Charity events: ideas and marketing.

[Calm]

Jefferson said:
Let's try to make this one an annual. Give something back and show off our wares.

I didn't quite get there this year - donated some wood nonetheless - but would sure like to have a little box up for "sale" next year.

All I know is that some my my "seconds" stuff draws gasps (but they aint seen nothing decent either!)

OK??? Let's pencil it in. We have plenty of time.

great :2tsup:

jefferson, not a bad idea - but I'd suggest the we spread it around a bit as there are other causes which would like our work. do a 2 or 3 year rotation, maybe


Let's try to make this one an annual. Give something back and show off our wares. ................
OK??? Let's pencil it in. We have plenty of time.


great :2tsup:

jefferson, not a bad idea - but I'd suggest the we spread it around a bit as there are other causes which would like our work. do a 2 or 3 year rotation, maybe



Calm said:
I agree in principle - Everything is easy except for the marketing.

That is where i see the biggest problem. While i am not going to criticise the people this event was for, i think CF has been great and are a very worthy cause run by people with the greatest of intentions.

The problem being - once you hand the items over you lose control, so in that situation you have to take whatever they accept as a reasonable price/amount for that object. (no i am not disapointed in the prices received)

The ideal result is to make the items over say a one month period - have the forum and other judging over another 2 week period and a bbq after that so 6 to 8 weeks from the start to the end of the organising. Then the marketing to get the donation for the charity, ideally this would be quickly over say no more than another month so interest doesnt wane waiting for the end result - but unfortunately these types of items dont sell overnight unless you went through a specialist auction rooms but then the return for effort would be very low. (you are selling to retailers to resell)

I think a lot more focus on how - where - when to sell needs to be done before another event is organised.

2 bob markets where customers want to get everythign cheap are not the place - craft markets are a possiblity but someone needs to be prepared to sit there for maybe months to sell them all - then as numbers get low how do you fill the stall? - One option i didnt follow up much was to have someone (who already has a market stall) takes the items and sells them on our behalf - but then you still get the dragged out result.

Getting entrants/donors to "reserve price" their items is also fraught with danger as not everyone thinks the quality, value of an item is the same. (that is why i will not reveal individual sale prices i receive from CF)

- there willbe differences in opinion as to which charity we donate too (the person who organises it should have that call)

So in priciple i think the idea is great but the marketing side needs to be sured up before you start.

Just my 2 bobs worth

Cheers

Because of a suggestion by Jeff and subsequent replies I thought a new thread might be in order.

If you have an idea of the best way to go about this: Organising and marketing in particular, put your ideas up here.

[RETIRED]

This has been taken from CF Charity bowl challenge.

[Calm]

Thanks for starting this thread for me .

I was out at the farm in the wind and rain coughing my head off, soaking hankies by the dozen with the nonstop dripping/running nose at the same time pulling fencing wire through posts (7 wires a total of 800 metres long, 78 concrete posts - and have to walk back to get the next one each time. It was actually 500 metres one way and 300 the other) I now read TL is in bed - well what would you expect from a little city slicker.

and had this thought to start a new thread so i rang and asked him to do it for me.

The reason i thought of a new thread is that it gives everyone a chance to put forward their opinions/thoughts mainly on "the marketing of" any next charity challenge as i see that as the point most likely to fail. In a new thread it is not as likely to be seen as criticism of any previous/existing challenge.

I look forward to plenty of contributions and offers to help.

The last point i would like to make is that i beleive that any person who runs something like this or for that point takes on anything for a group does it to the best of their ability. So please remember that some have better/different ability/expertise than others but i do beleive everyone does their best.

Cheers

[Waldo]

An approach could be made to a local council who run Sunday markets, e.g Whitehorse run a Sunday market every 4th Sunday.

Outline who and what and that all monies raised would go to x charity and if a free space might be given at the particular market.

:shrug:

[Calm]

An approach could be made to a local council who run Sunday markets, e.g Whitehorse run a Sunday market every 4th Sunday.

Outline who and what and that all monies raised would go to x charity and if a free space might be given at the particular market.

:shrug:

I thought about these "craft" markets but the problem i see is that someone has to sit there month after month until all items are sold. Then as the number gets down, do you sit there with 5 items then 3 or do you "special price" them when the number gets low. What do you use to "top up" the stall with as the number of items get lower.

That is why i see it as a better option for an existing stall holder to sell on our behalf on their stall - so the table never gets nearly bare. Then ou need to leave it the them to price them as they should know what the customers in that area would pay.

I also thought of places like Sovereign hill or the Eureka centre in Ballarat - the art gallery or the airport shops in Melbourne, where they get customers expecting to pay a bit more for handmade items.

Thanks for your thoughts Waldo:2tsup:

Cheers

[thefixer]

Maybe somebody with the appropriate skills could develop a web site dedicated to selling the wares or perhaps place them on Ebay. Would save a lot of footwork, and keep the administration to a minimum. Just a thought.


Cheers
Shorty

[ElizaLeahy]

ebay - while I have personally left due to fees and lack of (their staff) support, is actually not a bad idea for this.

eBay does let you run charity events so you can put "charity" in the title listing. You just have to go through some red tape, get a letter from the charity saying that you are selling for them.

Each time you put an auction up you send the charity the URL so that they can watch too.

One thing I'd check, because I haven't looked into marketing woodwork on ebay yet, is if to list in the Australian ebay, or if to use the US one. The advantage of using the US one is that it's automatically listed on the AU one as well, because that's where the item is located, and they have a much larger, possibly wealthier, population.

The only thing I'd worry about with that is that if you have a natural edged vessal with bark on it, it might not get into the country. I know it wouldn't get into Australia if you bought it from the US, although getting it into the US, from Australia, might not be so hard.

Or, just leave the ones with bark on for Australia only.

If you listed everything in, say, a two week period, then you could list some in Australia, some in the US - hell, if anyone speaks french, list them there, eBay France does well, and if I could read it I'd list my art there!

Anyway, if you wanted to do this I'd be happy to do a pretty template for you. We would have to take the fees out of what we get for it, it's about 25% fees when you add up listing fees, final value fees and paypal fees.

I use to be a power seller on ebay - those were the days. (before they put their fees up and their usefulness down!)

[rodent]

Why don,t you work through your council ie .local library , information center ,, town hall . Most have display windows , so why not a display our crafts with no's so people can bid and make donations for said goods for charity ?

[Calm]

Great idea Rodney - and thanks for reviving the idea/thread - maybe others will add to the "think tank"

Cheers