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CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Jan. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- BiddingForGood (formerly cMarket), the leading cause-related e-commerce platform connecting consumers and marketers to nonprofit auction events is reporting their top performing categories, items, and cause groups that made for a successful 2009. The company's well-known fundraising tool has become a unique platform for connecting consumers and advertisers to charities and schools.

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BiddingForGood hosted 2,665 auctions in 2009 with gross merchandise sales of $28.3 million. There were 298,000 items that were up for auction with the average being sold for $134 with 4.8 bids per item. The average auction received 377 bids with BiddingForGood's bidder community generating 101 of these bids per auction. In total BiddingForGood had 4.8 million visitors and the average visitor generated 12 page views per visit.

The top ten item categories (by dollars raised) in 2009 auctions were:

1. Travel
2. Unique Experiences & Products
3. Tickets - Entertainment
4. Antiques, Collectibles & Art
5. Home, Garden & Auto
6. Tickets - Sports
7. Food, Wine & Gourmet Items
8. Restaurant gift certificates (#1 sell-through item at 90%)
9. Health & Fitness
10. Services

The top ten items sold on the platform in 2009:

1. A pair of NFL Pro Fade Gloves worn by Santonio Holmes auctioned off by the Reebok Foundation for $70,200
2. Around the world trip by private jet auctioned by United Way of St. Louis for $60,000
3. Gary Gilchrist golf academy full year tuition auctioned by AJGA raised $35,200
4. Lunch with Don Imus by IMUS radio-a-thon raised $30,000
5. 2 tickets to Victoria's Secret fashion show and after party for United Way of New York City raised $22,100
6. A family yacht cruise for 6 nights in the Bahamas for Campbell Hall raised $22,000
7. A lunch with investment guru and endowment head David Swenson for Yale University raised $22,000
8. A day with the "Dog Whisperer" + airfare and hotel package for the Cesar and Illusion Millan Foundation raised $20,300
9. A 2009 Toyota Prius Hybrid for Rhode Island PBS raised $20,099
10. An oil painting by Kehinde Wiley for The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) raised $18,500

The 2009 Top Performing Cause Groups were:

1. Education K-12 -- 32% of volume of auctions and 40% of dollars raised
2. Human Services -- 13.6% of volume of auctions and 9.7% of dollars raised.
3. Arts, Culture, & Humanities -- 11.5% of volume of auctions and 10% of dollars raised
4. Health Care -- 9% of volume of auctions and 8.0% of dollars raised
5. Remaining Cause Groups -- 26% of volume of auctions and 24% of dollars raised
6. Other Cause groups -- 8% of volume of auctions and 7% of dollars raised

Since launching its consumer shopping portal in 2006, BiddingForGood has built a community of over 150,000 registered bidders that is growing at 60% per year with zero marketing spending. The company has run over 8,000 auctions with bidders that are typically affluent baby boomers who drove a record 26% of additional bids for the company's non-profit auction customers.

About BiddingForGood

BiddingForGood is the leading cause-related e-commerce platform solely for organizations engaged in auction fundraising for nonprofit causes. With more than 8,000 customers, online auctions powered by BiddingForGood have generated over $75 million for non-profit organizations by allowing them to expand their bidder universe. Clients can secure more items by delivering a stronger and more measureable marketing value to item donors to ultimately raise more money from more participants. The company works with dozens of brand marketers through a unique product advertising program to enable them to efficiently reach affluent donors just as they are spending in a trusted environment. The marketplace can be experienced at www.BiddingForGood.com.

SOURCE BiddingForGood