and should be for next year. 

My involvement is mostly around logistics / heavy lifting in whatever way I can help lighten the load and support her. I'm generally involved with media, advertising, logistics, bringing on sponsors and actual physical help on the day of the event so that she can do the networking between the venue, the artists, ticket purchases and donors. 

------------------------------

The tagline for the event is UNITING PEOPLE | MUSIC FOR CHANGE and that is the ultimate goal. It was my idea to run a sales thread here on the CGC forums to try to raise a little more money for The Mission and the reason I chose to do this is because there is a great synergy between music and comic books.

I love them both and I think many people here in the community would be excited to learn more about that as well as to be involved with a great cause. 

 

This is a list of famous rock and roll artists that are also avid, comic book collectors. 

Eminem

Adam Jones from Tool

Kirk Hammett from Metallica

John Dolmayan from System of a Down

Jack White

Steven Tyler from Aerosmith

Glen Danzig from Danzig and the Misfits

Leonardo DeCaprio (not a musician but still cool)

Nicholas Cage (not a musician but still cool)

KISS

Alice Cooper

Todd Kerns from Age of Electric and Myles Kennedy / Slash

Brent Fitz from Myles Kennedy / Slash

Not sure if anyone knows of any others...

[mattn792]

On 11/10/2023 at 9:11 AM, skypinkblu said:

I'm not a tax expert, but I'm married to one. He won't comment, he says that you should contact your own tax advisor.. So I would suggest talking to an expert. I know when I ran charity threads, if a 501c3   registered charity, I had the donor pay the charity directly. The person donating money got the "write off" If you were donating goods, it would have had to go to the charity and if they were a registered charity, they could give you a receipt. 

If I gathered funds from friends and write a check to the Red Cross, I'm the one who gets the tax receipt....not my friends.  I am not a charity, I can't give someone a receipt. Maybe it works differently in Canada.

If it was just a helping charity thread with no formal designation, no one could take it off their taxes, you were just helping out. It's not easy to get charitable status. I didn't read to see if Roy's charity had that.

 

On 11/10/2023 at 10:02 AM, VintageComics said:

 

OK, appreciate all the help gang and thanks to Sharon in particular. 

I'm waiting to hear back from a Tax accountant but I think everyone's questions have already been answered.

I spoke to a project development manager from The Midnight Mission and they said they do stuff like this all the time, and this was their advice:

The easiest way is to have people making purchases from another boardie here donate directly to The Midnight Mission through their online donation feature in the amount of their purchase, and they'll immediately get an online receipt.

Then the buyer can provide me with a receipt of payment / donation from the Mission via PM and I can give the go-ahead to the seller to ship the book.

Does that work for everyone?

My intent was to streamline the process for people and do most of the heavy lifting to make it easier for everyone else, but it seems that it may not work that way in the real work so I appreciate the direction. Thank you.

 

The Midnight Mission has a donation option on every page of their site and they accept credit cards and Paypal as payment.

This looks like a win-win for everyone as it makes it easier for me and more direct for all involved. 

https://www.midnightmission.org/donate/

 

I really like @DougC's advice here and I would run the event the way he described. 

One thing I would add in line 2., is that after the sale is over, I'd open a 3 way PM thread between myself and each individual buyer / seller so that everyone would be on the same page. 

 

I think this is an elegant solution. Thank you so much for your suggestions, everyone. 

Does anyone have any more suggestions or concerns? 

I appreciate the reading material as well.  It’s never been an issue in my holiday threads, but I think this year I’m going to switch the format to where everyone donates direct to the cause and sends proof as necessary instead of me being the central collection point.  Direct tax receipts for all!  

[namisgr]

One other tax thing: for US donors, the standard deduction of $13,850 would have to be exceeded for someone filing single and twice that amount for married couples filing jointly in order for itemized deductions that include charitable donations to achieve a tax advantage.

Edited November 10, 2023 by namisgr