How to Use CafePress as a Fundraising Tool

You're a volunteer asked to think of ideas for fundraising. You think of several that are successful for others. Yard sales, candy sales, car washes, auctions, etc. But yard sales require a lot of time gathering donations and their success relies on the location and weather. Candy sales are very successful at many schools and other organizations. There are risks when you're sending volunteers door-to-door with candy however. If you don't have access to a high traffic area (school, store, office, etc.) where you can resell this candy, it is going to be difficult to have a successful sale. You'll also want to consider upfront costs. Many candy companies require a $250 minimum purchase. This doesn't sound like a lot to many people, but think about small organizations. If you're in an animal rescue, you know that $250 could have easily been spent at the vet instead or could have bought a substantial amount of pet food. Car washes require a lot of volunteers and a good location. Auctions require collecting donations and bringing in a large audience. While many of these ideas can be successful for large groups, it is hard for the small organization to find fundraising activities that won't set them back rather than bring them ahead.

One idea that often comes up in fundraising meetings, is having t-shirts printed. The initial costs often become overwhelming however, or perhaps only one design can be choosen if the group is able to put up money upfront. What if you could have t-shirts in many styles available with no upfront costs? In addition to shirts, CafePress also offers mugs, mousepads, stickers, posters, and calendars. There is no upfront cost to the organization (or individual, should you choose to do this on your own just for fun and some extra cash).

Customers also have the convenience of being to order their items online. This means your organization can be selling t-shirts and other printed merchandise 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, rather than just when your organization is out doing events. However, if you want to have t-shirts and other merchandise available at events as well, and can afford the upfront cost, CafePress offers discounts when you buy in bulk or frequently offers discounts to sellers no matter how much they buy.

Many volunteers are fearful of how much time setting up something like this will take. However, it is really quite easy. First, go to www.CafePress.com to fill out your organization's information and come up with a name for your CafePress store. Then you decide what products you will offer (for example, it might be cold in your area and sweatshirts would fly out of the store like hotcakes, but being a religious organization, you think offering a thong for sale might seem a bit weird). After that, you design the products. This is easier than it sounds. All you need to do is: look at the size requirements for the image you need to put on the product, have a volunteer do some artwork (or use your logo, or even a photo), and upload the design to put on the product. And there you go. Then it is done, and up in your store, not to be changed until you decide to change it. The last step is to decide the markup that will be used. A good way to do this is to poll volunteers to see what they would spend on the various products you will be offering. Don't mark up items too much or they won't sell, but if you don't mark them up enough, you won't earn much money for your organization. Keep in mind that many people are willing to pay more for something when they know that the proceeds go directly to a good cause. If you aren't just linking your store to your website or putting it in your organization's newsletter, you might also want to add a description of your organization and what you do. This description will be shown in the store and might make people more likely to spend money there (for example, I helped create a store that helps with vet bills for sick guinea pigs). Make the item descriptions personalized too if you desire.

Your organization probably has many volunteers who would be willing and able to help with such a fundraising project. People like t-shirts, we all use mousepads and calendars, and who doesn't want to help charities while buying products they like? CafePress offers many high quality products so that your organization can sell a wide variety of merchandise, but there are absolutely no upfront costs. What's there to lose?