New Release! (it's Xmas every six to eight weeks :-)

New release today. Bunch of cool new stuff.

Being a serious geek at heart I love the release of new software...it's like Christmas every six to eight weeks (our current release schedule).

What's so cool about it is that...because the base functionality is largely complete...we're in to adding stuff that customers want.

A nonprofit wants the ability to process credit cards for their auction? Done.

A nonprofit wants more than four sponsorship slots for links and logos? Done.

The second one is particularly important - more and more cMarket customers are selling the sponsorship positions. That's neat because the sponsor dollars generated are 'free' - they're not included when an NPO calculates what they pay us. So...a smart NPO can sell sponsorship positions and liquidate the expense of using cMarket. Having eight positions, instead of four, gives them opportunities to sell more stuff.

Interesting Stats

Or, they may be stats that only interest me.

• We've just had our 600th nonprofit signup.
• We're now averaging over 100 new nonprofits signing up per month.
• The most expensive item sold from a cMarket auction - a Lance Armstrong jersey from the last Tour de France. Selling price - $110,000!
• The most 'unusual' - a vasectomy for you and your cat. That item was offered by the Louisiana SPCA. I just love how 'specific' it is - not for your dog, just for your cat!
• Auction with the largest number of items - Massachusetts 9/11 Fund Three Digit License Plate auction. That one had nearly 1,000 items (license plates) in it.

cMarketPlace - Cool stuff, Great $'s

Back in January we added a whole bunch of amazing travel items to cMarketPlace (http://cmarketplace.cmarket.com) - everything from a NYC/Broadway package to an African Safari (that has a retail value of $33,000!).

One of the first to grab some travel items from cMarketPlace was The Tyler Hamilton Foundation and boy, did their auction get a lift. They picked up a trip to Hawaii, a Marriot resort golf package, and a few others. Several of the items sold and boosted their auction net (emphasis on net - this is after they paid for the items!) by over $6,000! This alone more than paid for using cMarket...a terrific outcome for them.

The really cool thing is that all the items in cMarketPlace are on consignment - a nonprofit only buys them after they sell them.

Everybody into the pool.

Every Monday the account services team publishes the list of organizations that signed the previous week to use cMarket. Often, because of travel, etc. it takes me a few days to look over the list.

I love looking at the signups...it's always such an amazing collection of nonprofits.

Here's the list from last week:

Ada S. McKinley Community Services
Anti-cruelty Society
Boston Preservation Alliance Online
Care Resource
CareNet Pregnancy Center of Thurston County
Center for Women & Enterprise
Flynn Theatre For The Performing Arts Ltd
Friends of the Parks
Golf Auction
Harvest Festival & Auction
Intercommunity Action-9th Annual Auction
Jacob Burns Film Center Inc
JCC-Y of Rockland
Jewish Museum Of Florida Inc
LA Guardians Online Auction
Lankenau Hospital Community Family Fest Fall 2005
Louisiana Family Forum
Macarthur Park
Meals On Wheels Foundation - Plate Expectations
Merrimack Valley Food Bank - Wine Tasting/Holiday
New England Women’s Fund (NEWFund)
Northeast Health Foundation
Point Breeze Performing Arts Center
Qsac Inc
Reef Relief Inc
Silver Lake Film Festival Online Auction
St. Luke's Cornwall Hospital Foundation-
The Growing Place
The Salvation Army of Metropolitan Chicago
Washington Council Of The Blind
WPAS Spring Gala 2005
Yankee Homecoming-Wine tasting

Of these - 19 are combination events, they're running a portion of the auction online and then taking the bidding 'into the room' at their event. The other 13 are online only auctions.

Sigh.

More auctions. More stuff. More bidding for GCM. :-)

Planes, trains...and Grapevine, TX.

Off on another trip - down to TX Tuesday afternoon for the United Way of America 2005 Community Leaders Conference which runs Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of this week. This relationship with the United Way is mighty exciting stuff.

Cool Auctions & Items - Volume XXII

Announcing our relationship last week with United Way of America was really cool (thanks to all who dropped me notes about it)...but what's as cool is seeing all these amazing and different organizations - big, small, national, local - using cMarket to do really important stuff...like marketing their cause and raising more money.

So I'm sitting here, poking around auctions and bidding on things (here's the dirty secret about being the founder of cMarket - I'm not sure I can afford to keep working here, there are so many great things in these auctions and I keep buying stuff. :-) and I thought I'd share some of the auctions and some of the items I've been looking at.

Dwight Hall Center for Public Service and Justice at Yale
http://dwighthallauction.cmarket.com

I bid on "A pair of tickets for Shakespeare in Central Park!" - always wanted to go, never have, perfect opportunity. Look for it under 'Shows' in the category listing.

Marin Catholic Parents' Association
http://marincatholic.cmarket.com

If I was in Marin, I'd be bidding on "Keep Your Car Clean for a Year!". Look for it under 'ALL NEW ITEMS'.

Menlo School
http://menloauction.cmarket.com

Because I travel so much, I'm always looking in auctions for restaurants and 'experiences'. The 'Montalvo Food and Wine Classic' in the Menlo School auction would be terrific...but I'm not sure I can be in Saratoga on May 1. Look for it under 'Entertainment/Leisure'.

Miami Children's Hospital Foundation
http://mchfoundation2.cmarket.com

These folks...I just love them. Miami Children's was one of our first customers and they're back for their 3rd or 4th auction with us. I'm in Miami all the time, so why not bid on 'BAM!' which is a gift certificate for Emeril Lagasse's restaurant in Miami Beach. See, I told you I'm always looking for stuff that lines up with my travel. In this case they had 'Buy Now' enabled so I just grabbed it - it was under 'Dining'.

Seven Hills Foundation
http://sevenhills.cmarket.com

This is a great organization in Worcester (west of Boston) helping children and adults with disabilities. I bid on 'Home Computer Tune UP by Blueflame Computer Service' - you'll find it under 'Computers'. I have a desktop at home that's sorely in need of help.

The Market Foundation
http://marketfoundation.cmarket.com

And this one was a no-brainer...I'm in Seattle on Thursday, June 9th for our seminar series (I'm running around the country doing two hour sessions on how cMarket can help your nonprofit auction) and 'The Pink Door' is one of my favorite restaurants in Seattle. This item is listed under 'Market' in their catalog.

As we say at cMarket - Bid early! Bid often!

cMarket & United Way of America. Oh my.

We are beyond thrilled (here's 'thrilled' and way over there is 'beyond thrilled' :-) to announce our partnership with United Way of America.

Here's the release www.cmarket.com/company/pr/cMarket_UeW_FINAL.pdf).

This is incredibly exciting on so many levels:

- the United Way is a GREAT organization doing terrific stuff

- the United Way eWay platform (www.unitedway.org/eway) is THE suite of products to help manage workplace giving (if you follow the link, we're 'online auctions' in the 'blue box')

- there are multiple leverage points for us within the United Way world: for auctions that the over 1,400 local United Way community organizations runs themselves, with the companies that run workplace giving campaigns, with the nonprofits that the United Way works with

My head spins just thinking about it all.

:-)