Alumni Association launches scholarship auction

The 7th annual Emerson College Alumni Association Scholarship Auction launches Friday, November 2. Each year, the auction helps to raise thousands of dollars to support Emerson undergraduate and graduate students.

In the past, the auction had been held in conjunction with Alumni Weekend, which takes place the first week of June. The Alumni Association decided to move the auction to November after an analysis of previous auctions. Members learned that the majority of bids and money raised came from online bidders and that the highest traffic on biddingforgood.com occurs during the holiday season.

“Since Emerson is known for providing unique opportunities, the Alumni Association Board of Directors made a decision to take advantage of people seeking unique opportunities and items for holiday gifts,” said Interim Director of Alumni Relations Mary Ann Cicala, MA ’09. “In addition to being a source of revenue for scholarships, we see this as great exposure and marketing for Emerson College,” noted Cicala.

Auction participants will have the opportunity to bid on hundreds of items, including VIP tickets to either The Colbert Report or The Daily Show with Jon Stewart; a four-day getaway package and airport transfer to the Four Seasons in Nevis; a Solana Beach vacation in southern California; two four-day passes to the CMA festival in Nashville; and lunch with TV’s Larry David, P ’16, in Los Angeles.

Emerson alumni, parents, board members, and friends of the College generously donated auction items, said Cicala.

“Since its inception in 2006, the Emerson College Alumni Association Scholarship has grown from one award of $2,500 to six awards of $4,000 for Emerson students,” said event chair Cat Cates ’85. “As always, our challenge is to raise enough money to build the Scholarship Fund endowment so that we can continue to award these much-needed scholarships to both graduate and undergraduate students. We appreciate the Emerson community’s support of the auction, the yearly fundraiser which benefits the fund.”

The 2013-2014 Alumni Association Scholarships will be dedicated to William H. White III ’69, a long-time member of the Board who died on September 24, 2012, said Chair of the Alumni Association David Breen ’78.

Open to Emersonians and the public, the auction website can be found at biddingforgood.com/emerson. Bidding will run until November 30.

If you would like to contribute an item, please fill out the online form at biddingforgood.com/donate or contact Mary Ann Cicala at 617-824-8273.