A more imaginative, certainly more fun, option is to make a fund-raiser out of the selling of your stuff by employing a “Home Auction” strategy. You will be surprised how much money you can raise from this, even if you don't have much valuable stuff, like your hand-made pottery, a set of dishes, a funky chair, etc. Sheila (my ex) and I made about $3,000 doing this, auctioning off mostly stuff that should have sold at a garage/yard sale. This is what you do:

1. Make an invitation and send it to all your friends, family, co-workers and neighbors. If someone does this on your behalf, it will have the advantage that your friends are putting on this auction for your benefit. Call it: "Come spend Sunday afternoon at John and Jane’s Bon Voyage Auction." Mention that the items sold will help buy your plane tickets or something;
   
   
2. Make it fun and lively, a party (but don't go spending a lot on the refreshments);
   
   
3. Have a friend be the auctioneer. He or she can guilt-trip the bidders into paying a lot more for the items than they would be worth otherwise. (Ply the bidders with cheap alcohol first!)
   
   
4. A personal auction like this isn't difficult to do, and your friends who buy something will have a little piece of you to remember you by while you are away.
   
   
5. The “House Party Fund-Raiser” is another idea. Self-benefiting fund-raisers require two important ingredients: lots of supportive friends and creativity. Using the model of the home auction, see if a friend will host a house party fund-raiser for you. It should preferably be held in a choice location, such as a beach front home with food and spirits.

If there is an "inviting committee" of friends who will lend their support to this effort, it will encourage others to attend—their names should be listed on the invitation. The job of the inviting committee is for them to contact their network of friends who might enjoy coming to your party. Have the host make a "money pitch" to encourage large checks, sort of a "this is your life" kind of thing. Have a goal set, such as raising enough to pay for the airfare and gear. Personal fund-raisers work best when there is more of an altruistic reason for it, like going abroad to volunteer or if you have already been doing a lot of that, and you are taking a much deserved break. In other words, let’s say you are the kind of person who is always helping out others and volunteering for one thing or another, and everyone you know knows that. This is now their opportunity to help you—which will make them feel good.

[to top]

Sample House Party Fund-Raiser Invitation

cover: (Illustration of a Pac-Man style globe chasing someone around or something.)

top inside text / bottom inside text: