Fundraising with Cloth Canvas Tote Bags

Are you looking for a unique, creative fundraiser for your school, group or organization? There are many items available from fundraising companies that you can resell to raise money. One item that has not traditionally been used but is a great way to foster creativity and promote environmentalism is cloth grocery bags.

Using cloth tote bags instead of paper or plastic helps to save trees, water and oil. Paper requires cutting down trees and using large quantities of water and oil to transport the bags to stores. The production of plastic bags releases toxins into the air, creates bags that won't degrade for hundreds of years and pollutes the oceans. The reasons to use cloth bags make sense, we just aren't used to using them as a society yet.

Some places including San Francisco and some European cities have actually passed laws that forbid the use of plastic bags, or impose a levy on shoppers that do not bring their own bags. Cloth grocery bags are becoming hip and more and more shoppers are using them each day. Selling re-useable bags as a fundraiser can put your group or organization at the forefront of the movement.

The cloth grocery bags can be purchased in bulk plain, or with printing. Searching online for wholesale tote bags, bulk cloth grocery bags and promotional shoulder bags will give you some ideas of where to purchase. Cheaptotes.com has tote bags very affordably priced from one to five dollars a piece. Enviro-tote.com sells bags that are custom printed. And Ecobags.com are incredibly durable and priced under ten dollars each.

If you purchase the bags plain your group can use fabric paint, markers, rubber stamps or other décor to personalize the bags with your message. Decorating the bags can be a fun activity for the group too. Don't forget to put your groups name and contact information on the bags for future publicity.

Once the bags are personalized with your message your group needs to sell them. This can be done person to person as much fundraising typically is, or your group can set up a table a community event. Farmer's Markets, Tag Sales, School Fairs, Parades and Sporting events are popular places to sell fundraising items. You may even be able to arrange a table outside your local grocery or department store. What better way to encourage shoppers to buy your item than to offer it to them right when they need it?

Your group can gain lots of publicity from the cloth grocery bags as well. Take some photos of the group decorating the bags and/or selling the bags at an event. Send the pictures in to your local newspaper, along with a short article about the environmental benefits of using cloth grocery bags and you can get valuable press coverage. Make sure you mention how readers can purchase their own bags through your group.

So the next time your group is looking for a way to raise some money, consider selling cloth grocery bags instead of candles or candy bars. The earth will thank you for it.