Do you have a vacation home that’s not getting much use these days? Know friends with beach, mountain, golf course or island homes sitting vacant much of the year? Donate a few days’ time in them and do something good.
That’s the thought behind Vacation Homes for Charity (www.VacationHomesForCharity.org), which matches vacation homes to charities looking for high-end auction items.
The operation is part of The Society of Leisure Enthusiasts (www.TheSociety.com), which acts as a matchmaker of sorts, pairing luxury villas, estates and penthouses with people looking for vacation getaways. Their properties range from Vail or South Beach to Lake Como, Mykonos, even Bhutan.
The Society opened its vacation rental platform to charities last autumn with the goal of making the process easy for those wishing to donate a vacation home’s use to a fund-raising event and to make it easy for charities to fine those available homes. A test of the format raised $20,000 for four organizations. As of the end of February, more than $40,000 had been raised.
Goals for 2009 include giving away more than 1,000 nights in luxury vacation homes to charities.
Events using The Society’s service to find homes include those sponsored by sports and entertainment celebrities including the NBA’s Yao Ming, NFL’s John Lynch, the Kentucky Derby charity and the Houston Rocket’s children’s charity.