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Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. is participating in the Make-A-Wish Foundation’s "Destination Joy" fundraising campaign during this month of June. They are allowing guests onboard Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Azamara Cruises ships to make donations to the Foundation. All funds raised will be given to the Make-A-Wish Foundation so they can grant wishes to children with life-threatening medical conditions.
Through the use of Make-A-Wish donation cards, guests will be able to donate any amount they choose. But what caught my attention was their fundraising auctions. To help raise additional funds, they’re auctioning unique onboard experiences such as:
- An opportunity to be on a ship’s bridge while it departs a port
- A behind-the-scenes galley tour and lunch with the ship’s executive chef
- Priority seating for all shows
This got me to thinking about activities that we may take for granted, but others may be willing make a charitable donation for the experience. We may not be celebrities who people will fork out significant funds just to have lunch with us, but there may be ones who would love to be in our shoes for a few minutes or learn a unique skill that we have developed.
Think about what you do on a daily basis. Consider your work, hobbies, and family life. Is there something that someone might find unique that you could use to raise funds for charity? I suspect college students would consider something as basic as a home cooked meal worth a donation. Use your imagination.
Please leave a comment with any ideas you have.
Roger-
I like this idea of offering ‘a little something extra’ in exchange for a small donation.
Maybe nonprofit employees with extensive experience in management and leadership can share what they’ve learned with local start-up business owners in their community?
How about busy nonprofit employees sharing their secrets for time management with busy sales professionals or executives in for-profit companies?
Just a few ideas, hope that helps! 🙂
Christopher S.
Did Cruise Critic Cross an Ethical Line? While I’m not a legal expert, I wonder if Cruise Critic’s participation in this activity in some way might violate FTC regulations. Cruise Critic’s management, in defense of their behavior, is claiming all it did was to provide their advertiser and marketing partner, RCCL, the contact information for those in to be invited to the Royal Champions Program;. Who are they kidding? Cruise Critic in addition knowingly published reviews and comments from this group and, according to a Cruise Critic bulletin board post (since removed from the site) from their Community Manager, both the Community Manager and Cruise Critic’s Editor met with a large group of Royal Champions aboard one of the free incentive cruises. So, at the very least, Cruise Critic demonstrated a total disregard for their users who might have been misled by these posts, while creating an uneven playing field to the detriment of cruise lines other than RCCL. This seems to flaunt stated Trip Advisor policy, so it would be good to hear from them on this matter. And, as a public company, I wonder as well if Expedia, corporate parent of both Cruise Critic and Trip Advisor, may be liable for behavior that could be considered detrimental to their shareholders.