What do you do for charity?

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Puppyraiser

PFG, Picture Framing God
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Howards retired
We are starting our Second Annual Art for the Animals project. It works the same as last year (did I already tell you about this? If I did, just ignore me...)

Customers pay $1 for a 5x7 canvas board (this year donated by Winsor & Newton- 120 of em!) They paint anything they want and turn it back in. Howard's frames it. There is a two month long Silent Auction at the Washington County Arts Council.

Last year we had a full-page color story in the local newspaper about the auction (with the store prominently mentioned), other smaller stories and the Arts Council and SPCA mention it too.

We raised $1350 last year. Going for $2000 this year!

What do you do so that you get good publicity and do good at the same time?
 
G'day Ellen,

We opted to pick 4 kids charities, and each order we process, we donate $1 to these.

Every quarter, we do a transfer to each one in turn, and then rotate each year to give each a shot at busier quarters.

We also have a notation on every invoice we send out for our framer (and other industry) clients, where they can opt to pay an extra $1 with their remittance, and we'll add that to our payments.
So far not a single one has done this. One glazier client mentioned it once, and that's it.

I think it is just an overlooked line on our invoice.
Maybe I'll start asking if they want to contribute when orders come in, as I feel this will make a big difference.
Our clients can claim this as a deduction.
 
We sponsor an art auction to benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. This year will be the 2nd Breath of Fresh Art. Each year we have local kids who have CF come to the gallery to paint - we frame and display them as fine art, then hold a big auction. Raffle items like dinners, theater tickets, etc. round out the night. Last year we raised over $8000.

This year we're adding celebrity artists - just this week we received a piece from Marty Balin (co-founder of Jefferson Airplane) and we're waiting for others.

Last year was the first - and one of the best things we've ever done. A week later we experienced the worst thing we ever have, which only solidified our commitment to helping kid's charities.

Here's a link to this year's page on the CF Foundation website:
http://www.cff.org/Chapters/charlot...nShowBack=False&idContentType=2157&Event=6850

Tony

PS: Ellen - Good luck on this year's event. Hope to see you in ATL
 
EllenAtHowards said:
We are starting our Second Annual Art for the Animals project. It works the same as last year
Customers pay $1 for a 5x7 canvas board (this year donated by Winsor & Newton- 120 of em!) They paint anything they want and turn it back in. Howard's frames it. There is a two month long Silent Auction at the Washington County Arts Council.
Last year we had a full-page color story in the local newspaper about the auction (with the store prominently mentioned), other smaller stories and the Arts Council and SPCA mention it too.
We raised $1350 last year. Going for $2000 this year!
What do you do so that you get good publicity and do good at the same time?
Click to expand...

Ellen,
That's a great idea. My charity projects are more of a shotgun approach. I cannot seem to say no to anybody with a good cause. I frame up a lot of prints nicely that different charities bring in for their auctions. Also, years ago I printed up about 2000 prints for a local artist of the Va. Beach skyline, which did not sell all that well. Now I give them out everytime a charity comes in that I don't already do something for. It costs me about a dollar a print, which they can auction off. Perhaps I should think about doing something that will get me more publicity?
Bill
Ocean Art
 
Usually I stand on a corner with a tin cup and a sign that says ...

"Feed a framer".

;)
 
Every other year we have a benefit for a local charity. In 2005 it was for the Suffolk Habitat for Humanity. We had a silent auction and then 20% of art sales went to them. We brought in $1000. Part of the auction were wooden bird houses painted/decorated by the artists in the Home Sweet Home show.

This year the benefit was for the Virginia Breast Cancer Foundation. We did a silent auction of baskets that also brought in $1000. This show was entitled Pink.

We have not decided what to do for next year.

We also donate alot of the gallery owner's framed photography and gift certificates for framing to local organizations for auctions. Very few of the gift certificates ever seem to come back though.
 
Carol-That's a good point. We give out Gift Cards that rarely, if ever, get redeemed.

If you ever need to give a Charity Donation that you re more obligated than you want, do a Gift Card. In most cases, it cost nothing. If redeemed, it might mke you something
 
We're primarily doing gift certificates now, for the reasons already mentioned. But here's a lesson learned from a fundraiser we recently helped with.

The fundraiser was for a firefighter with cancer, and we happened to have a 9/11 poster lying around with the 23rd psalm printed on it and some sort of firefighter-related theme. Retail value was around $20. We donated the poster but left it unframed. When we came to the event we saw the poster stuck and rippled inside a black Hobby Lobby frame, probably with masking tape. It ended up selling at silent auction for over $300 and we were kicking ourselves for not donating the darn thing already framed -- especially since it was noted that we donated the poster, and I imagine people assumed the framing job was ours too.

A couple of months later the firefighters come back in with the same poster & frame, needing a piece of glass. Turns out the frame got dropped as it was getting carried out of the building the day of the fundraiser and the glass broke. They were just getting around to having the glass replaced so they could deliver the frame to the silent auction winner. So in the end we got a chance to make it right -- we drymounted the poster, put in UV glass with a spacer and sealed the back of the frame all nice and pretty -- no charge, of course.

Lesson learned: if you're going to donate a print, donate it framed. Otherwise you risk having it poorly framed in a readymade and people thinking it was your framing job.
 
Another one we did recently was help sponsor a theater production of Fiddler on the Roof. We also ran a Framing for the Fiddler promotion in July, with 10% of framing sales for the month getting donated back to the community theater. We also sold tickets for the event. This combination had a couple of positive impacts:

- Our name appeared prominently in every ad for the theater
- We had people come in to our shop to buy tickets
- We built more name recognition from both the newspaper ads and the program ad

Now I'm mulling over doing a cutest-pet contest to benefit one of the animal-based charities around here. Either a local animal shelter or one of the helping-animal organizations like Leader Dogs or Paws for a Cause. Haven't worked out all the details on that one yet...
 
We support a local children's hospice - as anonymously as we can - if we, for example state that a % of a certain sale was to go to this place for terminally ill children, we'd wonder if anyone thought we were using the place somehow.

So we do a lot for them and if they want to put us in the credits, fine.

A good customer and titled lady donated the land for the place - without a whisper, but then the local and district councils refused planning permission - then everyone found out the lady had donated the land etc etc and the authorities' red tape caused massive emotional support and they did a sharp 'U' turn.

Also the choir I sing in does about 3 concerts a year - including our Christmas concert, to fundraise for this place - it's always a sell-out and good donations are made on the nights too - plus raffles etc. Then the very nice lady that introduces the concert searches me out during the interval and gives me a great big hug.

Thanks enough!

But I could never visit the hospice, breaks my heart thinking about it.


We do other stuff too.
 
10 years ago a friend asked if I would help with a charity golf event. Now I annually frame about 25-30 pieces for the event and the record for the auction part of the event (which are the pieces I frame) stands at $80K. The pieces are mostly golf memoribilia, the most impressive of which was a set of pin flags from the courses that hosted the "Tiger Slam". 4 pin flags in one frame, all signed by Tiger Woods, went for $20,500.00....I was completely blown away.
The driving force behind this effort is the National, State, and local chapter of the MS Society.
I started out small, framing a few pieces and maintaining a skeptical eye on the whole thing. I now ask if there are any more pieces. I was/am fortunate to have the friendship of the person who first asked me to help and the structure of the MS Societies to make sure that the events are successful and the funds raised are put to good use locally.

Getting involved with charity work, at any level and for whatever charity suits your fancy, is some of the most rewarding work you can do (Ok...so I'm preaching to the chior). I am much more quick to agree to donate now to other legitimate charities (there are plenty of the other kind).

Natalya, the object lesson is to always give your best, and yes, I learned the hard way as well.

Ellen, your heart is large and giving by nature...how could you let all those puppies leave you?

Bob, You're just being pragmatic...truth be told, you probably give more to charities than many of us make annually...Thanks for both the hard shell and the softy interior.

Keep Peddling Edie. Every mile is that much more sweet.
 
wpfay said:
Ellen, your heart is large and giving by nature...how could you let all those puppies leave you?QUOTE]

For years it was easy... they gave me another puppy, and oh! how I love infant puppies! When we said goodbye to number 15, knowing it was the End of the Line... Well, that was lots harder. And then of course, we finished raising Ellie May, who certainly showed us that our decision to retire was a wise one. But I still miss the Puppy Breath!
Click to expand...
 
Honestly, I am surprised and puzzled (dismayed might be a better word) at the "charitable" attitude shown by some here.

I always thought giving to charity is done for charities' sake, to support something you believe in and to help a suffering individual; not for other ulterior motives - be it to enhance the business or just to look charitable.

As if Edie were going through that arduous bike ride just to lose weight, not for her own selfless reasons. God bless her heart.
 
Paul I'm kind of surprised (dismayed, too) at your reaction. I don't read any ulterior motives into any of the above posts.
I know there is an emotional and charitable reason for being involved for myself, Ellen, Wally, Bob and the others. Not sure how you read this, but I simply don't see it.

Maybe I'm a bit sensitive about such a remark simply because CF IS such and imporant cause for me and my family. But Wally said it better than I can:
Getting involved with charity work, at any level and for whatever charity suits your fancy, is some of the most rewarding work you can do . . . . I am much more quick to agree to donate now to other legitimate charities. . . .

Tony
 
I have two: Advocates to End Domestic Violence is a local group that runs a safe house for mothers and their children who are in transition from abusive homes. They also have a rape center for counseling and treatment and a program to help re-train them for jobs. Much of their funding comes from "Classy Seconds", a thrift store where all proceeds go to the Advocates programs. We donate items regularly to that, but also volunteer in their annual food drive, where all goods donated go to the pantries of the safe houses. Their biggest funding comes from "Taste of Downtown", where for one evening a year businesses open their doors to the community who buy $35 tickets to get "freebies" and samples and sell raffle tickets for prizes donated by the businesses. Money from the raffle tickets is donated back to Advocates by the businesses, and 100% of the ticket sales go there as well.

The second charity that we participate in is "Think Pink", Breast Cancer Awareness, for the entire month of October. Businesses donate $100 and in return receive a giant THINK PINK banner to hang in front of their shops, sell Think Pink t-shirts, pins, wrist bands, key chains, etc. for whatever donations we can get for them, and breast cancer awareness pamphlets handed out. All money collected goes to the local Breast Cancer Treatment Center, that helps women (and men!) pay for their treatment when they don't have insurance, for prosthesis surgery, wigs, etc. The City replaces all the street light bulbs on the main street with pink ones all month, pink banners everywhere! Last October my shop was pink, pink, pink. From an idea Baer posted here awhile back, I started a "Shirt of Hope" project, a pink shirt signed all over by breast cancer survivors and their families. I just got it back from the Cancer Treatment Center for the signatures. It will be framed and donated to the center where it will hang permanently in the lobby, as a message to the frightened women undergoing treatment, that there is hope for them.

Very gratifying to be part of a cause. For me, participation is as important as the monetary donations, maybe more so. I don't worry about "writing off" anything, don't even keep track. I just want to be part of the solution.
 
There is nothing to "write off", it's just an up-tick to your COGs. If it's stuff that has been knocking around in the back, or starting to stink up your wall.... all the better.

Our shop does heavy (about $2-3,000 retail value) to the local schools. And we get some slowly coming back in that is due indirectly to that participation.

My personal, and somewhat supported by Shar is the Oregon Humane Society. This varies as to what we do for them or what I make for their auctions. But usually it goes a long way towards a couple of thousand in savings or raising funds. You give until it feels good.

As for giving:

0Blood05Ecopy.jpg
 
Way to go Baer! Put your blood where your mouth is. Well, you know what I mean. Great photo.

Race for the Cure(Susan G Komen)--walking participant when knees not too bad. Daughter walks when she can, raising funds and walking with my name on her back :-) as a survivor :-)

The Berkeley Women's Daytime Drop-in Center. Gets the homeless and battered women off the streets and into productive futures. Job training, place to live for a while, child care. We give cash gifts and framing for the auctions. I'd love to host their dinner and auction in the shop one day.

The Alzheimer's Services of the East Bay. My mom was stricken, so a personal connection here. We participate in each year's framing competition and art auction. Lots of fun and lots of money raised for a very under funded small organization just down the street from our shop. These people work their tails off helping patients every day in their day program.

And of course--Go Edie!

Everything else is small stuff.
 
Charitable giving is complicated. We budget several thousand a year for local events & groups. We give out gift cards or goods pretty freely but I charge that sort to advertising because supporting the local little league or historical society is really more community relations than it is charity.

A couple of years ago we, as a company, decided we wanted to have a little more of an effect and we partnered up with our local food bank. We have hosted our Circle of Art benefit for three years now and it has been a great thing for our shop. We have managed to raise over $40,000 - $18,000 this year but more importantly we have been able to make a bit of a difference in our community. It is a huge amount of work but it is also the most fun we Have all year.

Peter
 
[We also donate alot of the gallery owner's framed photography and gift certificates for framing to local organizations for auctions. Very few of the gift certificates ever seem to come back though.[/QUOTE]


I have also noticed that the gift certificates that we donate to charity very rarely get redeemed. I wonder why that is?? Not just small amounts either, some of the GC's are for a hundred dollars, I mean who wouldn't want to use that??
 
We support the Make-A-Wish foundation of Central Ohio. We currently frame all the thank yous that they give donners. In the past we have had a Make-A-Wish day and donated 100% of the framing proceeds from the day. Larson helped us by suppling us with glass, mats and moulding at no-charge for the jobs that were taken in off this day. We added a gift basket rafle and raised a bit over $5000 in that one day. The Make-A-Wish people were at the stores and had there own credit card machines and all checks were made out to them.

For the other off the street type donations we give a matted print of historic Columbus and a $20 gift certificate. I have never seen one of them come back in. I have gained some business from the persons that are collecting the donations.
 
Ellen, thanks so much for this idea. I did say I was going to steal it, and I have (with a wee change)! In March we will be running a photo competition for photos of bridges around our City (we have a big river right through the middle and this is the most rekwested image by tourists and locals alike), these will be printed onto 7x5 Canvas and stretched - a $2 entry, the images then go on silent auction once judging is complete. All proceeds are going to Hospice.

Entries are not open yet but I have around 20 waiting to get in!
 
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