Merchandising

Is the charity-wristband trend making a comeback? Figures from the four charities selling the new Unity band for World Cancer Day (WCD) suggest it might be. For some of the charities, online stock of the bands sold out by Feb. 8, four days after this year’s WCD on Feb. 4. After selling 670,000 Unity bands…

No matter the mission, size or location of the organization, nonprofit professionals always are looking for ways to increase their fundraising numbers and invest more dollars into making the world a better, safer place. One way to do that is through nonprofit merchandising. With the technologies at every organization’s disposal these days, there’s no shortage of ways nonprofits can incorporate merchandising into their plans...

As both a fundraiser and awareness piece for the SAAGNY Foundation, Rhonda Blum created and sold custom-decorated tumblers from Gordon Sinclair for $10 apiece. The mugs carried 12 co-sponsor decorations on them, each sold for between $75 and $100, and were sold at various SAAGNY and SAAGNY Foundation events.

In the June 2009 cover story, "Safety Line," former FS Associate Editor Abny Santicola explained how for-profit ventures help nonprofits shore up the funding they need to maintain and expand their programs — even in stormy economic times.

Some U.S. charities need to attract private investors and turn a profit instead of relying on donations to tackle the country's woes, experts say.

Charities should operate more like businesses by becoming social enterprises to shore up revenue after the worst U.S. recession in decades sparked a fall in giving, they told a panel at New York University's Heyman Center for Philanthropy.

These are still grim times for many nonprofit organizations.

And then there's Goodwill Industries of Greater Detroit, a $22 million "business that happens to be a nonprofit," President Lorna Utley, a former General Motors Co. executive, told me this week. "About half of our revenue is earned. Very little of ours is philanthropic. A lot of our sources (for revenue) are changing."

Because they have to.

A recent report by the Johns Hopkins Listening Post Project, Nonprofits, Innovation, and Performance Measurement: Separating Fact From Fiction, reveals that there are widespread efforts in U.S. nonprofits to innovate. Driving that point home is the recent phenomenon of nonprofit restaurants.

WASHINGTON, November 18, 2009 — Many people are cutting back on gift-buying, parties and travel this holiday season, but support for charitable giving remains strong as people believe it is more important this year to give to charities because of the economy, according to a new national survey for the American Red Cross.

Creating a campaign centered around the sale of holiday ornaments is a win-win for your organization and your constituents that can help you generate additional revenue and exposure for your cause. The United States Capitol Historical Society, an organization dedicated to promoting the history of our nation’s Capitol and Congress, has designed an annual Capitol-themed holiday tree ornament — which it sells in its gift shop and online — since the 1980s. The society offers discounts on its ornaments to corporate and association sustaining members of 15 percent to 25 percent, depending on their level of membership, says Diana E. Wailes, vice president

 Face it … life is not a Bob Hope movie. And just as a family of adorable tots can’t really make it in show business anymore by punching the air and yelling, “Let’s put on a show,” gone too are the days of, “Let’s have a catalog!” in the not-for-profit world. Having a merchandising program is one way for many nonprofits to raise unrestricted funds and to reach donors and prospects at a time when their mailboxes — both physical and virtual — are crammed with