Selling for charity

[Prashun Patel]

Hi Guys, I've amassed a bunch of bowls that are just taking up space in my basement. I'd love to sell them and just donate any proceeds to a local charity. Has anyone done this? What's the best way?

Most of these would not command large value, but that's not the point; the point would be to solicit donations, and then send a bowl as a 'gift'.

I'm in new territory here, so I really don't know how or where to start. Has anyone done anything like this? How to start? Facebook? Gofundme? Ebay? What's your suggested way to do it?


Sorry if this is a naive question; please fire back at me if there are other questions i need to answer first...

[Tom Wilson66]

Seems to me the best way to do it would be to contact the charity you want to donate to. See if they have an auction or sale coming up that you could donate the bowls to.
Tom

[John K Jordan]

Are you in a turning club? Some have charity events. One club I attend sales that support some children's charities. The other does also, but everything for that is Christmas ornaments.

We also support the Beads of Courage program where turners and woodworkers donate lidded boxes/bowls to children's hospitals all over the country. For this program there is no selling or money made to donate but the boxes themselves are given to children with cancer and other serious conditions. The kids are given a bead for every procedure and they string them together to tell their story. Some have many hundreds! The boxes/bowls are for them to keep their beads together. These seem to really encourage the kids! I don't know if your bowls are the size and shape that would be useful for this (if you made lids) but it might be worth considering. There is a Beads of Courage web site with info and the AAW site has some specifics.

You've probably seen this picture I've posted before. It's a Beads of Courage box I made for a special little 6-year-old:
BOC_C_Jack_01_IMG_6687.jpg
The bowls/boxes can be any shape but there are recommended volumes.

Another thing is donate bowls (or platters) to assisted living homes. They use them for various things in the halls and common rooms. This is not the same as raising money for charity but could add a bit to the quality of life to some people whose existence can be dreary!

I have zero experience with selling things (other than magic wands.) Don't people sell things on Etsy? But an auction does sound better. A web search for benefit auctions and art auctions for charity gave me lots to look at, however several seemed aimed at organizations, trying to sell a package to set up a benefit auction event. I like the idea of donating directly to a charity that has periodic auctions, but besides locating them, the hard thing would be to pick the right charity and one you would support and trust!

I know that certain churches have benefit auction events. You might ask around. One local church hosts an annual auction and craft sale to support a program in a very poor place in South America. I didn't donate anything but I took llamas. The probram made a lot of money from donations by people who wanted their picture taken with a llama! (I've actually done this several times for two different organizations as well as had llamas in several TV commercials to advertise the charity event. That was, ah, "interesting".) The point is there may be trustworthy organizations all around if you can somehow find them. Maybe ask for ideas on Facebook?

I'll ask some really smart friends of mine for ideas!

JKJ

Hi Guys, I've amassed a bunch of bowls that are just taking up space in my basement. I'd love to sell them and just donate any proceeds to a local charity. Has anyone done this? What's the best way?

Most of these would not command large value, but that's not the point; the point would be to solicit donations, and then send a bowl as a 'gift'.

I'm in new territory here, so I really don't know how or where to start. Has anyone done anything like this? How to start? Facebook? Gofundme? Ebay? What's your suggested way to do it?


Sorry if this is a naive question; please fire back at me if there are other questions i need to answer first...

[Paul Haus]

The only thing I can suggest is that unless the bowls are conditioned for food use, label them such that they are for decoration only. No matter what you do, someone will try and use it for other than as intended and it could come back on you. I know it seems crazy but there's always someone that will do it and then try and come back against the maker.
As far as where to donate, check out any non-profits in your area along with churches as noted. I belong to a non-profit and we have a couple of events each year and accept donations for a couple of auctions we hold each year.
Good luck and thanks for considering this option.

[Ben Darrah]

Normally I donate around a dozen bowls to fundraisers (Mostly Cancer related) a year. They are usually raffled or auctioned. However, this year all the events have been canceled so far. Any cause that you support will usually have some type of fundraiser which will normally be happy to accept donations. You can try reaching out to them directly. Many times hospitals or civil service clubs (Such as the Lions) can help you locate these foundations.

[Peter Blair]

I'm with Ben. I donate to just about everything in my small community from our Hospital fund raiser to the Dry Grad fund at our local high school and in-between there are always local fundraisers for families in need etc. I also find they make great gifts for Teachers and the special people in our community.

[Reed Gray]

Any place that hosts fund raisers are generally happy to get things to auction off. Churches, animal shelters, women's shelters, schools, Empty Bowls is pretty much country wide and are generally associated with the local food banks. I am sure there are more.

robo hippy

[Richard Coers]

I donate to our local PBS station for their annual fund raising auction. They have a special art section, and do a little art show at the studio before the auction. All of it was cancelled this year.

[roger wiegand]

Empty Bowls is a very good way to get rid of a lot of bowls, especially the ones that aren't, lets say, first quality. It's a hunger relief charity, they host dinner events and everyone who shows up is given an empty bowl, mostly ceramics, wood is regarded as special. They sort out the better pieces they are offered and auction them off. A bowl made by one of our club members went for well over $1000 as I understand.

We have a craft charity consignment shop in town where I've started selling stuff. They support various good causes around town and do a 50-50 or 40-60 split of the proceeds, so it covers the cost of sandpaper, and importantly, provides a place to send stuff so it doesn't accumulate around the house.

[Prashun Patel]

Thanks for all the wonderful suggestions. On going, I will certainly donate to Empty Bowls. We have a chapter literally 2 miles from my office! Who knew? That organization was started by ceramic bowl makers, but they do accept glass and wood as well.

For the immediate future, however, I have decided to just 'sell' the bowls to friends and family. My theory is that they'll pay way over market value* to support a couple good causes, to have a memento of the local environment, and to support a neighbor. Anyway, I don't want to post a link to my site here, but I do welcome comments and critiques - of the layout, of the idea, and of the bowls. If you're interested, PM me and I'll send you the link.

I am entering this naively but am willing to learn, so let me have it...

*market value for these bowls = not enough to pay for a meal to go IN the bowl

[eric mah]

Last year I gave all mine away to relatives at the holiday party. To avoid the "Why is he giving the bowls to Robbie?" problem (it happened), I did a raffle for the bowls. Each bowl had a raffle ticket number and I randomly passed out the other half to the family and whichever bowl had your number, that's what you received. Fair and square with no complaints.

[Prashun Patel]

Circling back to this:

It worked pretty well! We raised about $5000 for the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen in about a week. I think I may do this in the fall with cheese and charcuterie boards.

[John K Jordan]

Circling back to this:

It worked pretty well! We raised about $5000 for the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen in about a week. I think I may do this in the fall with cheese and charcuterie boards.

Fantastic! What an amazing thing to do.

I might like to be talked into making something for your next one, if you would agree to include it! I admit to having NO idea what a charcuterie board is but I'm imagining the possibility of some kind of a woodturned cheese board. Is it for cutting and serving cheese?

I suspect there are woodturners and woodworkers all over the place who would be interested in doing something similar that could help places like this, perhaps in places close to them. (For anyone interested about their mission, I found this about the Trent Area Soup Kitchen - http://www.trentonsoupkitchen.org/ )

JKJ

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

I make Christmas ornaments and donate them to a local Lion's Club. Every December, they have a Wreath sale and sell other decorations too. Last year they sold about 35 of my ornaments. The total they took in on the ornaments I donated was about $300. Some of the ornaments are simple crab pot buoys. They take me about 2 minutes each to make. Materials cost me about 18 cents and they sell the buoy ornaments for $4.00 each. And sold all but two or three of the ones donated. I also make some more involved things that they sell.

[John K Jordan]

I make Christmas ornaments and donate them to a local Lion's Club. Every December, they have a Wreath sale and sell other decorations too. Last year they sold about 35 of my ornaments. The total they took in on the ornaments I donated was about $300. Some of the ornaments are simple crab pot buoys. They take me about 2 minutes each to make. Materials cost me about 18 cents and they sell the buoy ornaments for $4.00 each. And sold all but two or three of the ones donated. I also make some more involved things that they sell.

Perry, do you have a photo of some crab pot buoy ornaments?

JKJ