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Crocheting for Profit - then Donating to Charity


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Through my research, it is obvious that starting my own non-profit will take some financial investing on my part. This is still my long term goal, of which I'm not giving up on, but I was wondering about crocheting for profit and then donating a portion of the monies earned to charity.

 

If I can start out my own charity from the beginning, then I want to donate to local charities (either through items or monies earned from a for profit crochet business). I also plan on saving money to put towards starting my own non-profit.

 

Anyhow, do any other indie buisness owners out there donate items they make to charities and or money they earn to charity? Did you do this from the start or was it more of an afterthought of your business?

 

Just curious... I mean this might be a way for me to technically crochet for profit, yet clearly crochet for charity at the very same time - eventually helping me reach my goal of having my own non-profit.

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While starting a For Profit business might be a quick way to raise capital, to me this sounds like two different things: crocheting for profit and your ministry because the goals are different. You're also going to want to keep in mind the tone you will want to set in the beginning. It sounds to me that you need to look at your starting capital (including supplies, work space, time available), goals, and timeframe to see if they match.

 

If you want to start a for profit business to finance charity work, it might be seen as working at cross purposes, or at the very least, seen as a business that gives to charity ( people will assume only a portion of your profits will be donated) when what you want is to give to charity what you make (keeping only enough to make more to give back).

 

Are officially affiliated with a church? Could you afford to start very slowly and very small? I'm sure that people would be more willing to donate time and supplies if they know where the donations are going to rather than to a start-up that's wants to give back.

 

I know this doesn't answer your question, but the question you should be asking is which aspects of your master plan are you more comfortable adjusting? There's really no wrong answer if you're willing to be flexible if one avenue doesn't work out. It's using what you have to work with to keep your goals in mind.

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My girls and I are doing this. Initially we crocheted baby items and gave them away to different charities. But it does get expensive. So we started selling patterns and finished blankets.

 

At this time I really do not want to get a 501 C3 etc. (I have done it in the past for a horse rescue I started years ago)

 

We are just keeping it simple.

 

I know on Etsy you can sell for charity but they have very strict rules. We would just rather do it on our own. We figure if we can help our small corner of the world we are good with it.

 

 

Kay

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I will share with you what I've decided to do even though it concerns a business other than needlework. I own and operate a home-based bakery (licensed, inspected, and totally legal in my state/county/city. 100% of the SALE goes to one of three charities. The customer can decide from the three where the monies go. They make out a check to that particular non-profit organization along with a donation form. They give it to me when their order is delivered. I then mail it. It's as if I donated that amount of money just the customer receives full credit by way of a receipt for the tax deductible contribution. This way, the customer is now a willing participant in the donation process, I get to create, and the charities I support get the benefit.

Every year I try to have made up several boxes of knitted and crocheted items for various charities. Recently, however, I've thought to apply the same concept to my needlework as I've done with the bakery. Designate particular items to sell while all others get donated.

 

Donating 100% of the PROFITS from each sale will allow you to recoup the cost of making the item. Reducing the percentage of donation increases the amount you get to put toward more supplies. You could have a line that has 100% and it be a small, fast working but also quick selling ...like flowers (show them on your finished hats/bags.

Keep in mind, 100% of the sale means exactly that....whereas 100% of the profits is 100% of the sale AFTER the cost of the item has been deducted.

Right now, making and donating items to your charity of choice (most will return you with a receipt of donation), is the choice with the least legal hassles. Once you start selling stuff, EVERYBODY wants a cut. There is an upside, the possibility remains for showing a loss on your individual income taxes (but, I'm still not sure if that outweighs the downside of having to keep records and receipts. I don't know the legal particulars just more or less touching on a few things. I apologize for the rambling.

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