LiveWorkPlay Recipe for Success Culinary Adventure and Charity Auction 2011

What a night! 300 supporters filled St. Anthony's Banquet Hall and put in their bids on more than 100 silent auction items as they dined on hors d'oeuvre from the chefs and homemade desserts by members of the LiveWorkPlay community. At 7:30 the crowd moved to the hall next door for the live auction. MBNA Bank of America Senior VP Al Mackey opened the proceedings and then Mayor Jim Watson warmed up the crowd, acknowledging MPP Yasir Naqvi, Councillor Scott Moffat, retired MPP Richard Patten, and LiveWorkPlay co-founders JUlie Kingstone and Keenan Wellar. He touched on some of the colourful history he has shared with LiveWorkPlay members, including the time they crashed a party at his home!

With the room packed to the rafters it was wall to wall excitement as co-auctioneers Sandy Sharkey from 93.9 BOB FM and Derick Fage from Rogers TV Daytime showcased 20 live auction items. There were many amusing moments, like when Sandy announced a BBQ with a 640 square foot cooking surface, or when Derick got so jazzed up from a bidding war he lost his balance and almost toppled from the stage!

Check out photos and video from this wonderful night on our public facebook album (no facebook account required). Coverage is also expected in an upcoming edition of the EMC newspaper.

You might be wondering: how much money did the event raise?

It takes a while to determine the exact tally, but with ticket sales, sponsorships, silent auction, and live auction, Recipe for Success 2011 will bring net proceeds of about $40,0000!

LiveWorkPlay reports on the net proceeds because we want our contributors to know that their money goes to our charitable work, not to third party professionals that charge fees and take percentages. We think donors should decide for themselves which events to support, but we also think they should be aware that in many cases the figures that get reported are gross proceeds. We are not opposed to the use of outside fundraising professionals, but we think charities should be transparent about the expenses as well as the revenues from their events.

LiveWorkPlay is proud of its grassroots fundraising tradition. We are a small organization that does big things because the local community makes it happen. Most donations to Recipe for Success are recruited by our members from their neighbourhoods. LiveWorkPlay staff incorporate the work of promoting and managing the event into their daily routines. Dozens of volunteers from MBNA Bank of America and LiveWorkPlay work tirelessly the day of the auction to bring it all together. We use no paid advertising, relying instead on word of mouth, an effective social media campaign, and the profile that is generated by our work in supporting people with intellectual disabilities to have a good life.

There are many expert theories about fundraising events, and it is often said that they have a life cycle, usually not more than 5 years. Recipe for Success is in year 12, and people are still loving it, so we still love it. It raises money, and it builds community. We hope to see you next year!

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• LiveWorkPlay
• recipe
• for
• success
• Ottawa
• Ontario
• Canada
• community
• living
• intellectual
• disabilities
• developmental
• disability