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Charity begins at home

Written by: Mandy Garner

Article Overview: Mia Woodford and her friend Emma Leschallas have set up their own business running a website which auctions gifts donated to charity and returns the proceeds to charity. Building on her background in advertising, the site has auctioned everything from Bridget Jones' knickers to Roger Federer's tennis shirt.

Charity begins at home

Mia Woodford had been involved in organising high profile charity auctions for some time, when in 2004 her oldest son Will was diagnosed with type1 diabetes. She became involved with a charity that raises money to research a cure for the illness and organised a ball. The ball raised almost a million dollars in the auction, but while dispensing the prizes Mia realised many who had purchased them were not actually using them. One person had bid, for instance, for an expensive skiing holiday which they couldn't go on. "I asked them if they were prepared to let me reauction it and they did," she said. The idea for a new organisation, Buy Once Give Twice, was born. The business is an online auction site, based in the UK. All money goes to a variety of charities. Mia runs it with her friend Emma Leschallas. She says charities are always being offered things and cites a children's charity being donated tickets for the major Walking with Dinosaurs show in London. The site auctions the articles and donates the money back to the charity. Items on offer can range from singer Amy Winehouse's autograph and a shirt signed by Roger Federer to Bridget Jones' knickers. There are also invitations to visit film sets and virtual dinner parties. The list of possibilities is endless.

Mia's background is in advertising. During the 1980s she worked for Saatchi and Saatchi, but she says she knew she wanted to have children and in those days it was virtually impossible to work flexibly. Instead she decided to set up her own advertising consultancy.

Originally she had planned to have two children, but went on to have two more. The four are now aged 20, 17, 11 and 6. She took some time out, but always did things on the side, including voluntary work with charities.

Her knowlege of the charity world has helped her in her new role as CEO of Buy Once Give Twice. She and Emma have built up a relationship with 250 clients, but she says this is only the tip of the iceberg. Nevertheless, she says, the business is beginning "to take over our lives" and the two friends may have to make adjustments in their working schedule. At the moment, Mia says her average working day involves getting up at 6am to check emails, for instance, if anyone has bid for items on the site. She says her brain is sharpest at the start of the day so it is the best time to do "boring report writing". She gets the children up around 7.15am. "By then I feel I have already got quite a bit sorted out already," she says. After the school run, she goes riding or to the gym and then "cracks on" for the rest of the day.

She says she does no work between school pick-up time and 7.30pm. She still works in the holidays, but she thinks her working day is less rushed because she doesn't have to drop off and pick up. "My working day is the bread and the children are the filling in the sandwich," she says, adding that a lot of her time is taken up ferrying the older children around.

Emma, who lives nearby and has two children, tends to run the day to day business of the site. She is an antique dealer and Mia says the site is like a virtual shop window. Mia works a lot on developing the business. She has plans to build in a community fundraising element so, for example, people running marathons can auction something to raise money for their run. She also hopes to work more with corporates which want to encourage employees to become more actively involved with charity work.

Asked if she has made any mistakes, she admits to being bad at budgeting and making the same mistakes again and again. The company did at one point have an office, but realised it was dead money as the business is basically virtual.

Mia says her background in advertising and marketing has been invaluable. "We are a website, but we are not a teccy company, we are a marketing-led company. The key to our success is building our brand and getting people to trust us," she says.

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Article Tags: amy winehouse, autograph, bridget jones, charities, charity auctions, charity world, dinner parties, film sets, friend emma, high profile, knickers, knowlege, online auction site, roger federer, saatchi and saatchi, skiing holiday, tip of the iceberg, voluntary work, walking with dinosaurs, woodford



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