Fundraising efforts for a conference room

Matt and Eric are trying to keep the price of the ticket for Hellhound Con as low as possible, (THANK YOU!!) but at those prices, there won't be enough money to rent a room for us gather in. (& let's face it, who wants their hotel room overrun by Hellhounds ALL weekend?)

I know that there are a lot of BtVS and AtS fans out there who have "excess" collectibles. I'm thinking that if people were willing to donate items we could easily raise money auctioning or raffling them off.

For example - you already had a certain graphic novel and someone gave you another copy, or you were at a convention where your ticket included an autograph from a star and you really don't care whether or not you keep it, or you are getting ready to move and need to trim down on your stuff.

Right now this is just in the idea stage. Yes, there are A LOT of details to figure out - incentives for donating, postage to send items to the winners, where/when/how to do this - but I think it has potential.

If we were to do something like this, it has to have participation. So gimme ideas people! What do you prefer? Do you have any other ideas?

Thanks a million!