How to use this Page

Every year at the June conference we run and Silent Auction and Chinese Auction to raise money for our Scholarship Fund.  We always use all the money to help members with financial problems throughout the year attend our events.  The money went fast this year with so many members finding themselves in difficult situations due to the economy. 

The Scholarship Fund helped over 16 members this past year attend events they otherwise would not have been able to afford.  It looks like the economy is starting to tick up, which is a good thing, but we still need to replenish the fund for this coming year.

Members who have helped the chapter by attending New Jersey events, donated their time or donated items to previous raffles, get top priority over other members with similar financial needs.  So your efforts to help the chapter and others does not go unnoticed and could someday end up helping you, too.

Here is what we do:

I call every editor and agent who attended one of our events to see if they can donate a critique and join us at one of our Summer Networking Dinners.  The results get listed in the Silent Auction.  Attendees bid on the things that interest them throughout the conference.  With the Silent Auction you can write down a dollar amount and then if someone wants to beat your bid, that person writes in a higher amount.  This goes back and forth until the person with the highest bid at the end of the conference wins.

We usually have a few full manuscripts critiques in addition to many partial critiques.

The Chinese Auction consist of items people have donated.  Here are some things people have donated in the past:  All-in-one color printer, Phillies baseball tickets, vacation in Maine, theatre tickets, restaurant gift certificates, wooden desk sets, office supplies, gift cards, framed art work, books, massages, exercise equipment, theme baskets, Free year SCBWI membership, Free entrance to a New Jersey event, and much more.  We sell tickets and you can place your tickets in the container that corresponds to the item you want to win.  At the end of the conference a winning ticket will be pulled for each item.  You can win more than one time.  Everyone who donates an item worth more than $25 will receive five free tickets to use.  You do not have to attend the conference to donate an item. 

Note Published Authors: - Even if you are going to attend the conference, donating a few of your books is a nice way to get your name out there to promote you and your books. 

Note Illustrators:  You can only  have one piece  of art in the Art Exhibit.  Donating another piece of your work will get a second piece seen by all the faculty.  Again even if you can’t attend, this is a great opportunity for an illustrator to get their work in front of the art directors, agents and editors.  A small price to pay to help create some buzz.

Please contact Betsy at [email protected] if you would like to donate something to help.

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy