ONLINE AUCTIONS BENEFIT UNICEF 100%

Written by Jennifer Warner

Club culture can be pretty decadent - and philanthropic as well. No, really! And we're not talking some unknown percent of a 'charity' event going to some cause you've never heard of, not with Involved. When the Tsunami hit last year, the outpouring of support from the electronic music community was probably the most selfless atmosphere I've witnessed in my many years of documenting this scene. One of the more innovative efforts were the Involved auctions.

The founding duo behind Involved are at it again, raising even more money for UNICEF by auctioning off VIP New Years Eve tickets. I had the chance to talk to them about their efforts, read what they had to say below, and then go get involved by bidding to see Chemical Brothers, Carl Cox, Deep Dish, Digweed, PVD, Sasha, Richie Hawtin,Tiesto...- the auctions run Sunday, December 18th and run for 10 days on the Involved Events website www.involvedevents.com in conjunction with eBay. This is your chance to be a VIP, meet the DJ and help children in need this holiday season! 100% of the proceeds go to UNICEF.

How did you come up with the idea for doing a benefit auction?

Involved produced two benefit events on the same night this past February 2005 in Orlando with Sasha headlining to raise money for the tsunami victims. Sasha donated his time and we asked for donations from labels, agencies, magazines, equipment manufactures etc for the silent auction/raffle during and had an overwhelming response -- and a short timeframe. Therefore, many donation pledges were coming in but not all of the actual merchandise in time for the gigs.

We did do a silent auction on the night at the early evening intimate event which was donated by Renaissance and raised $2,000.00 - they flew 2 winners roundtrip Orlando/NY, 2 nights at the Maritime hotel and VIP entrance to Renaissance @ Cielo with Dave Seaman and Luke Chable.

Global Underground sent 100s of Sasha’s latest album - CDs - including special & limited editions and vinyl for promotion on the night and for the auction. There was an overwhelming outpour of support and really cool and exclusive "insider" product that fans could bid on. We had amazing merchandise to help raise money for those in need so we came up with the idea to produce an online auction on eBay to coincide with the broadcast of "Involved Presents Sasha" on Proton and then AOL music. This led to further donation requests and the first VIP packages with Sasha, Danny Howells, Nick Warren, Hybrid and Donald Glaude. Since these were so successful we thought the best way to start the New Year would be with auctioning VIP packages - the winners are Very Important People because they are helping children in need around the world.

Why did you choose UNICEF as the charity?

We were particularly driven to help the children that were devastated by the recent disasters, and are impressed with the work UNICEF does around the world. Very importantly, they have a low administrative fee so more money goes to those in need.

How do you get clubs and DJs to donate the auction items?

Persistence and charm! We send out appeal letters to our industry contacts and it has really been the whole of the industry coming together in support. For the Tsunami benefit, Dave Conway from Silver Planet/London Calling sent out our appeal to UK labels/industry. We ended our first auction with a VIP package into London Calling where the winner got industry VIP passes and DJ’ed on the Mixmag stage. The winner also got the opportunity to get instant feedback from label A&R folks on the first tracks he produced. Artists, agents, management, labels, journalists, radio stations, equipment manufacturers, etc have all been so supportive in reaching out and getting Involved. We could not be doing this without the support of the global dance community.

Did you have prior connections with the club scene?

Yes, Shari used to run Hands on Deck, an artist development company out of New York for many years. She left NYC and Hands On Deck in 2003 for the peace and sunshine of Florida and a break but in the summer of 2004 Hurricane Charley put a tree right through the middle of our house and that's when we began to think about producing events to help those in need

Steve has been around the music scene watching the development of Sasha's career as well as many others. Always supporting the artists, he has been a well respected friend of the industry. Steve's philanthropic ideals coupled with advertising and marketing background were the perfect combination. Steve and Shari's meeting and combining these backgrounds sparked the Involved movement.

What do you do professionally when you are not running these auctions?

Since February we have been concentrating on building Involved as a company. We also produce events as well as auctions - "Involved Presents Sasha" for the tsunami as mentioned and this past October "Involved for New Orleans" with Danny Howells, Nick Warren, Sandra Collins, Pete Bones, John Debo and from New Orleans Tony Estrada & Trent Cantrelle along with local favorite Villo (Balance Record Pool) to raise money for Katrina victims . We also took some time off around our wedding over the summer -- now we are really Involved!

Do you do other charity work?

Involved is a full time job.

How many people work for Involved Events? Who are they and what do they do?

Everybody who has worked on an Involved project have been volunteers. Involved has many volunteers who work with us in all capacities from graphic and web design to production management, VJs, photographers, IT support , Full Sail professors, producers -- an amazingly creative and inspiring group. Orlando has a rich history in electronic music and a core of supporters willing to get Involved.

Donna Lipofsky has been volunteering part time in the office as our PA since the tsunami benefit...she spent many nights up with us writing descriptions before the first auction!! During her travels to Europe this summer, she met up with our winners for London Calling and checked out as many events as possible in Ibiza for the future!

When we told Betty Kang from Plexi PR about what we had started with Involved at WMC she immediately volunteered to handle the press and was instrumental in gaining worldwide publicity for the first auction and broadcasts - and is still Involved!

Nick McGeachin has been working with us on the NYE project - he was also most supportive on our first endeavor sending us prize possessions from his personal collection for the auction - including the 1999 Sasha/Digweed tour T-shirt Sasha signed for the lucky winner in the UK.

What percentage of the funds raised from the auctions go to the charity?

100% of the proceeds raised are donated to UNICEF. UNICEF This has been a volunteer operation for ourselves and our staff.

Stanton has just come onboard as our auction sponsor and we are thrilled that this means more money donated to UNICEF. "Stanton is thrilled to be joining forces with Involved Events on such an important and worthy cause. We believe that it this program is the start of something unprecedented in the DJ community, and are honored to be a part of it." ­ Henri Cohen, VP of Sales & Marketing

We are hoping to make the company self sustaining by developing our lifestyle products - currently we have these amazing designer T-shirts (see photo at left) and our shopping cart will be online soon where you can purchase Involved line including limited edition Sasha Tsunami shirts and VIP bands. Involved merchandise sales and attracting sponsors means that our production expenses are covered, we can hire staff in the future to help develop and expand the Involved concept and more money is raise to help those in need.

If you personally were going to bid on just one of the auction items available, which one would you be bidding on?

Last year's auction Shari wanted everything!!! We thought the Bedrock donation was especially wicked - the winner got the actual metal pressing plates from the label's 50th's release and the Allen & Heath mixer signed by Sasha was really special. For Stanton DJ For Life Presents: Get Involved New Years there are so many amazing VIP packages it's hard to choose - it is really a matter of who your favorite artist is and where the gigs are located. We'll be heading to LA to see Sander Kleinenberg @ Avalon Hollywood and John Digweed @ Giant Village.

On your website, you have dozen of sponsors from all across the music and club scene. What do sponsors do in order to get on that page? What is their involvement in the purpose of Involved Events?

The sponsors have all donated either products, promotion or time to Involved. Without their generosity none of this would be possible. Labels donated product and shipped items to the winners and to us. Agents and managers spent time on top of their hectic days to reach artists, club owners, send CDs, info etc. Most of the sponsors have been consistently supporting Involved projects and we are always looking to get more companies Involved.

You did a prior charity auction in April 2005, was that how you raised all the $20,460.00 which Involved donated to UNICEF to help Tsunami victims?

The donation for the Tsunami victims was raised via the auctions and the benefit we produced here in Orlando "Involved Presents Sasha" February 18th. Sasha headlined 2 events in one night and special guests included Jimmy Van M, Sean Cusick and Tim Skinner.

What was the feedback you got from the winners of the last auction?

The feedback was absolutely inspiring! The winners loved the insider merchandise, TPs, signed memorabilia and were so excited. The VIP package winners we had feedback that they had the most amazing night of their life and they were thrilled that they were getting to do what they enjoy and help people at the same time. We sent VIP bands we had from the Sasha gigs inside the winner packages and we still get calls from winners that they never take them off. Many of the winners have volunteered to help Involved in the future!

Do you think you'll be doing more auctions in the future?

Most definitely. After Stanton DJ for Life Presents: Get Involved New Years we will be rolling out with another auction with merchandise from artists, labels, download sites, online stores, equipment manufactures,and of course, VIP packages. We are cooking up many future events and ideas to raise more money and get more people Involved.

Will they always be for UNICEF?

We are very proud of our association with UNICEF and will be working with them in the future. However, we do and have always planned to help various charities and ones that are close to the hearts of the artists and industry.

What kind of items do you see yourself auctioning off in the future?

More VIP packages ­ and with sponsorship we could include a weekend holiday in another city or even another country. There’s also plenty of historical memorabilia, record label collections from DJs, Involved workshops with leading DJs and maybe even the opportunity to win a DJ to spin at your private party or sending a lucky winner on tour with the DJ!

That sounds amazing. Thank you for putting together such a wonderful auction. Ok people, now go bid and good luck!

Get Involved! Auction is at involvedevents.com