This has also happened to me. This year, there was a silent auction for a local Republican group. The money raised went to a scholarship fund for graduating HS seniors, and not to politicos.
I donated 2 small patriotic quilts (wall-quilt size) and only got $40 for the 2 of them.. one of the quilts had an American flag theme. What really ticked me off was that the buyer of the quilts said that she will use them as baby quilts for her grandchild... even the one with the flag motif. So her grandchild will crawl around on our flag, dirty it up.... Never again!