Charity Folks - Online Auctions

Your visit means a lot to us and we look forward to helping you. We hope that you'll enjoy taking place in the captivating world of auctions for charity.

Terms

A-D

	Advocacy Alliance As Is Audience Authenticity Guarantee Bought In Brand Brand Equity Buyer's Premium Category Cause Branding Certification Co-Branding Community Wealth Conditions of Sale or Conditions of Business Corporate Social Investing Corporate Community Relations Corporate Relations/Partnership Policy Disclosure/Transparency

E-P

Employee Involvement
Employee Volunteer Programs
Endorsement
Event Marketing
Exclusivity
Fair Market Value
Fair Warning
Gavel
Hammer Price
Increment
Knocked Down
Licensing
Lot
Lot Number
Marketing
Message Promotion
Minimum Guarantee
Naming Rights
Operations/Social Enterprise
Pass/Unsold
Passion Branding
Philanthropy
Point of Sale/Point of Purchase
Pre-Sale Estimate
Premiums
Product Donation
Property
Provenance
Public-Private Partnership

Q-Z

	Qualified Sponsorship Payment Reputation/Reputation Management Reserve Price Segmentation Self-Canceling Proposition Signature Program Sponsorship Social Entrepreneurship Social Marketing Stakeholders Strategic Alliance Unrelated Business Income Tax (UBIT) Venture Philanthropy Workplace Giving Campaign

Advocacy Alliance
A formal or informal partnership in which nonprofit organizations and companies work together to alter their operations, promote changes in public policies, support self-regulation, or endorse operating or ethical standards. Sometimes these relationships begin as adversarial ones that evolve into collaborative arrangements.

As Is
Charity Folks' offers all property for sale at auction "as is," meaning that the property is sold with all existing faults and imperfections. We encourage potential buyers to inspect each item carefully and ask questions before bidding.

Audience
An important term in marketing and communications, referring to the target groups or constituencies to whom efforts are directed or have an effect upon. Corporate-nonprofit partnerships often grow out of recognition of a shared audience, such as a youth service organization partnering with a beverage or fast-food company or a home shopping network partnering with a nonprofit that serves people with disabilities.

Authenticity Guarantee
All Items auctioned off on Charity Folks have been authenticated by the Sellee (the charity holding the auction). A buyer who disputes the correctness of a lot description has recourse and needs to contact Charity Folks so the authentication challenge can begin.

Bought In
If there are no bids on a lot, or if bidding does not reach the reserve price, the lot is "bought in," meaning it is left unsold and remains the property of the owner.

Brand
A brand represents what an organization, company, product or service stands for and implies a promise to stakeholders of the organization or company. Underlying most corporate-nonprofit partnerships is the goal of strengthening the organization's and company's brand identity.

Brand Equity
Adapting a classic definition from David Aaker's Building Strong Brands, brand equity is the set of assets (and liabilities) linked to a brand's name and symbol that adds to (or subtracts from) the value provided by a product or service to a company or nonprofit organization and its stakeholders.

Major asset categories are:

Brand name awareness
Brand loyalty
Perceived quality
Brand associations

Brand equity can be strengthened by well-planned strategic partnerships or weakened by partnerships that are inconsistent with the company's or nonprofit's brand.

Buyer's Premium
The additional amount above the hammer price that is paid to the auctioneer as part of the total purchase price. Charity Folks does not charge Buyer's Premium.

Category

An Organizational structure used to better organize and class lots in large auctions.
Typically refers to a product or service segment, such as the cereal, beverage, or financial services category. Nonprofits sometimes agree to an exclusive partnership with a company in a particular category.

Cause Branding
A term coined by the strategic marketing firm Cone Inc. that refers to a long-term, strategic commitment to a cause-marketing branding strategy. Cone's definition is: "A strategic, stakeholder-based business strategy that integrates a social issue or cause into brand equity and organizational identity to gain significant bottom line impacts."

Certification
An arrangement in which the nonprofit organization recognizes that a product or service of a company complies with certain established standards. Typically, these certifications are available to any product or service that meets the standards.

CO-Branding
Jointly branding an event or product, typically using both partners' names in the product or event.

Community Wealth
Community wealth is generating new resources to support mission and engaging market forces to work for the nonprofit organization. The term was coined by Share Our Strength and its for-profit consulting business, Community Wealth Ventures, to draw a distinction between community wealth building and traditional fundraising. Community Wealth Ventures categorizes activities into two "community wealth pathways":

partnerships, such as cause-related marketing, licensing, sponsorships, and
enterprises that earn income and accomplish mission at the same time.

Conditions of Sale or Conditions of Business
The terms under which Charity Folks' and the Charity (owner & sellers of the property) agree to sell a lot to the purchaser. In New York they are entitled "Conditions of Sale" and "Terms of Guarantee." Please read the relevant conditions carefully before bidding.

Corporate Social Investing
In his book Corporate Social Investing, Curt Weeden makes the case for a shift from traditional corporate philanthropy to a broader, multifaceted strategy which he calls corporate social investing. Under this philosophy, a company sets a specific goal for contributions, targets its giving toward causes that provide return to the company, and gives shareholders a means to hold the company accountable for its nonprofit investments.

Corporate Community Relations
According to Edmund M. Burke, founder of The Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College, in his book Corporate Community Relations, corporate community relations is "the state of relations between the company and the communities in which it has a presence or impact. It encompasses programs that advance the interests of both the company and its communities, such as donations, employee volunteerism, and community partnerships. It involves the impact of the operational activities of the company on its communities as well as programs established to develop relationships with groups and organizations in communities."

Corporate Relations/Partnership Policy
A well-planned, mission-based document to help guide an organization in its partnership decisions. Some nonprofit organizations have taken the time to develop and adopt such policies to help them respond to requests from companies or to assist in proactively seeking out partners to help further their mission. These policies may include principles, criteria, minimum financial requirements and pricing models, and a process for internal decision making.

Disclosure/Transparency
The obligation of nonprofit organizations and corporations that serve the public to maintain open communications and engender the trust of their stakeholders. In the context of corporate-nonprofit partnerships, the link and relationship between the nonprofit organization and the commercial entity should be clearly disclosed. While there is broad support for the concept of disclosure, there is current debate in the field over how and how much of the partnership details must be included in advertising and product packaging and what serves the public most effectively.

Employee Involvement
A broad category of collaborations between companies and nonprofits that harness the valuable network of employee interests, talent, and financial resources to create value for nonprofit organizations. Employee volunteer programs, workplace giving campaigns, employee-driven contributions models, matching gifts, board member training, and other strategies for involving employees in the community fall under this broad category.

Employee Volunteer Programs
Many companies encourage employees to volunteer in the community as part of their human resource and community affairs strategies. In a growing trend, companies are developing employee volunteer programs that support their recruitment and retention, training, and executive development needs. Some companies have recently devoted additional staff resources to match employees with nonprofits that fill their interests, developed computerized databases of volunteer opportunities to enable employees to explore current needs, and even paid for television advertising that promotes its community service activities.

Endorsement
The express approval or support of a product or service, typically conveyed through advertising or a statement of endorsement on the product packaging. The Federal Trade Commission guidelines for use of endorsements and testimonials in advertising define an endorsement as any advertising message that consumers are likely to believe reflects the opinion, belief, findings, or experience of a party other than the sponsoring advertiser. According to the FTC this includes any verbal statements, demonstrations, or depictions of the name, signature, or seal of an organization. The FTC also identifies a type of endorsements called "expert endorsements," which must be supported by an evaluation or testing of the endorsed product.

Some nonprofits have long-standing policies against endorsing any company, product, or service, but still may license use of their logo to a company in exchange for payment or a portion of the sales when there is a benefit to their stakeholders or cause. Sometimes this arrangement includes the opportunity to distribute educational information along with the product. The issue of what constitutes an endorsement continues to be discussed and debated by the IRS, state attorneys general, and by the nonprofit community.

Event Marketing
Promotional activities specifically designed around an event to raise awareness or funds for a cause or to promote a company or product. An example is the Avon Breast Cancer 3-Days event that promotes awareness of breast cancer and raises funds for breast cancer research.

Exclusivity
An exclusive arrangement between partners prevents any similar arrangements with other organizations. Many nonprofit organizations have long-standing policies not to engage in exclusive partnerships. Some may make an exception to allow exclusivity for a specific activity for a specific period of time within a specific product/industry category.

Fair Market Value
A term used frequently by appraisers referring to their judgment and opinion about an object's likely sale price if offered for sale by a willing seller to a willing buyer. Since the auction process is open to all bidders, a sale at auction is considered to be a measure of Fair Market Value.

Fair Warning
A warning that the "hammer is about to come down" on a lot halting all bidding and closing the lot. At Charity Folks we use popcorn bidding which automatically adds ten minutes to the closing time if a bid is made in the last ten minutes. The fair warning gives you a last chance to increase the bidding.

Gavel
Another name for the auctioneer's hammer used to close the bidding.

Hammer Price
The winning bid for a lot at auction. It is the price upon which the lot closes. Determining the sale price and does not include the buyer's premium (or sales tax, if applicable).

Increment
The amount by which the "Next Bid" increases during the bidding.

Knocked Down
An auction house term for the hammer coming down and ending the bidding.

Licensing
An agreement in which a nonprofit's name is attached to a product. Typically, a nonprofit licenses a company to develop, produce, market and/or distribute a mission-related product that is promoted either with the organization's brand name or co-branded with both the company's and nonprofit's names. Another kind of licensing partnership occurs when a nonprofit grants use of its information or knowledge.

Lot
An individual object or group of objects offered for sale at auction as a single unit.

Lot Number
Every lot at Charity Folks' is given an individual lot number and code name to distinguish it from previous and subsequent sales of similar properties. It is useful to have this information when contacting Charity Folks. You will find it on the Bidding page of that specific lot on our web site.

Marketing
The American Marketing Association's definition of marketing is "the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational goals."

Message Promotion
An alliance in which a nonprofit organization works with a company or media outlet to promote a public interest message.

Minimum Guarantee
A minimum guaranteed return is sometimes stipulated in a partnership agreement whereby a partner agrees to pay a specific minimum dollar figure, regardless of the actual result of the program. In a cause-related marketing sales promotion a company may guarantee a minimum revenue amount, paid as a percentage of profits earned from the sales generated during the time of the promotion, with the corporate contributions or community relations budget backing up the minimum guarantee if sales are not as high as expected. Some nonprofit organizations have developed policies on the minimum guarantee that must be offered by a company in order to consider a promotional arrangement.

Naming Rights
Applying a company's name or brand to a program, venue or facility based on an agreed-upon arrangement.

Operations/Social Enterprise
A broad range of activities that improve a company's or nonprofit's core business operations, such as building unique supply or distribution channels.

Pass/Unsold
Terms used by the auctioneer when an item fails to reach its reserve at auction.

Passion Branding
Another term used for cause branding.

Philanthropy
Philanthropy is a cash or product gift to a charitable cause with no expectation of receiving services, products, or specific recognition in return. Companies are increasingly making their contributions decisions with business goals in mind. Some people use the terms philanthropy, altruistic philanthropy or traditional philanthropy to differentiate the contributions made with no specific business purpose from strategic philanthropy, focused philanthropy, or corporate social investing, which is designed to achieve a business purpose. While a grantmaking partnership may not be as dynamic or deep as other multifaceted partnerships, the corporate grantmaker and the nonprofit grantee each deliver something of value to each other.

Point of Sale/Point of Purchase
A promotional item, such as a poster, free-standing display or counter-top presentation (for cards, flyers, brochures, etc.) often used to display and promote an activity, service or product in a retail or consumer service environment.

Pre-Sale Estimate
The price range within which an auction lot is expected to sell. We base this estimate on our examination of the item and our knowledge of the prices achieved by similar objects. The pre-sale estimate provides prospective buyers with an important preliminary guide to value and is generally the basis for establishing the reserve price.

An estimate is not to be confused with an appraisal, which is a formal written document used for insurance, estate and tax purposes. As with the appraisal, estimates are our best judgment and opinion, but are not a guarantee that the item will sell for the specific price.

Premiums
Promotional items, products or apparel designed specifically to coincide with an event or promotion either to be given as incentives or purchased. An example is National Public Radio/Starbuck's CO-branded CDs that are given as premiums for new and renewing memberships.

Product Donation
A contribution in the form of a service or product. Some partnerships include a product donation to the nonprofit organization.

Property
A term used to communicate the sponsorship opportunity available, such as an event, a program, a website, or other specific project.

Provenance
The history of ownership of the property being sold. This can be an important part of the authentication process as it establishes the chain of ownership back (if possible) to the time the piece was made.

Public-Private Partnership
A collaboration that includes a public-sector government agency and a private-sector organization or company—either for-profit, nonprofit or both—working together to solve a community problem or create social change. Many public-private partnerships include several nonprofit organizations, companies, and government agencies at the local, state, or federal levels.

Qualified Sponsorship Payment
A "safe harbor" created by Congress in 1997 for charities that wish to acknowledge their business sponsors without being liable for UBIT (Unrelated Business Income Tax). Previously, acknowledgment of the business donor was problematic because the IRS could consider it as advertising, and thus require the nonprofit to pay UBIT.

Reputation/Reputation Management
According to Walker Information, a leading reputation research and management firm, "reputation is the reflection of an organization over time as seen through the eyes of its stakeholders and expressed through their thoughts, words, and actions. Reputation is the context in which stakeholders judge a company's actions." The practice of reputation management and measurement is a growing trend in the corporate community.

Reserve Price
The minimum price agreed upon between the seller and Charity Folks, below which the property will not be sold.

Segmentation
A selection process that divides the broad consuming market into manageable groups with common characteristics. Segmentation enables companies and nonprofits to target specific shared audiences and leverage the common characteristics of the segment in their marketing efforts.

Self-Canceling Proposition
A term some use to refer to corporate partnerships that provide funds to a nonprofit organization but, in some people's minds, negate the value of the funds due to the negative brand impact of the source of funds. For example, a school that accepts funds from a tobacco company may suffer negative publicity and backlash from parents that negatively outweigh the strengths of the program supported. Nonprofit organizations should consider the impact on their brand and ensure that any partnerships they undertake are compatible with the overall mission of the organization.

Signature Program
A strategically focused, highly visible corporate community involvement program that embraces branding principles. In some companies, all philanthropy or community involvement activities fall under the signature brand. LensCrafters' Give the Gift of Sight, ConAgra's Feeding Children Better, Liz Claiborne's Women's Work and the Avon Breast Cancer Crusade programs are all examples of signature programs.

Sponsorship
A broad term that covers many kinds of business-nonprofit relationships from financial to in-kind operational support. Nonprofit organizations can create innovative sponsorship opportunities of many different kinds to engage additional corporate partners, reach wider audiences, increase financial support, or build operational and strategic capacity. Many levels and types of sponsorship are often developed to create opportunities at various financial or in-kind contribution levels.

Social Entrepreneurship
According to Greg Dees in "The Meaning of Social Entrepreneurship," social entrepreneurs are leaders who play the role of change agents by adopting a mission to create and sustain social value; recognizing and relentlessly pursuing new opportunities to serve that mission; engaging in a process of continuous innovation and learning; acting boldly without being limited by resources currently in hand; and exhibiting a heightened sense of accountability to the constituencies served and for the outcomes created. Social entrepreneurism may be demonstrated by nonprofit organizations as well as for-profit businesses with an underlying social purpose.

Social Marketing
Social marketing is the planning and implementation of programs designed to bring about social change using concepts from commercial marketing.

Stakeholders
The constituencies served or affected by an organization or company, including clients, customers, donors, employees, shareholders, neighbors, suppliers, distributors, partners, and government officials.

Strategic Alliance
A term to cover a broad range of collaborations in which partners combine their core competencies to accomplish social change and meet business objectives. Strategic alliances are unique in that they tend to be long-term, highly dynamic, multi-faced, and key to the partners' individual success. The partners often develop shared strategy and rely heavily on each other to meet their business or mission goals.

Unrelated Business Income Tax (UBIT)
Taxes paid by a nonprofit organization on income earned from activities unrelated to its original tax-exempt purpose or mission. The Internal Revenue Code says that if an exempt organization regularly carries on a trade or business that is not substantially related to its exempt purpose except that it provides funds to carry out that purpose, the organization is subject to tax on its income from that unrelated trade or business. To be subject to UBIT, the nonprofits' activities must be significant and ongoing. Nonprofit organizations need to be aware of any tax implications that may arise from corporate partnerships and should plan these expenses into the partnership arrangements.

Venture Philanthropy
A fast-growing, highly diverse, and sometimes controversial movement that seeks to apply some of the techniques of venture capitalism to the nonprofit world. In the venture philanthropy model, an individual philanthropist or corporate or private foundation often develops long-term, close relationships with its nonprofit partners, much like a venture capitalist would do. The venture philanthropist may help the nonprofit build a strategic plan, make community contacts, conduct social enterprise that generates sustainable revenues, and serve on the board, while holding the nonprofit organization accountable to meet its deliverables.

Workplace Giving Campaign
Many corporations work with nonprofit organizations to encourage employees to contribute to charitable causes. Companies often support these efforts through matching gifts, payroll deductions, and educational materials or events. Companies are increasingly tying this employee involvement program to their broader community affairs, employee volunteer, and philanthropy programs.