You’ve seen my post about fundraising for the Ronald McDonald House of New York City, and I want to hold a special “auction” of sorts, with the proceeds being donated to this effort.

I am offering 2 hours of private domain consulting services to the highest bidder. I no longer offer private domain consulting as part of my business, but I am going to make an exception to help reach our goal of raising $5,000 for “Team Ronald.”

Domain consulting services will be offered over the phone or via Skype if you’re outside of the US.  If you happen to be in New York City or are able to get to NYC, we can meet in person over coffee or drinks.

We can discuss your domain strategy, I can help evaluate the domain names you and your company own, I can give you some advice on buying or selling domain names, or we can simply talk about domain names for a couple of hours. I may not be the most successful domain expert, but I’ve been doing it full time for a few years.

I will leave this offer open for 72 hours.  The highest bid in the comment section at the end of 72 hours, which will be 2:30 Eastern Time on March 17, 2011, will be named the winner. If your bid comes in after the deadline, it won’t count, so please don’t try and wait for the last minute in the event my blog goes down for some reason. I do reserve the right to extend the deadline if the blog does go down for an extended period of time.

Bid increments will be $25, not including final minute bidding if there is any. That means if the high bid is $400 at 2:29 and someone posts a $500 offer and someone else posts a $501 offer at 2:30, the higher offer will win.  Any disputes will be settled by me 🙂

Your tax deductible donation to the Ronald McDonald House can be made after you’ve received the two hours of domain consulting (as long as it’s done before April 15). Thank you in advance for your bids, and I look forward to working with someone on this.

BTW, if anyone who donated already would like to turn their donation into a bid (and possibly add to it), they are invited to do so.

***********

UPDATE: Winning bid was $700

I want to say thank you to the people and companies who have donated money to the Ronald McDonald House to help my wife and me reach our goal of raising $5,000.  As of this morning, we are just over 2/3 of the way there… Thank You!

The Ronald McDonald House is a great organization, and I really appreciate your helping us help them. I want to say thank you to those business colleagues and friends who donated nearly $3,400 so far (there have been several anonymous contributors as well).

We are raising funds through April 30 or until our fundraising goal is met.  Hopefully we will meet our goal soon!  THANK YOU!

• Nat Cohen – Telepathy
• Brad Larson
• Robert Fitzgerald
• Steve Kaziyev – Name Pursuit
• Dennis Combs
• Charlotte Gilbert
• Brandon Abbey –  Escrow.com
• Francois Carrillo – Domaining
• Brian Gilbert
• Mike St. John
• TempeHomes.com
• Rob Monster – Epik
• Jeffrey Reynolds – American Flags
• Craig Rowe – WhyPark
• Rob Sequin – Domain Broker
• Paul Kapschock
• Larry Erlich – DomainRegistry.com
• Hakan Ozcan
• Andrew Allemann – Domain Name Wire
• Ralph Cristello
• Jeff Kupietsky – Oversee
• Bernard Lee
• Terrell and Penny Miller
• Steven Newman
• Jeroen Verschuren
• Scott Fuller
• Leonard Britt
• Paul Carter – Name.com
• Deepak Daftari
• Corinne Forti – Oversee.net
• Matthew Crowder
• Bob Olea
• Bradley Epstein
• Regina Cheung
• Betty Scott
• Brendan Wells
• MedicalMile.com
• The Big Cheese
• Steven Kennedy
• Donna Mahony – Domain Boardroom
• Corey McAdams
• James Donoghue
• Vincent DiAngelus
• Giuseppe Biundo
• Raymond Hackney
• Mark Levine – Hillcrest Media

If I missed you for some reason, I am very sorry… I double checked the list, but there’s always that possibility. I did not include contributors who chose to remain anonymous, but you are very much appreciated as well.

I don’t like asking for favors, and I hate asking people for money, but  I am happy to do it to help the Ronald McDonald House.  I know that donating money is difficult when times are tough, but this is an organization that helps kids going through very difficult situations.

It’s with great happiness that I can tell you Karen and I are more than half way to reaching our goal of raising $5,000 for the Ronald McDonald House. However, half way there just means that we have to double the amount we’ve currently raised. It will be a tough task no doubt, but I think we can get there with your help.

Today I am asking you to donate $8.00 to the Ronald McDonald House, roughly the cost of one .com domain registration. It might not seem like a lot of money, but I can tell you that if everyone who visits my blog today would donate $8.00 each, I would raise much more than the $5,000 goal today alone! I know not everyone can or will, but I would really appreciate it, and here’s why:

The Ronald McDonald House  helps kids who are fighting cancer. Instead of having to worry about  hotels, food, and other important considerations while undergoing  cancer treatments in New York City, the Ronald McDonald House provides  an inexpensive home away from home for these kids and their families.

RMDH also provides fun activities, coordinates school enrollments, and  makes it easy for kids to focus on one thing – beating cancer. Let’s say, heaven forbid, you live in New Jersey and your child is diagnosed with cancer. The doctor would likely send you to NYC, where you could see some of the top cancer docs at hospitals like Sloan Kettering or Weil Cornell.

Think about where you might stay if you had to be in New York City for a week or a month. A very inexpensive hotel would likely cost you close to $200 a night, and food would probably set you back quite a bit, too. If you have to do this several times a year, you could literally go broke paying for hotels and transportation… what a horrible thing to think about.

The Ronald McDonald House offers pediatric cancer fighters a place to stay for very little money, and it’s located just up the street from some of New York’s best hospitals. Families are encouraged to use the kitchen and  refrigerator  to cook as if they were in the comfort of their own home. RMDH staffers and volunteers help organize fun activities, study time, school enrollments, and counseling services to ease the burden of fighting cancer. They make it easy for kids to focus on one thing – beating cancer.

So I am asking you to help support this great organization with an $8.00 donation. Don’t buy that long tail, hyphenated, brandable .com domain name today, and please help us help them 🙂

I don’t ask you for much (if anything) other than common courtesy when reading my blog and commenting. It would really mean a lot to me if you’re able to help an organization I support with just an $8.00 donation today.

Karen and I are half way there, but the second half is always the most difficult. Please help us help this great organization today. I can’t do it without your help. If you can’t donate $8.00, please think about posting a link to this request on Facebook or Twitter to help spread the word.

THANK YOU!

Last year, my wife Karen and I participated on “Team Ronald” for the 42-mile, 5 Boro Bike Tour, and with your help, we raised nearly $4,000 for the Ronald McDonald House of New York City. On May 1, 2011, we are doing it again.

This year, we’re starting a couple weeks earlier, and we’ve raised our fundraising goal to $5,000. In addition to riding and raising funds, my company is also a sponsor of Team Ronald (via DogWalker.com and DogGroomers.com). RMDH is a great organization, and we are going to do what we can to support it.

If you aren’t familiar with this non-profit organization, the Ronald McDonald House provides support and care for families who have children battling cancer. The people at Ronald McDonald House help make the lives of child cancer patients and their families better (and easier) when they need it most – as they fight cancer.

According to the RMDH website, the organization’s mission is to “support each family and coordinate emotional and physical services, psychological care, ministry support, wellness programs, tutors, music, art, transportation, activities for siblings, holiday and birthday parties and camaraderie for parents struggling with their child’s cancer diagnosis.”

I ask you to please consider making a donation to the Ronald McDonald House of New York to help us help them. No donation is too small (or too big!). I know they will really appreciate anything you can give, and I personally appreciate your generosity and kindness.