NEW YORK — For the first time, the Library of American Broadcasting Foundation and the Broadcasters Foundation of America are blending holiday generosity with the chance to win extraordinary opportunities. And, it is all to support both vital organizations with the Fantasy Gifts and Experiences for Good Auction.
See all the items up for bidding in the 2024 Fantasy Gifts & Experiences for Good benefitting the Library of American Broadcasting Foundation and the Broadcasters Foundation of America here.
The fundraiser kicked off earlier this month at Forecast 2025 in New York.
The silent auction concludes on Giving Tuesday — December 3.
Ahead of the event at the Harvard Club, Benztown President and LABF Board Member Dave “Chachi” Denes discussed the inspiration behind this one-of-a-kind event, how it helps, and the unforgettable items and experiences up for grabs.
How the event came about involves inspiration from a luxury retailer.
“Neiman Marcus does a fantasy catalog every year for Christmas,” Denes says. “They still do it, believe it or not, but it used to be a physical catalog that you would get in the mail and it was just these extravagant gifts that you could get your loved ones. Like his-and-her Porsches or diamond-encrusted Tiffany watches all sorts of crazy things.”
Denes was always enamored with that. This led him to start “spitballing” on a way to generate some donations for both the Broadcasters Foundation of America and the Library of American Broadcasting Foundation.
“We came up with the idea to have a Fantasy Gifts and Experiences for Good … we created our own little version of the Neiman Marcus catalog,” he says.
The first item on the auction list? An autographed guitar bearing the signature of Taylor Swift.
“It’s a really cool, unique guitar and is an incredible gift, especially for all those Taylor Swift fans,” Denes says.”We have an acoustic autographed guitar signed by close to 20 of Country music’s favorite artists. It’s ridiculous. Luke Bryan, Little Big Town, Keith Urban, Big & Rich, Carrie Underwood and Darius Rucker, just to name a few. That’s courtesy of our friends at Premiere Networks and iHeartMedia.”
Beasley Media Group contributed a signed Jason Tatum basketball; he is a member of the 2023-2024 NBA Champions, the Boston Celtics. Benztown brought a rookie card for Dallas Mavericks star Luka Dončić to the auction.
Experiences include a luxury VIP experience to attend a Dallas Cowboys home game, courtesy of Compass Media; and a package for four to enjoy the VIP treatment at a New York Yankees home game, complete with a meet-and-greet with the play-by-play announcers.
These items part of the silent auction, which started at Forecast on Wednesday as event emcee Juliet Huddy conducted a live auction on-stage during the luncheon program of a New York Yankees experience including an autographed Derek Jeter framed photo and baseball. It attracted a $1300 bid.
“If you’d like to help out without bidding on an item, there’s a donation box on the silent auction site,” Denes says. Additional auction items are also being accepted by Susan Aksu at Benztown, who can be reached at [email protected].
See all the items up for bidding in the 2024 Fantasy Gifts & Experiences for Good benefitting the Library of American Broadcasting Foundation and the Broadcasters Foundation of America here.
