American Red Cross donation August 2011

The images out of the Horn of Africa are heartbreaking and it is hard to believe that such a disaster has happened once again.  With the economy being so bad around much of the world, private donations are harder to come by than ever as family budgets tighten, including my own, which is why I created By My Touch.  I wanted to try to earn the money so that we could continue to donate to charity.

This latest donation was given to the American Red Cross to aid relief efforts for those suffering the drought.  Where I live in the Pacific Northwest where we have copious amounts of rain, it can be hard to 'step into the shoes' so to speak of those who have walked for days or weeks to find food and water to survive, but as a parent I can relate to how it feels to see your child suffering and even to experience the loss of a child.  For these reasons, this particular donation is especially meaningful to me and, once again, I am grateful to my customers for their support of my little shops and their purchases which enable me to make these donations.

Donation - March 2011

This months donation went to the American Red Cross to aid in the relief efforts for Japan - a total of $105.80 was donated today.  Thank you to everyone that helped me reach this goal through your purchases.

The backstory ...
What an exciting month it's been! It started with a revamp of the shop to make it more streamlined and focused. That led to a massive 40% off clearance sale of the all the bags that didn't fit the intention to be a shop known for beautiful, eco-friendly bags, purses and greeting cards. I was feeling really good about the changes, and fascinated to see what would happen through the rest of the month.

Then, devasting news came of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Wanting so desperately to help, I spent the following weekend talking in the forums with other Etsians as to how we could all group together to raise the most money for donation. Having been told from Etsy Admin that we had to operate independently in order to stay within their rules, I continued to change my listings to draw attention to the fact I was donating my net profits for March to the American Red Cross to aid in the relief efforts, and then started to promote heavily. The result was the busiest month I've had! I sold a lot of bags and was enjoying watching the donation total slowly climb. Every sale but one was for an item in the sale, so my net profit was small for each item, and while it took a while, I eventually surpassed my $100 target! I had intended to donate the net profits for March, but chose to also donate the gross profits where I could to maximize this total.

Thank you so much to everyone that supported my shop and my efforts this month.  I am SO grateful to each of you :)

Blog feature ...

It's always lovely when someone does you a good turn, and today I was contacted by Nikki of http://www.etsy.com/shop/nikkicandles as she'd written in her blog about Etsy shops, like mine, that are trying to raise funds for the Japanese relief effort.

What was especially nice is that she has also discovered that when you give to someone else, you gain far more, and her blog was in this spirit.  So thank you Nikki for not only helping raise awareness for my shop (and therefore my Red Cross donation this month), but for proving that 'what goes around, comes around'.

Nikki's blog can be read here http://nikkimakesscents.blogspot.com/

March is Red Cross Month

I just discovered that March every year is Red Cross month, so I'm even more delighted to have chosen this charity for my donation.

I also just found out that 91% of every dollar is donated to humanitarian services and programs. Given it is not supported by the governement and relies on donations to function, that seems like a pretty fair percentage.

I've now received permission from the American Red Cross to use their name in my efforts to raise money to help with the relief efforts in Japan. I feel very fortunate to have received this so quickly as they are, understandably, totally overwhelmed.

I feel that no matter how much I raise, it won't be as much as I'd like to give. I am constantly promoting my shop, and have had so many people feature my items in treasuries (150 so far!) and many 'hearts' on my items/shop, but very few people actually purchase anything. Add to that the fact that the items I've sold have already got 40% off them, means my net profits are quite small. However, I know that I have $33.95 to donate so far. Perhaps by putting this out into the ether will mean that my efforts will be repaid by lots of sales before the end of March. My goal is to raise at least $100 to donate which is either lots of bags in the sales, or one or two regular bags.

So dear blog, I think this is called 'The Secret' - visualizing what you want so that it can happen. Let's hope it works!

Etsy rules about charitable donations ...

It seems there are shops on Etsy that claim to donate money to charity from their sales, but don't actually do it.

I know I shouldn't be surprised by this, but I was. I'm 47 but am still blissfully naive at times!

That said, I have become aware of some Etsy rules regarding these donations and am abiding by them - I have contacted the charities I wish to donate/loan to to request permission to use their name in my 'fundraising' efforts. I have received said permission from Kiva.org and am awaiting the same from the Red Cross. I cannot therefore donate to the Red Cross relief fund for Japan until I have received that permission (which is maddening) so have gone ahead in the knowledge that there's no reason not to grant it and have listed this charity now so that my customers know where the net profits will go to.

It's all arse-about- face, but there we go. I have followed the rules, I list full details in my Etsy profile and do, truly, donate the money.

I'm not sure what else I'm supposed to do to prove this, but am left feeling frustrated tonight and upset that I may loose sales because people suspect I'm lying.

When people are in such dire need of urgent help, I find myself jumping through hoops designed by others, and which slow the whole process down. Clarity is hard to come across tonight in Etsy and there are a lot of other shop owners feeling the same way.

My heart is heavy.