diy/crafty/zine ideas for fundraising
Feb. 18th, 2008 10:25 pmI'm applying to the KaosPilot social enterprise school in Denmark, and I'm looking for creative fundraising ideas to cover my costs (mainly tuition and travel). I’m a fan of zines and crafts, and while I'm not actually very crafty - I’ve made a few things (fashion, zines, mail art, the odd trinket) but I’m more of a amateur hobbyist than a professional - I would like to incorporate the zine/craft worlds into my fundraising though.
Zines
- Making and selling a zine - though I’m not yet in the school, so I don’t know what to make a zine of. The application process?
- Distroing and selling zines - I could try to sell some Australian/Asian zines to overseas buyers, though I’m not sure where to get people to contribute. How much should I charge and how much goes back to the zinester?
- Selling my zine collection - I know this is particularly controversial amongst zinesters, though I think I could get a little bit out of it. Perhaps the bigger book-zines would work better. Any way to do this ethically, or am I better off donating this to the local youth center (which has a great zine library)?
- Holding a zine workshop - a little more process-intensive, but doable, perhaps with a gold coin (AUD1 and AUD2) donation
Crafts
- Craft fair, with proceeds and portion of profits going to my cause
- Making something to sell, though I’m at a loss for what I could make that people are willing to buy. I’m thinking of making a few bat plushies, but I’ve never made them before so I don’t know if they’re any good. Felt badges/pins/etc are easy but it’d be a ripoff of other people’s ideas (I learnt how to make them from another craftster). Am playing around with custom “Do Not Disturb” door hangars, but need a good printer. I also got some custom badges made for uni which were really cool - time to work out collaborations with a badgemaker to make & sell them on my behalf!
- Craft workshops, like the zine workshop above
- A Craft-a-noon, with gold cold donation for entry. I’ve been to a Craft-a-noon in Brisbane (are they still on??) and it was great fun, and it would be a great way to meet people. Need an incentive for people to pay, though
- Distroing crafts, just like the zine idea
As far as distroing - I wonder if it’s possible to sell things on commission, or something like commission. I scout out for crafty things I like (I’ve bought plenty on Etsy so I have a list) and promote them on this blog. Any proceeds/profits from sales (say a small percentage) goes back to me. It’d be like the Amazon Associates program, because I choose what goes in the shop based on my preferences, not based on who would give me tons of money. Is this workable? Ethical? Has anyone done this?
Selling localized versions of Samplers would be good as I’m supporting local crafts, though sourcing them would take some time and I’ve already caused some drama about ownership of business ideas so may have to steer away from this one…
What else could I do?