Today was an auction for the local care center. I donated 2 quilts. I walked in and the quilts were both folded and laying on the table with some plants and other things included in a silent auction. Select items were chosen for a regular auction. The bidding was to start at $30 on each of the quilts. One was scrappy so it was fine folded but the other had hand embroidery and hand quilting in the center which was folded in so it couldn't be seen.

I'm struggling with my ego and the practicality of putting the work and money into a quilt that they are willing to let go for $30. I'd be ahead to just give them the money.

So, next year, donate or not to donate?

nope, its not worht it, in my experience..just donate the 30 bucks and then donate the quilt to someone who needs it.

I had the same thing happen to me not only with quilts but with other items as well. My feeling is to now donate the money for what it would have cost me to make the item. My time is money and if they do not get what it cost in materials why should I donate my time to make it.

it is hard to donate quilts to someone who does not understand the work and money that go into making them.. I make a baby quilt basket up for my neice each year for her school and it always goes for a lot less than i have invested in it, but the school needs the money and who ever gets it , gets a great bargain, so i will continue to do so.
Maybe you could mention to someone the real Value of these quilts, they may not be aware and would be happy to up the bidding price. Maybe give a suggested price.

Maybe you could mention to someone the real Value of these quilts, they may not be aware and would be happy to up the bidding price. Maybe give a suggested price.[/quote]

Giving a suggested price is a good idea. It hurts our feeling when our work is taked for granted.

When I make a quilt for donation I have learned to use a simple pattern in great colors. Usually it is made for Relay for Life. The team I donate it to sells raffle tickets and starts about 4 months ahead of time.
They never earn what they're worth but a few hundred dollars is more than I can donate.

I'm sure your quilts were worth more than they were sold for. Quilts don't seem to auction too well, do they :(
I'm sorry your feelings were hurt

One quilt I donated to be auctioned off, they got a lousy $60 for it! I even told them they needed to have a starting bid of $350 but they didn't do it... Another one I donated for to be raffled they made less than $300 because they didn't alot enough time nor did they 'work it'. Both quilts were really nice bed quilts that I could have easily sold for $500!

I rather give my quilts to charities like breast cancer, QOV, Project Linus! At least that way someone special gets to be wrapped up in the love I put in to the quilt - a person who will get way more out of the quilt than money could ever provide.

jmho

Donate the money next time. Years ago I would bake cakes for the school cake sale. I was a pastry chef and worked from home. I used the best of ingredients. One year they asked if I could donate several cakes as there were teachers who were going to buy them at the cake sale. I made them and after the fact they had charged only $3 per cake OMG it cost me more then $3 just for the butter that went into making the cake and frosting. I stopped baking for the school cake sale. But stupid me didn't learn my lesson the church was having a bake sale after Mass. I baked 3 sheet cakes of coffee cake they were selling them by the slice. One woman ate the piece she bought then went back to buy an entire coffee cake. I almost dropped dead they were selling the cake for 15 cents per slice. This happened about 10 years ago and at that time a donut in the local bakery cost 95 cents. I have donated afghans to the local church since moving to Ohio for their silent auction but I do not know how much money they received. I decided no more donation when I have no control of how much something will be sold for and the people who are selling the items haven't a clue as to how much something is worth. I think they think if it is homemade it is cheap. I have baked and given cakes to the homeless and womans shelters. I have made quilts for project linus and again the homeless and womans shelter. I will donate to them but i will NEVER again donate for an auction or cake sale.

My only experience with donating for a quilt auction was for the Christian school that my daughter attended. I made a throw size quilt and hand quilted it and it went for $250. I was pleased with that. There was a scrappy "Apple Core" bed size quilt that was hand pieced and hand quilted that I loved and it went for $600. However, there was another quilt that was a very simple pattern, machine quilted, but with beautiful fabrics and it went for $1400!! It just showed that people don't appreciate hand quilting and I was going to do one last year that was big, pretty fabrics and machine quilted, but before the auction came around, the school closed. But all the quilts went for very good prices. I would be sick to put all that work in a quilt and see it sell for $30.

Giving a suggested price is a good idea. It hurts our feeling when our work is taked for granted.[/quote]

i watch a quilt get no bids, because they upped the starting bid price..and it was not a high price either. the woman who made the quilt was embarrased and hurt.
i still stand on the "donate money" give the quilt to someone who will love it or needs a lift..

I love this quilt. I want to make one for my sister who moved to TX and married her first love after being apart for 35 years...and they are living happily everafter.

That is just so sad. They didn't realize what they were worth.

I've donated several quilts to various schools for fund raisers, my daughter & sister are teachers & their schools need money, and also the schools my grandchildren attend.
I've realized that if the quilts are raffled they bring in much more money then when auctioned, people are willing to spend a dollar on a raffle ticket but can't afford to bid a high amount. I'm not involved with the fund raising committees of any of these schools but wish I could influence them to raffle, not auction. One school raffled the first quilt I donated, brought in $800, but then they decided to go to auction, the quilt this year only made $70 at auction. Next year I'll probably just donate money unless they go back to raffle.

maire - I also strongly support raffles over auctions.

I coordinate an annual "community quilt" project where different people do a block and I put them all together for a fundraiser for our scholarship fund. We usually end up with two lap quilts instead of one larger quilt. Based on going rates for making custom quilts, each of ours would be worth about 300$. Because they raffle them, we bring in about $1500 to $1600 each year for two of them. Much better return than an auction.

What a heartbreaking story!

I've only donated quilts to be used, not to be sold. However, as a customer, I'm much more likely to buy raffle tickets.

I just received an update from the coordinator of the event. This quilt went for $255 and a smaller scrappy quilt went for $85.

It didn't end up so bad but I stil question whether to do it again next year.

our guild ran into this same thing and voted not to do charity quilt for auctions again....large quilt, quilting was donated, went for practically nothing.

Hi, I have had similar experiences with quilts I have donated to help various organizations. The quilts were nice but not "art" quilts but to have them go for less than what you pay for the fabric is disconcerting. I guess if you don't quilt or do hand crafts, you really don't understand the amount of time involved or how much fabric, thread, yarn, etc costs. I would donate the cash instead and donate to children's hospitals and women's shelters instead. At least you would know that someone is being held close by your gift (and kids and others really appreciate those "handmade hugs").

Ugh. That hurts, doesn't it? :(

The thing with donating is you're giving it freely. Once you give, it's not yours anymore. If they have no idea what "the going rate" for quilts are, they are unable to price accordingly, kwim? So, it's a sad situation. What you COULD do is donate the quilt for a raffle-type situation, which kinda helps you to not know "what they got" for the quilt and people are kinda dropping money on the dream of having the quilt (and other items). A person might buy $10 in raffle, but if 100 other people did that, it's $1000.

Or, like someone else does, give the quilt to an organization that gets it to people that NEED it, and not just WANT it.

Personally I would continue to make them, but use simpler pattern and give a suggested price (cost to make) so I didn't have so much invested. If the quilt is made/designed by the persons at the care center (colored blocks, hand prints, applique, etc) there seems to be more interest. Also I agree raffle seems to bring more income. Especially if there are multiple prizes. At my daughters school we had a drawing (raffles are illegal here) and each grade donated one prize, so you had a chance to win one of 5 prizes for each ticket.

let's not even TALK about raffles (and bingo) here! LOL

yea, they call it a drawing when it's nothing less than a raffle - you sell tickets, you draw one ticket, that ticket wins - that's a raffle LOL

just don't let Bingo Bob hear about it...

Don't donate unless you are willing to see your work sell for pennies. Give to a cause that can make some money from it or as you have said give money directly to the organization.
I do this but make sure the project is easy. I jazz it up with interesting fabric and I don't even go to the event where it is sold so i don't know what it sold for.

Unfortunately, silent auctions seem to be the pick for some who want to 'get something for nothing'.

I would be pretty honest next time if the quilts do not sell for a good price. Maybe offer a baby quilt vs one we all spend time and a lot of money on.

wow, just donate $30.00 and wait on the quilt,

your quilt is worth more than the $30.00

I think if I was to donate to an auction, I would put in a materials list. A list of the materials and cost of each item I used in the quilt. People who are not in the know do not know how to price. I would have no clue how to charge for homemade furniture. Some people seem to have enough knowledge based on something that happened eons ago, but not updated since.

I donate small quilts to Quilts for Kids. The photos on their website
shows that they are well loved by children in hospitals. It's been a great way to practice my skills and reduce my fabric stash. Perhaps you could insist on a minimum bid if you get involved in one of these events in the future.

Yes I know what you mean - it's just so heartbreaking when that happens. Every Christmas I make a quilt for a local charity to ballot. I make it early enough that it can be around for a while before the draw. I must say I was delighted that last year's raised just over £350 - (about $500). Definitely the ballots bring in more than an auction. Other than that, I agree with the others who say just donate the $30 and give the quilt to a worthy cause.

Yes, that happened to me too. I donated a wallhanging to the elementary school for a silent auction. It was a flower basket in shades of pink and blue. It went for $25! One bid. The woman who purchased it called me to apologize for how little it brought because she knew it was worth so more. I don't do that anymore - I'd rather have donated the $25 and have my quilt! I made a very intricate pink ribbon bargello for class and everyone keeps telling me to donate it! HA! I'd be happy to have people use it as a display for pink ribbon events, but I'm not giving it up this time!

I wouldn't.

The school I work at asked for donations for a Christmas Silent Auction and I responded with a lap quilt I made. I supplied them with a description of the quilt, a picture and set the value at $75. They didn't use either the description or picture....called it a blanket and didn't list the value so got $15 for it. Their marketing was shameful and I won't donate again.

Don't you just wish everyone could make just one quilt in their life time so they could appreciate how much work goes into a quilt. A woman at our church writes her name, date, pattern, start and finish date and how many hours she puts into it. All on a label. Some are on the front side and some on the back. Her quilts have been bringing a lot more at auction since she has added these labels.

OK, now I'm worried. I dabble in stain glass and I have committed myself to donating a panel for a silent auction. The last time I did this, the item was out of my control, out of my sight, and out of the picture, so I never found out who or what became of it. This time the item will be at my workplace. I guess I'll see what it goes for. The up side is, I didn't put the hours into it that a quilt requires. Sorry to read about all of you who spent so much time, effort, and money on what probably were some pretty awesome quilts.

Give them the money. You still get the blessings and the great feelings that donating gives but keep the quilts. Just my humble opinion.

I would be upset too - such a beautiful quilt so obviously undervalued. We had a bake and craft sale at work last week and had some small quilted items. One was a wall hanging and it went for $35. The other was a basic throw and while it was folded on the table, those interested could open it up and then bid. Not sure what its final amount was.

Another gal had made some pretty jewelry and someone put $10 on the sheet which I thought was rude. (It's for a fund raiser folks!!!!) So I upped the anty. She was pissed at me. So much for being charitable.

I agree, raffles are the way to go. People who attend auctions want to get something of value for as little as possible. Plus, unless the bidders are familar with what it takes to make a quilt, the bids don't go very high. I rather give them the money and gift a quilt to someone who really needs it such as children who are in long term hospital care.

I have to put my 2 cents in here. Years ago I helped buy ingredients for, got helpers to make and bake pies for a bake sale to benefit the homeless shelter. The pies sold for $3.50 to $5.00 each until towards the end of the event one of the organizers said she'd buy the pies that were left over for a donation...her donation amounted to $1.00 per pie. I NEVER donated to, helped make or bake another pie for that organization. This same person bought the Artisan breads that were made for the sale for 50 cents a loaf, fudge for 50 cents a plate and had EVERYTHING gone before the event even ended then she bragged about
having all her holiday baking done and in the freezer at the next organization meeting. I was pretty furious!

On a more positive note, our quilt group made a quilt that was raffled off for a really wonderful cause. They sold tickets for months, had it on display in a number of places and business' around town and had a nice article in the newspaper about the quilt...I think they sold over $7,000 worth of tickets for the raffle. HUGE success and we, the makers of the quilt, were all thrilled.

It is sad, you put alot of work into them.

I have been involved in numerous activities; civic, school, church etc. for years between kids and personal activities. Here's something to think about-if you are donating to a not-for-profit agency, church, school, etc., who is a 501c they will write you a donation receipt for the value you assign to the item(s) whether it be quilts, cakes or whatever. You can then use the full value as a tax deduction. Let's say you were going to just give them $50.00 which is what you would have spent on the material. You get a receipt for $50.00. Or, you make the quilt, value it at $250.00 and get a receipt for the $250.00. If they don't sell the quilt for $250.00 you still get the full benefit of the donation. I have seen small items bring huge bucks at auctions and I have seen wonderful items bring next to nothing. A lot of it has to do with how the event is promoted and who is promoting it. If your not sure your donation will garner the desired results, talk to the promoter/committee member first. If you don't feel they are taking the term "fund raiser" seriously and are committed to bringing in the most money possible then make a small donation and save your handmade quilt for an event where it will be appreciated and get top dollar.

Basically a good idea, but run this by your accountant. I am saving receipts, thank you letters , and photographing my donated quilts & baby hats (knitted). I'll see what happens at tax time next year. I am happy to help others but it does add up. Well, it's my therapy!