Fundraiser Jewelry Shows:
A Win-Win Prospect!

© by Rena Klingenberg; all rights reserved

Putting on your own fundraiser jewelry shows is an easy and wonderful way to profit from your art, acquire new customers, and help others at the same time. Usually you contact an organization and work out the details, then set up the show and sell your work, and finally donate a pre-arranged percentage of sales (usually 10% to 20%, depending on your profit margin) to the organization.

Now, before you think, “Hey, I don’t want to give up 10% or more of my sales!”, remember that with fundraiser jewelry shows, you won’t have any booth fee or competition from other jewelers! :o)

And unlike booth fees at regular shows, your donation when you do jewelry fundraisers is nearly always tax-deductible!!!

You will likely make better-than-usual sales, too. A major benefit to both you and your charity is that shoppers feel good knowing that part of their purchase price is going to a good cause, so they buy more generously than they normally would. And you’ll feel good for helping a good cause too, instead of having your booth fee go into a show promoter's pocket. All in all, fundraiser jewelry shows are great money for you, and give you some wonderful, positive publicity!

There are abundant opportunities for fundraiser jewelry shows. Nearly any organization you can think of—schools, synagogues, churches, hospitals, retirement homes, sports teams, band / orchestra, scholarship programs, children’s charities, halfway houses, foundations, and other nonprofit organizations—will welcome you to put on a fundraiser in their honor!

Each organization I’ve helped with a fundraiser jewelry show has been so pleased with the way things worked out, that they’ve asked me to come back to do it again any time I want. They help me with the advertising and publicity, provide tables for my displays, and generally bend over backwards to help me have the most successful shows possible. They know they’ll receive a great donation if the jewelry artist has a great show!

When you do a fundraiser jewelry show, the organization you're donating to is usually so happy to have you doing a benefit for them that they either will do everything possible to help you, or will give you carte blanche to do anything you want, anywhere you want. And when they receive your donation, they are so thrilled that they want you to come back and do it again sometime!

If you know someone in the organization you're doing the benefit for, you can talk to them and try to set up the event through them, or have them recommend you to the "decision making" person of the organization. For this meeting, you want to look like this benefit will be a successful and professional event, so it helps to dress up a little. And of course you should wear a tasteful amount of some of your best jewelry creations, too (different jewelry for each meeting with them) for eye candy, so this person—and others in the organization who see you—can be spreading the word about the jewelry you'll be selling there!

Also for this meeting, have a supply of your business cards ready, and a one-page flyer or brochure that has appealing pictures of your work and an upbeat list of the benefits to them of having this show. It's best if your flyer has good, clear pictures of your jewelry - see Tips for Photographing Jewelry.

Agree on what your benefit donation will be. Sometimes it's some jewelry that they can auction off or use for another purpose, other times it's a percentage of your sales (where I live, 20% of the profits - which is a better sounding way of saying 10% of the gross sales - seems to make everyone happy).

You may also want to consider selling a line of charity jewelry and donating part or all of the proceeds from it.

Set a date, time, and length of the show. Using a date that's on or near the organization's payday is good, and so is combining your show with another event that will already have a crowd--like a football game, play, open house, etc.

Determine who provides tables for your booth, and where the event will be. Make sure you will be in a spot where people can see something interesting is going on, and that there will be plenty of room for a lot of customers around your booth. Check out the event area ahead of time with this contact person, so you can see if you will have any special needs like electricity, more space, or whatever.

When the basic details are settled, you should protect both parties by writing up a simple, one-page proposal outlining what's expected of you and of them, and be sure you each have a copy.

None of this process is difficult at all, and organizing the event isn't really very time-consuming either. The first one you do will probably be a great learning experience, and after that one, you'll already have templates on your computer for making the brochure, flyers, proposal/contract, press release, etc. to make things even faster next time.

As you set up this event, keep track of everyone you contact along the way to make the arrangements, plus their email and phone numbers, and make a brief list of everything you did to organize it. That way, when they invite you to do another benefit event for them, you can breeze right through organizing it!

Once you've done one benefit show, you can tell other future organizations about the successful benefit you did for XYZ organization.

I can’t overstate how important it is for you to

Be sure they understand that advertising and promoting the event are essential; simply deciding to have a show doesn’t bring customers, and without customers, there are no sales!

One great, easy way to be guaranteed of all the customers you can handle is to add your fundraiser jewelry show to another event that will already have a crowd—such as a football game, band concert, soccer championship, PTA meeting, etc. And be sure your show has been advertised beforehand to the crowd so they will be prepared with checkbooks and credit cards!

Also determine who will responsible for advertising the fundraiser jewelry show--sometimes you, sometimes the organization, or more often both of you. Suggest that they also advertise the event in their newsletter if they have one, and that they put notices in all employees’ mailboxes.

See if the organization is able to put a sign out in front of their building or on their marquee (if they have one), advertising the event to the public.

Make attractive, one-page flyers or invitations advertising your fundraiser jewelry show, and on these be sure to stress in large type that it's a benefit, and who will receive the donation. If the show will be a great time for people to shop for Christmas, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, etc., be sure to emphasize this too. Don’t forget to put the date, time, and place of the show on your flyer!

If the organization is printing and distributing the flyers, get a master of your flyer to them as soon as possible. If you are responsible for printing, find out how many of these flyers the organization will need and get these to them.

If the event is open to the public, email or send one of the flyers to everyone on your customer list.

Email a press release to your local newspaper with the details of the event and include a jpg photo of your jewelry just in case they have the space to add a photo next to the article, or have the organization do this part. Be sure to save a copy of this article after it's published so you can impress future organizations with your experience in doing fundraiser jewelry shows!

Above is a copy of a newspaper blurb on a fundraiser jewelry show I organized - published from a press release I sent in to the local newspaper. A huge percentage of our customers at that show told us, "I came to this show because I read about it in the paper."

It's not hard to add other vendors to your benefit shows. Invite friends who sell handcrafts or represent companies such as Pampered Chef, Mary Kay, Stamping Up, Home Interiors, etc. Also ask everyone you know for recommendations of people they know of who sell things. These other vendors will all donate on the same scale you are

Have them spread the word about the benefit show to all their customers, friends, and family members too. A side benefit to you of adding other vendors to the show is that each vendor (including you) will be promoting the event to their customers and mailing list. So you'll be bringing all kinds of new customers to each other.

Tell your contact person at the organization how many vendors there will be, as far ahead of the event as possible, so they can be ready for the size of group you will have.

The day after the benefit event, hand-deliver your donation check to the person at the organization who helped you set up the event. Enclose the check inside a thank-you card, and include your business card. Tell them how much you enjoyed working with them and how happy you are to be able to donate to their organization. Let them know you're looking forward to doing future fundraiser jewelry shows for them, or for other organizations they may know of!

Get a receipt for your donation check if possible, for tax purposes. You don’t want to miss this deduction! (Check with your accountant to be absolutely sure you can claim this deduction.)

I always find that the positive energy generated by putting on fundraiser jewelry shows triggers all kinds of other positive events and coincidences. I hope you’ll have the same wonderful experience!

To me the best thing of all is giving the organization a nice donation check after the event. Selling your jewelry and helping others at the same time . . . you can't beat that!

Here are related articles on different ways to put on your own successful jewelry shows:

Fundraising and Donating with Your Jewelry Business.

Jewelry Home Party Success Tips
How to make maximum profits selling your jewelry at a jewelry home party. How to keep booking more parties. Alternative jewelry home parties.

Great Jewelry Home Party Invitations
How to create tempting jewelry home party invitations that bring in a high percentage of guests.

Write an Irresistible Jewelry Home Party Brochure
How to write a strong jewelry home party brochure that makes potential hostesses say, "yes!" to a jewelry home party.

Fundraiser Jewelry Shows
How to put on your own fundraiser jewelry shows--an easy and wonderful way to profit from your art, acquire new customers, and help others at the same time.

I wish you much success with your fundraiser jewelry shows.

Return to top of Fundraiser Jewelry Shows.

Discover more tips for profitable Jewelry Home Parties.

Learn more about other types of Jewelry Shows.

Return to Home Jewelry Business Success Tips home page.