EBay Auction Report Debbie Hartzman In the past, the Chapter has raised funds for the Sternheim Scholarship through the successful "Taste of Mystery" events. Because of the work involved in setting up and running such an event, I asked Larry Zamora to investigate the possibility of doing an eBay auction instead. The idea is to raise funds with minimum impact on the membership's time and energy. Larry investigated Yahoo, Amazon and eBay auctions and decided that eBay has the best set-up for charitable auctions. He has created an account at eBay for us. The URL is: http://members.eBay.com/aboutme/sternheimfund@yahoo.com/ Auction mechanism: We do not yet have a date for auction, but are targeting April, possibly the first week. (We want to avoid tax day for obvious reasons). The auction will run one week, and end dates will be staggered over Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Donors should submit a "donor form" that describes the item to Larry Zamora. This template will make it easy for him to enter the data on the system. Photographs are also requested. Electronic images would be best, but we do have access to a scanner, so donors are asked to submit a photograph with the item description. This will enhance the marketability of the item. We will ask buyers to pay for postage. Once the auction is closed, Larry will send the buyer information to the donor, and the donor will mail the item directly to the buyer. It would be a tremendous burden for Larry to collect and mail all items, so we are spreading that responsibility to the donors. Postage will be reimbursed. Actions: An email was sent to the membership soliciting donations. There was some response but no submissions yet. It is very important that we get enough donations to earn some money for the scholarship!! Please check your closets and garages for stuff. A wide range of items will make the auction more fun. So far we have promises of jewelry, paintings, quilted pillows and wall hangings, music, Star Trek action figures and more. A press release was sent to Information Outlook, Library Mosaics, Marketing Library Services, and Library Journal. The auction was brought up at the SLA Winter Meeting as an innovative way to raise funds. I have been asked to submit a report to the Leadership Discussion List.