BOXLOT PROPOSALIntroduction EcoSage Corporation is an Internet-based, educational services company providing “hands-on” project-based programs in renewable energy education for grades 6-12. EcoSage Corporation is aligned with the President’s Million Solar Roofs Initiative. The corporation’s services---program development, technical support, project management, and fund raising---are primarily delivered through its proprietary distance learning technology: The SolarQuest™ Virtual Schoolhouse. Additional services include client site visits to provide professional development for teachers, project management training and support, and direct sales of photovoltaic systems equipment. EcoSage incorporated in the State of Vermont on January 22, 1998. The principals are Ronald B. Swenson (Chairman) and Allan E. Baer (President). In the first year of operations, the corporation has been successful in developing its Internet-based distance learning software, establishing start-up programs, and obtaining technical assistance and “buy-down” grants (federal and state subsidies for PhotoVoltaic cells) totaling $260,000 for school programs in Virginia and Nevada. The corporation has the opportunity to expand its operations in Vermont, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and California with an estimated $3 to $5 million dollars in program buy-down grants for the 1999 – 2000 school year. EcoSage Corporation is seeking a program partner with: - the capacity to support Internet-based school auctions in multiple client schools; and
- the capacity to fund an enrollment campaign for the 1999 - 2000 academic year targeting 5,000 schools.
The enrollment campaign will be launched beginning Earth Day 1999 (April 22, 1999), continue through a cybercast of the National Town Meeting for a Sustainable America (May 2 – 5, 1999), the NESEA American Tour de Sol (May 22 – 28), and culminate in SunRayce99 (June 20 – 29). The enrollment campaign is designed to establish a dedicated school auction client base of approximately 500,000 consumers a year over a five-year period with annual gross (auction proceeds) estimated at $96 million. The auction proceeds will fund program activities in SolarQuest™ enrolled schools, with up to 25% of the proceeds accruing to program partners for school auction fund raising services. School-based “Silent Auction” Market The “Silent Auction” is an established means of student and parent fund raising to support curricular programs and extra-curricular activities. The silent-auction requires three steps: student or parent solicitation of products and services from local merchants; development and publication of a silent auction program guide; and a well promoted silent auction event at which the buyers attend and the bidding takes place. Silent auctions typically net a school between $10,000 and $30,000 depending on parent participation, local commercial markets, and the number of auctions held annually within a school district. Based on the 14-year experience of EcoSage principals in developing and managing silent auctions for private schools in three states, the fund raising challenge for silent auctions lies in the organizational and financial strength of the parent body. The parent body solicits the auction goods and services, organizes the auction event, and buys the auction products. The auction revenue is limited by the financial constraints of the participating parents, who not only solicit products, but also purchase the auction goods and services. An Internet-based auction service provides several advantages over the standard silent auction protocol without displacing the beneficial components of the “community-based” auction. The benefits are as follows: - Electronic Publication: Program publication costs reduced or potentially eliminated.
- Parent / Staff Organization: Organizational time is reduced, providing greater time for parents to solicit products and services for area merchants and increasing auction revenues.
- Marketing and Advertising: Eliminates substantial marketing and advertising costs. Increases vendor and product advertising exposure. Creates new promotional revenue sources.
- Sales: Increases buyer market, reducing financial stress to parent body. Increases bidding timeline, resulting in improved auction revenues.
- Financial Security: Secured financial transactions provide fiscal accountability, eliminating the financial risk associated with “volunteer” money managers.
These benefits have the effect of securing the Internet-based auction venue as the “preferred” annual fund raising activity, while realizing greater financial outcomes. The static web page Internet-based test auction in Chelsea, Vermont (February 1999) resulted in a revenue increase of 27% without the direct benefits of an interactive auction site. This was primarily due to the ability of the Internet-based marketing to reach distant relatives with visual images of the products. These relatives bid significantly higher that local parents for a number of auction items. A 25% fee structure will not necessarily result in a decrease in school auction revenues. In the United States, approximately 25,600 high schools and 48,300 middle schools intermittently utilize the annual Silent Auction venue for fund raising. This represents an estimated $1.2 billion dollar school auction market with an estimated bidding universe of 6.5 million buyers spending an average of $185 annually. The Technology Enhanced School Auction
EcoSage Corporation is proposing three technology enhancements to improve the performance of the silent auction venue in schools and to develop a dedicated virtual bidding community for school fund raising. The first technology enhancement is the capacity for Internet-based auction management protocol that permits secured financial transactions. This technology (proposed herein to be provided by Boxlot) will allow for both local-area (private) and wide-area (public) bidding venues. Local area bidding venues allow schools the option to maintain transactions based on local services. Wide-area bidding allows schools to reach an extended market and leverage financial resources from outside the school community. The second technology enhancement is the SolarQuest™ Virtual Schoolhouse. This technology provides the school auction organizing team with the opportunity to provide a high level of localized promotional activities and vendor recognition through the publication of the virtual school auction guide on the SolarQuest™ web site. The third enhancement is smart card technology. This allows for year-round, after-auction merchant fund raising as follows:
- Local area businesses are solicited as donor businesses and they receive the requisite smart card hardware to perform transactions. They provide a 5% contribution (retail value) of products to the auction to take place on November __ (1st week – just before Christmas shopping begins.) They might contribute one gift with $200 value plus 5% of the patron’s gross sales.
- School auction patrons (parents, family, students, teachers, etc.) get the smart cards. They patronize participating donor businesses, and consequently 5% of gross sales will go to the school. (We will explain the process and accounting procedures upon request.) Smart cards will be imprinted with the school logo and the patron's logo, program sponsor logos, etc.
- Transactions close Nov __, a new sales season starts – this ties them into a new season, as auction credits cannot be redeemed after Nov 1 of the following year.
Budget The budget is modular, with an expanding scope as results are obtained.
| Item 1 | $_______
| | Item 2 | $_______
| | Item 3 | $_______
| | Item 4 | $_______
| | Item 5 | $_______
| | Total | $_______
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