Little Aka'ula School — an independent middle school on Moloka'i — hooked up with a Mainland online auction site to help raise money outside the school community.

"We liked it," said Vicki Newberry, who serves as both head of school and teacher for the 64-student academy in Kaunakakai. "But we didn't promote it as well as we could have."

She said her school has been fortunate to receive generous donations of art, vacation rentals and other items for this and their traditional auctions. But being able to offer those items outside Hawai'i through the Web site www.biddingforgood.com, gives them access to a much larger group of buyers from which to raise money.

"I think it has tremendous potential," Newberry said. "We've talked about using it as an ongoing method."

For the school's investment of about $1,000, Newberry said, they raised about $3,000. But she said it could have brought in more if volunteers devoted more time to updating the Web site.

The private school charges $6,000 a year tuition to students in grades 5 to 8, but offers scholarships of $4,000 each year.

Newberry and another then-public school teacher from Moloka'i started the school five years ago with 46 students.

Online charity auctions are a relatively new option for people looking to combine getting a good deal on a variety of items — a resort vacation on a Neighbor Island, tickets to a pro football game or a bowling party for your kid's next birthday party — and support for a good cause.

www.Biddingforgood.com is used by at least two local charities, while other options include the charity portion of online auction giant eBay.

The www.biddingforgood.com Web site touts itself as supporting hundreds of charities while offering help to people looking for good deals through auctions.

BID ON A VACATION

With summer here, the site is offering a variety of travel packages across the world where would-be travelers can choose to shop by attraction or by the charity they hope to help.

For example, consumers last week could bid on a trip for two for seven days and six nights at the luxury Kauai Marriott Resort & Beach Club. The opening bid was $5,000 for a package valued at $7,500, with proceeds going to the National Urban Technology Center in New York.

Another island vacation online is The Fairmont Orchid's Hawaii Romance package, with an estimated value of $18,521, which is up for bid to benefit the St. Thomas Aquinas Society in Colorado. That started with an opening bid of $6,201 for a seven-night stay in a 1,050 square-foot suite. It features an angled view of the ocean from the balcony including daily breakfast for two.

Other specific interests range from private Pilates classes in New York City to two tickets to the New England Patriots first pre-season exhibition game against the Tennessee Titans, four VIP tickets to a live taping of "The Rachael Ray Show," and a three-day apprenticeship with fashion designer Cynthia Rowley on her spring 2008 collection.

www.Biddingforgood.com said it charges a yearly hosting fee plus a percentage of the net online auction proceeds. For a $295 fee, plus 9 percent of online auction proceeds up to $75,000, you get hosting, setup and market support for as many auctions or events as you wish during the year.

Aka'ula School usually has two large fundraisers each year, with one on O'ahu and one on Moloka'i. Newberry said they saw a TV story on the morning news about the online auction.

She said they've learned a few things and would consider partnering with other smaller charities here and on the Mainland in the future to pool their resources on items they bring in, since an item donated here could be perceived as far more exotic and worth more money to someone from another state.

The best-known online auction company, eBay, two years ago expanded its charity effort. The company estimated it raised more than $40 million in a five-year period ending in 2005.

The eBay Giving Works offers two options to nonprofit organizations: Community Selling, where anyone can sell items on eBay and donate part or the entire final sale price to a nonprofit organization; and Direct Selling, where a nonprofit organization can list items for sale on eBay.

MAKING IT EASY

On the other side of the Hawai'i fundraising spectrum, Aloha United Way also used online auctions through cMarket Inc.'s www.biddingforgood.com service over the past two years, according to Jody Shiroma Perreira, vice president of marketing and communications.

She said it played a part in the annual fundraising campaign. "The mechanism that cMarket provides to run an online auction online is simple, great and easy to use," Perreira said. "They provide templates, marketing tools and e-mail forms, making the entire process easy."

But, Perreira said, any auction faces the same challenges: finding donated items that appeal to your audience, marketing the auction, reaching the audience.

She declined to say how much the charity paid to use the cMarket site or how much was earned.

The bidding company features items up for bid that range from small items starting as low as $2 to the very luxurious.

"It's definitely all over the board. There's something for everybody," said Bill Yukatonis, cMarket vice president of online marketing. He recalls an island in the Florida Keys up for bid for $1 million.

He said the Web site grew out of the company seeing an increased demand for auctions. "Bidders get addicted to auctions; they want to participate in other auctions."

Yukatonis said the site draws both "the deal shoppers" looking for high-quality items for a discount price and those who want to support certain causes. Consumers can choose a specific organization or a type, such as animals or the environment.

"Online auctions take away time and geographic constraints," he said. While it might be tough to get a school's alumni back for a one-night event, the Web brings them all back in a virtual way.

Reach Robbie Dingeman at rdingeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.