Do only the very wealthy pay retail these days? Seems like it. With so many discount shopping sites that sell high-end items, mere mortals can get said high-end items at low(er)-end prices. But is is there room for yet one more of these sites? LuxGoddess.com is hoping so. It recently joined the likes of Bluefly, ShopBop, and Gilt to offer upscale items at reduced prices. Here's what makes LuxGoddess different, however: It donates 10% of its proceeds to Bright Pink, a national nonprofit that provides education and support to young women who are at high risk for breast and ovarian cancer.

Calling itself "the premier site for today's fashion trendsetters looking for great deals on their favorite designer brands," the site carries well-known brands, with a number of items pulled from online stores, and covers the standard categories of apparel, shoes, beauty, and accessories. There's also a sale rack, which is a user's personal sale rack, based on her size and brand preferences.

Interested in raising a little ruckus for a good cause on the night before Halloween? On Friday October 30, 2009 a group of young professional philanthropists known as "Future of Hope" will join City of Hope's fight against women's cancers by hosting the Halloween-themed benefit A Night of Mischief at Marquee in New York City. Appearances will include cast members from the hit television series Gossip Girl and The City and cameras from the CW television network will be on hand filming Tinsley Mortimer for her new CW reality series Empire State. This new reality show will air this winter chronicling Tinsley's travels, adventures and causes.

The evening will be dedicated in loving memory of Amy Salm who lost her battle with cancer this year. Tickets are $99 in advance and $120 at the door based on availability. Guests are asked to dress in costume. The night features an open bar with sponsors such as Innocente Tequila, Three Olives Vodka and Manhattan Beer Company. A dessert bar to satisfy even the sweetest tooth comes compliments of the Cupcake Stop and Milk & Cookies Bakery. There will also be a live raffle with over 30 prizes including a Valentino handbag, roundtrip jetBlue Airways tickets, Equinox gym membership, private dinner prepared by Chef Rob Hesse of Hamptons hotspot Georgica, and Knicks, Rangers, and Jets tickets.

I haven't heard much lately about Charlize Theron, but she made it back into this news this past week with her part in the OneXOne charity event on October 22 in San Francisco, where she took the stage to auction off a prize that included a two-week trip to her native South Africa to watch soccer's World Cup in summer 2010, a safari, and a meet-and-greet with Nelson Mandela. The winning bidder, a woman, received an extra item for her $140,000 donation -- a kiss with Theron, who had tossed in the offer of a kiss to increase bidding when the offers plateaued at $37,000.

Theron was at the event to help raise money for the Charlize Theron African Outreach Project, which is teaming with the OneXOne Foundation to bring soccer fields and clean water to the children of South Africa by 2010, in time for the World Cup. Theron is in a long-term relationship with actor Stuart Townsend. "My boyfriend is not here tonight," she joked during the auction.

Everybody is selling their treasures to make money these days, even the American Red Cross. The NY Times reports that the Red Cross is selling more than 150 items including a Cartier clock lamp, original Christmas Seals and other archival materials. The organization has had to let go of employees and take other cost cutting measures one of which is closing its Lorton, Virginia warehouse and outsourcing storage and archival operations. The organization is going to make more money through the closing of the warehouse (around $3 million) than the auction (around $200,000). The sales will done with Heritage Auctions online through February. Other pieces of memorabilia from the warehouse, including paintings by Norman Rockwell will stay with the Red Cross while uniforms, flags and some other memorabilia will be sent to the National Archives.

Usually meals at Mount Everest's base camp aren't known for their luxury but that's not stopping Laura King, owner of Kings Fine Foods, who is doing a fundraising climb on the famously dangerous mountain. According to Wales Online she organized the mountain challenge to raise money for adults with severe learning difficulties and donated luxury foods as an extra incentive for the team. She and her team are expected to reach Mount Everest Base Camp on October 15 when, at an altitude of 17,600 feet they will dine on a luxurious breakfast developed by former Ritz chef John Williams that will include a cup of Amadei hot chocolate, followed by wild Scottish smoked salmon served with scrambled eggs, white truffle butter and a Beluga caviar garnish. The team will toast with flutes of Golden Star sparkling white tea, a non-alcoholic drink. She has said that if this expedition is successful she will try to arrange a trip up Everest with celebrity chefs next year to attempt to break the record for the highest dinner party in the world.

The Black Eyed Peas have been unstoppable on the charts this summer and now the popular band is going for a unique pair of world records. The band is holding a charity auction on eBay to win the chance to join them as they try to set two records: the highest ever live performance and recorded track. Those who win will fly along with a guest on Richard Branson's V Australia from Los Angeles to Australia where they will then join a special Melbourne to Perth flight with the band. Winners will meet the band, watch them record and then the remainder of the flight becomes a Mile High Karaoke Party with the band. Winners will also attend the October 10 Black Eyed Peas concert in Perth and get a second band meet and greet. Roundtrip air and hotels are included but winner needs to get themselves to L.A. for the start of the package. Best of all , 100 percent of the proceeds benefit children's health research through the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research in Australia.

[via Just Jared]

Here is a watch for women to support women. The popular Gucci Twirl watch has just been made even more a watch for women by creating a special edition Gucci Twirl F.F.A.W.N. timepiece. FFAWN is the Foundation For the Advancement of Women, and for each of these watches that are sold, Gucci will give $100 to the foundation.

Oddly enough Gucci combines its giving to the foundation with the creation of a phantom watch - meaning it is in all black. This has been a popular style for men's watches, but I only now am seeing it applied to women's watches of this caliber. The timepiece is in black stainless steel with a spinning (twirling) watch face dial. The face is also in all black and surrounded by 34 black diamonds. The watch movement is a Swiss quartz. The caseback of the watch reads "Gucci for F.F.A.W.N." An interesting interpretation of the iconic looking timepiece.

Just what FFAWN does is a bit of a mystery to me. It was started by singer Mary J. Blige to help women reach their potential. The foundation gives grants and scholarships and has programs for women to help improve their self esteem and achieve various levels of personal and professional development. The Gucci for FFAWN Twirl watch retails for $1,895.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

I'm sure a list of the world's wealthiest is a fluctuating compendium these days making a list of donors a nice change of pace from Forbes. Of course most of these 'Billion Dollar Donors' would most likely make the cut for some of the nation's most affluent individuals as well but here their philanthropic tendencies are the focus of attention. These fourteen people, out of 793 billionaires worldwide, have actually donated, not just pledged, over $1 billion total. Here are some of the world's most generous givers:

1 Bill Gates, $28 billion donated.
2 George Soros, $7.2 billion
3 Gordon Moore (shown at right), $6.8 billion
4 Warren Buffett, $6.7 billion
5 Eli Broad, $2 billion
6 James Stowers, $1.9 billion
7 Herbert and Marion Sandler, $1.5 billion
8 Michael Bloomberg, $1.5 billion
9 Li Ka-shing, $1.37 billion
10 Dietmar Hopp, $1.25 billion
11 Michael Dell $1.2 billion
12 Klaus Tschira, $1.1 billion
13 Stephen Schmidheiny $1 billion
14 Ted Turner, $1 billion

Anybody you are surprised didn't make the list?

Art may not be selling as it did a year and a half ago, but hopefully even strapped collectors will open their wallets for a good cause. The Yvon Lambert Gallery in Paris has pulled together work from 1,000 artists to be sold at a fundraiser to combat the spread of AIDS. Among the artists participating are heavy hitters, such as Olafur Eliasson, Jonathan Monk, Christian Marday, Rafael Lozano-Hammer, Sophie Calle and Jo Baer.

But, there are two aspects of the event that make it unique.

First, prices will be standardized. Every piece offered in the two-day sale will be set at €100 (except sculpture, which will be €300). Also, collectors won't know whose work they'll receive until they pay up. The lucky could wind up with amazing pieces worth far more than they paid ... extending the good feeling that comes with supporting a worthy charity.

[Photo of Olafur Eliasson's New York waterfall by epicharmus via Flickr]

The longest running soap opera, "Guiding Light" comes to an end this fall but the show's wardrobe will have a second life. Crain's is reporting that the production will be donating the show's wardrobe to Bottomless Closet, a New York charity that provides appropriate clothing for job interviews for those who have trouble affording the right outfits. The charity helps women who are often single heads of households forced to choose between the necessity of food and shelter for themselves and buying the clothing necessary to make a good impression.

Clients are referred to Bottomless Closet from other agencies and receive two complete outfits before a scheduled job interview. After they have found a job they can return for three more outfits. The women served by Bottomless Closet will be able to have their choice of the huge collection of clothes, shoes, handbags, jewelry and accessories amassed over the soap opera's 72-year run and dress like leading ladies but hopefully with better luck than the oft-imperiled heroines on the show.

The value of everything seems to be flexible in this economy and even the price of Warren Buffett might be lower. Buffett auctions off a lunch each year for charity. Last year, bidders were hungry for a meal with the billionaire, the winning bid was a record-setting $2.1 million. Will he get the same kind of return this year at a time when just about everything is priced lower? Or could the bidding go higher because in this economy we need all the good advice we can get and who better to ask than one of the greatest investment minds of our time? Who else can get a crowd of 35,000 to attend a shareholders meeting, those are rock star numbers.

Buffet's lunch benefits the Glide Foundation, an organization that provides social services to the poor and homeless in San Francisco. Like many other service groups, Glide has seen the needs for its services increase during the recession so Glide's founder, Rev. Cecil Williams is hoping for big numbers.

The winner and seven friends will dine at Smith and Wollensky in New York City. The auction closes Friday evening at 10 p.m. EDT and bids have already topped $50,000. The AP reports that last year's winner, Zhao Danyang of the Hong Kong-based Pureheart China Growth Investment Fund will be dining with Buffett on Wednesday, a meal that he calls "the chance of a lifetime."

Apparently Barbie (yes the Mattel doll) chooses endorsements like other celebrities (pseudo celebrity? 10 year old girl icon?). Currently she is supporting Bulgari's support of Save the Children International's "Rewrite the Future" campaign to fund education efforts for children in poverty stricken areas of the world.

In addition to a 1 million euro donation to the Rewrite the Future campaign, Bulgari has created a line of 11 jewelry pieces and 7 timepieces whose sales will help fund their dedication of 10 million euros to Save the Children by the end of 2009. One of the jewelry pieces is a signed silver Bulgari ring with a Save the Children inscription engraved inside the band. The ring will retail for $555. Barbie is modeling the ring - though I don't think you can get that particular size at your local Bulgari boutique.

As a guy I've never played with Barbie dolls, but it looks like she got a bit of a makeover for this Bulgari marketing image as one of the celebrities the endorse the campaign. Or maybe her hair looks like that right out of the box? You can see Barbie showing off her Bulgari ring, which might be one of the most expensive Barbie accessories available. Other celebrities (I am not really sold on the fact that Barbie is a celebrity at all, more like a piece of pop culture) that support the Bulgari Save the Children Rewrite the Future campaign so far include: Julianne Moore, Benicio Del Toro, Ben Stiller, Sally Field, Sting, Willem Dafoe, Rosario Fiorello, Gabriele Muccino, Jason Lewis, Andy Garcia, Valeria Golino, Isabella Rossellini and Debra Messing.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Summer is the natural season for bright and colorful Lily Pulitzer designs. To celebrate the brand's 50th anniversary, Lilly has created the "A Colorful Cause" Spring/Summer 20009 collection, a special line designed with nine celebrity women--Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Gwyneth Paltrow, Angie Harmon, Marcia Cross, Catherine Bell, Debra Messing, Brooke Shields, Bridget Moynahan and Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon. The line of swimsuits, shifts, pants, skirts and caftans benefits the Epidermolysis Bullosa Medical Research Foundation with 15 percent of the price going to the foundation. Epidermolysis Bullosa is a rare and painful skin disease that results in blisters and wounds on the body. The Grace shift shown at right was designed by Debra Messing and sells for $428.

[via Make Luxury Count]

We've seen plenty of charities suffering in the recession but even the biggest, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation isn't immune. The AP reports that between January 2008 and April 2009 the foundation saw its wealth sink from $39 billion to $27.5 billion. The foundation, which was started in 1994, has given away $20.1 billion in the last decade. It paid $2.8 billion in grants and other charitable expenses last year and estimates that it will spend $3.5 billion in grants and related expenses in 2009.The foundation isn't reducing distributions in 2009 but the growth of the distributions has slowed. The foundation continues to be devoted to global health. It recently made a $10 million grant to the United Nation's World Food Program. Gates Foundation CEO Jeff Raikes, a former Microsoft executive, said the economic crisis has caused Bill Gates to increase his focus on the foundation.

The Santa Rosa Democrat reports from the Auction Napa Valley wine auction this weekend and reveals that the news isn't good. As expected the recession took a chunk out of the charity giving for this annual event. The big live auction event on Saturday night only brought in $4.3 million, less than half of the $10.4 million raised last year, a result that is similar to the Naples auction earlier this year. During the four-day event, Napa Valley Vintners raised $5.7 million for a variety of local charities.

The Santa Rosa Democrat article quotes several bidders who said that they were bidding more conservatively because they had either lost money in the past year or had serious concerns about their ongoing financial health. Bids were also lower because competition was less intense and some may have been concerned about appearing too showy. All of the Auction Napa Valley events were sold out, indicating that people still have interest in this event. Even though they did't spend like they did last year and it sounds like a good time was still had by all.

The Napa Valley Vintners pledged back in 2007 that for the next five years the the auction would distribute a minimum of $5 million a year to the charities including Community Health Clinic Ole, Boys & Girls Clubs and Napa Valley Community Housing.