This was aired on Women’s Day on SamaaTV. Thanks Jehan.

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The answer was sitting right in front of us.

Weeks earlier, my friend and team member, Maryam, suggested that we should auction people. Sitting across the table from Jawwad, in the newly opened Roasters in Sindhi Muslim, I realized how delightfully entertaining it would be to put him on auction.

Think about it. The CEO, instructor, mentor, blogger, actuary, Ivy League MBA will be under the hammer, with the bidding to start at Rs. 1000. That’s a full 53,000 rupees less than his standard consulting charge-out rate.

All the money raised will go to The Book Group to help get crayons for younger kids, white boards for older ones, computer labs, water fountains, colorful books and an education that makes dreamers.

Your chance to change the world, dear reader, is here.

When we started with the charity auctions, some applauded the idea, some derided it, but largely it remained unnoticed. A little announcement by an itsy-bitsy startup that doesn’t believe in hyperbole. Osama pointed out in one of his comments that you can’t change the world by auctioning signed t-shirts, and my sister, Mona, pointed out less tactfully “You’re nuts; there is no such thing as celebrity in Pakistan.”

They’re both right. Very few people have ever disputed that I’m nuts, and the signed t-shirts thing hasn’t made the cut. At least not yet. The core of the message, however, wasn’t about t-shirts signed by ahmed butt. It was about providing the platform for social good. And social good did take place. We raised Rs. 3000 from the first batch of auctions. That’s not much; dinner for 2 at Okra. But its also one month’s shelter for a homeless family. That’s all the validation I need.

So the big question then is: What can we do to raise more?

Jawwad’s idea of auctioning less visible clothing of more visible celebrities was quickly shot down by Jehan for being unconstitutional, shariat non-compliant, and contrary to the highly regarded cyber crimes law.

The question remained, how could we make charity auctions sexy?