cMarket/BiddingForGood, the leading online auction platform connecting charity auctions, marketers, and affluent consumers announced today that it has passed $70 Million in gross merchandise sales supporting non-profits across the US.  Even more impressively, $22.4 Million (32%) of this number was raised just over the past 12 months. In addition, the number of charities running online auctions increased by 23% over last year showing the continued migration of silent auctions online during the economic downturn.  Other highlights include;

• There are now in excess of 130,000 bidders in biddingforgood.com. In August these bidders drove an incremental 30% of bids for clients. These bidders are typically affluent, female baby boomers who shop for themselves and for gifts for friends and family.
• The company now has 42 merchants providing over $5 million of donated items to its non-profit client auctions in return for marketing visibility and reporting. These clients include Thomas Cook Travel, DKNY, Four Seasons, Dancing Deer, and Curves.
• cMarket/BiddingForGood now has over 6,500 completed auctions in its database giving unique insight into both auction best practices but also consumer preferences by item category and by brand.
• The company has over a dozen commercial item donors in its beta program for its unique Auction Item Request System (AIRS).

These numbers signify a continuing shift in nonprofits to adapt to the economic recession by moving their fundraising events online and to take advantage of increased bidder reach, newly available donated items and better measurability. BiddingForGood attributes its growth to strong upward sales and an increasing interest from top brands to become part of a cutting edge marketing program offered by the company.

According to Jon Carson, CEO of cMarket/BiddingForGood, all areas of the company are seeing growth as the supply and demand model of auctions draws various sectors together, including product and service vendors (supply) and affluent, cause minded consumers (demand).  The company’s auction platform is a major player within the $16 billion charity auction market. Carson says, “The online auction network has evolved into a sophisticated triangle where charities, item donors, and consumers all benefit from each other, and the more they do, the more successful it becomes. With over 130,000 active bidders and millions of dollars of donated items the value proposition to charities is becoming more and more of an easy decision.”

cMarket/BiddingForGood works with 40 of the 100 most recognizable non-profits brands in addition to numerous well known institutions including Muscular Dystrophy Association, Menlo School, South Beach Food & Wine Festival, Harvard Westlake School, Yale School of Management, and many, many others. Carson says, “We believe that we are seeing the death of the silent auction. If you want to raise money it makes no sense to hold an auction in the middle of a lively party. It suppresses all the key competitive arousal dynamics that are so important to good auction outcomes”.

The ability to offer clients thousands of dollars of donated items is a direct result of the successful BiddingForGood’s product placement marketing program. This new marketing program boasts some leading “A list” brands including Thomas Cook Travel, DKNY Jeans, Reebok Outlets, Four Seasons Hotels, Kimpton Hotels, and Dancing Deer.  The program consists of brands donating items or gift cards to be placed into the auctions in return for valuable exposure, paying customers, measurable marketing data and quantifiable marketing ROI. The more products in the auctions, the more bidders will bid and the more money goes to charities.

The BiddingForGood 2009 calendar has included multiple multi-million dollar agreements including a recent $1.5 million deal with LVI/Thomas Cook, as well as the addition of nationally recognized Four Seasons hotelier Robin Brown, principal at CWB Boylston, LLC, instrumental in the development of Mandarin Oriental- Boston, to the Board of Directors.