Tour Takes In $1.2 Million--in Barely 24 Hours : Fund-raisers: From Washington to Miami to Los Angeles, most of the Mandela events have already been sold out.

Only a quarter-way through his American odyssey, Nelson Mandela is transforming his magic into big bucks for his liberation movement.

In a span of barely 24 hours ending Friday night, the acknowledged leader of the African National Congress raked in more than $1.2 million for the Mandela Freedom Fund.

And that’s not counting the brisk sales of Mandela memorabilia throughout the country--or the rallies, receptions and dinners aimed unabashedly at fund raising still ahead in Washington, Miami, Detroit, Los Angeles and Oakland. Most of those events already have sold out or are approaching sellout.

In Los Angeles, ticket sales for a celebrity-filled dinner already have brought in more than $650,000, “and the event is still a week away,” one jubilant organizer said Friday. And about $250,000 worth of tickets for the Coliseum rally have been sold--already more than enough to cover the cost of using the facility, according to Darlene Donloe of the Los Angeles Mandela Welcome Committee. She said an additional 50,000 $10 tickets remain.

America’s outpouring of affection and generosity have left Mandela and his 13-member delegation “on a real high,” said Jim Bell, director of operations for the New York Mandela Welcome Committee.

Although neither Mandela nor his tour organizers have publicly specified a fund-raising target, business sources associated with the trip said $2 million was a figure privately mentioned early on by tour leaders.

Now it appears that the final tally could make that initial goal seem modest.

Mandela himself has been saying that fund raising is the second major aim of his 12-day, eight-city journey, with the primary goal being to generate public and congressional sentiment to retain economic sanctions against Pretoria.

Indeed, at his very first stop after arriving in New York on Wednesday morning, Mandela appealed to students and residents of Brooklyn’s impoverished Bedford-Stuyvesant area to help raise money for the ANC.

At a church service the next day, he told a jubilant crowd: “Words are important . . . but without the actual means . . . then all our sacrifices are absolutely useless.” Almost right on cue, he was given a check for $200,000 from the National Council of Churches USA.

With that, plus the sellouts at Yankee Stadium on Thursday night and at two private $2,500-a-head events Friday night, Mandela has raised enough to cover the expected expenses of the trip--twice over, in fact.

“This whole trip is being paid for by the generosity of the American people,” Roger Wilkins, the trip’s national coordinator, said.

Organized labor is another big giver, having already donated $200,000 as well as staff and other resources for the breakneck cross-country journey. In addition, Mandela is to speak on Thursday to more than 6,000 trade unionists in Miami. One union leader, Bob Harman, said that Mandela can expect “a sizable contribution.”

Many entertainers and artists also are donating their services for fund-raisers, and numerous companies have contributed, including ProServ, the Arlington, Va., marketing firm that is licensing all official Mandela memorabilia.

The firm is essentially taking on the job “on a pro bono basis,” said Louis Cunningham, a ProServ executive. Other firms have provided services or facilities either for free or at cut-rate prices.

Demand for Mandela T-shirts, coins, hats, posters, buttons, decals, silk jackets and the like has been so high that ProServ has set up a toll-free number for taking mail orders from throughout the country. “It’s been nonstop calls for the last two days,” Kevin O’Keefe, another ProServ executive, said Friday.

Also in recent days, many checks ranging from $5,000 to $10,000, from groups such as the Black and Latino Legislative Caucus of New York, have been arriving at the Washington-based Democracy for South Africa, the organization put together to coordinate Mandela’s tour.

According to Wilkins, virtually all money beyond the $500,000 in expenses will go to the tax-exempt Mandela Freedom Fund.

At numerous stops in New York, Mandela has been speaking of the “dire need” for money and materials--so that the long-banned but recently legalized ANC can set about creating a nationwide infrastructure, help resettle up to 50,000 expatriates and rebuild schools for black children.

“We are sure the American people will make a contribution in all these areas,” Mandela told 50,000 people at the Yankee Stadium rally.

Lindiwe Mabuza, the ANC’s chief representative in the United States, said in an interview that the party’s needs range from fax machines to paper, telephones to trucks. “Our needs are enormous,” she said.

After Mandela’s Yankee Stadium speech, thousands of people answered the call of Cleveland Robinson, co-chairman of the New York committee, and deposited additional cash and checks into large plastic bags circulated throughout the stadium.

According to Mae Ngai, deputy operations director of the local welcoming committee, all 52,000 tickets to the rally, ranging in price from $5 to $25, were sold.

The event grossed $500,000, with about $200,000 of that going for the production costs associated with the rally, she said. According to New York Mayor David N. Dinkins, George Steinbrenner, principal owner of the Yankees, kicked in the $90,000 in rent for the use of the stadium, and the city paid for the power.

Ticket sales for fund-raising events in other cities also are going well, organizers in the various cities said Friday.

In Washington, all 19,000 tickets for his only public rally, ranging from $10 to $25, sold out in less than an hour.

In Boston, sales for a dinner at the posh Copley Plaza Hotel have brought in $300,000.

In Atlanta, more than half of the 50,000 tickets for a Wednesday rally at Grant Field, all priced at $5, have been sold. Georgia Tech, which owns the stadium, has waived the rent, which ordinarily exceeds $100,000.

Also scheduled for Atlanta is a $100-a-person “Salute to South African Women” luncheon with Winnie Mandela. “We’re about sold out,” one organizer said. “We’re adding tables now. We are at over 1,000.”