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Whether it’s eat, drink, see, or share … our auction will rock!

The outpouring of support from the Internet community for SM4SC NYC has been absolutely amazing so far, and we’d like to take a step back and thank everyone for all of their e-mails, and Tweets, and messages of support and for buying the first round of tickets to the event! Through a great partnership with our sponsors and friends at the Roger Smith Hotel, virtually EVERY single dollar we collect through sponsor donations and ticket sales will go directly to benefit City Harvest.

Those who attended the first event in Boston know that we had a great set of auction prizes, and we managed to sell $1,000 in raffle tickets in just 3 hours. But for NY, we wanted to do something even more special.

The most striking thing that’s happened during the build-up to the event has been the organic support that’s been expressed by people, who just wanted to give some part of themselves to help out – whether it be their expertise, their skillset, their connections, or even direct donations. Our silent auction on event night will have many prizes that are one of a kind, or once in a lifetime type experiences, that you simply will not find anywhere else.

Here’s how this will work. During the day of the event, April 3, 2009, we’ll be offering a wide array of different items for silent auction. You place your bid secretly, no one knows how much it was but us, and we pick a winner based on the highest bid, and all of the proceeds are donated to City Harvest. And, the best part is all donations are 100% tax deductible. Easy, right?

Here are some of the prizes people have donated for the silent auction:

The ultimate power lunch

Fred Wilson, a community advocate, friend of technology and venture capitalist in New York for more than 19 years and managing partner at both Union Square Ventures and Flatiron Partners, has graciously donated a private power lunch with himself and up to 3 guests from the same company to happen within 30 days of the event. Union Square Ventures has portfolio investments in successful startups such as Twitter, Tumblr, Etsy, Boxee, Outside.in, TargetSpot, Disqus, and Meetup. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity offered only through this auction.

Get artsy

	Natasha Wescoat is rising in popularity for her candied landscapes and whimsical characters. Her signature style has gained the attention of schools and Hollywood, and has created a distinct brand with an ever growing fan base worldwide. She licenses her brands worldwide for a variety of products including home decor, jewelry, and other merchandise. She’s donating an exclusive painting for the silent auction. See more of Natasha’s art on her website.
	Maura McGovern is a Boston-based photographer who focuses on finding the picture within the picture – things that are hidden in plain sight. She rarely goes anywhere without her camera, and captures amazing images of people, places and things. She’s donating a custom series of photographs for the auction, some of which you can see on her photo blog.
	Susana Schroeder is the founder of BDREE, showcasing her art in the form of custom postcards designed for many occasions. She’s offering a single in a series painting to the auction.

Rock out

Walt Ribeiro has quickly grown to be the Internet’s Music Teacher. His weekly show “Your Weekly Music Lesson With Walt” can be seen on UStream, and Revision3. He has donated a private one-on-one music lesson to one lucky auction winner. You too can learn how to rock at Walt’s website.

Eat well

Lisa Lacy is a baker and a blogger, who’s spent just as much time in the financial services industry. She writes for Huffington Post and on her own blog. She brought American Pie Day to NYC, and she’s doing again. She’s donated a one-on-one private baking lesson for the auction.

A whole new kind of museum tour

Join Julia Kaginskiy and Audrey Boguchwal as they take you on an exclusive NYC guided museum tour. Auction winner gets admission for up to four people at the NYC museum of their choice.

Make your website work

Whitney Hess is a user experience design consultant based in New York City. Prior to working with Happy Cog, she was on the design team at Liquidnet, an international financial software company that runs the leading electronic marketplace for wholesale stock-trading. Previously, she was an interaction designer at two marketing agencies, Digitas and Tribal DDB, where her clients included American Express, The New York Times, Allstate, Claritin, Tropicana, and EarthLink. Most notably, she helped to conceive, design, and test an innovative card search tool for American Express, and is named as a co-inventor on its U.S. patent. Her donation and passion is to help make websites better, and she will help to do that with usability evaluations for three auction winners!

But, you have to be in it to win it! The auctions will only take place at the event, and the winner MUST be present to collect their prizes. So what are you waiting for? Tickets start at $35 through March 6, and will go to $40 after that. As with everything else, all proceeds go to City Harvest. And if you can’t make the event, you can donate any amount you like online as well.

Hope to see you all there!