Timeraiser - after thoughts

I attend the 5th annual Timeraiser here in Toronto last night. If you are wondering what the Timeraiser is, refer to a couple of posts ago. Basically, the evening is an art auction where people use their volunteer hours as currency to bid on the art. About 40 organizations from across the city who are in need of help in various capacities set up booths and help volunteers understand what it is they can help with. At the end of a couple of hours of meeting and speaking with the organizations the auction begins. You put your bid of a certain amount of hours on any of the art and the individual that bids the most hours is promised the painting. If you win with say 150 hours then you are committed to fulfilling that over the next year. If you don't live up to your commitment then the next person in line gets the art.

It was reported that Timeraiser has generated over 35000 hour of volunteer work, and $160 000 towards 120 local artists over the past 5 years. Those are some major numbers, obviously showing that the concept is a good one. I enjoyed the night, got to meet a few interesting organizations and get some leads on some interesting things I would like to help out with (in small part), and I got an inside look at a successful event. All in all I would highly recommend it in the future for anyone, whether you have a 150 hours to give, or just 20. There is clearly a need for more possibilities like this to show what is available out there for people to become involved in. The volunteer world is very fractured and if you can find ways to connect the dots then you will clearly have a success on your hands.