Business Development: Let's Talk Pricing, Part 5
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- Last Updated: Monday, 10 August 2015 18:16
Business Development: Let's Talk Pricing, Part 5 - by Teddy Wright, Education Director
Fundraising and Not-For-Profit Organizations
Customer #4: I work at a not-for-profit organiation and we are doing our annual auction in May. Can you donate a party? We will put your name in our brochure and you will get exposure to 100 families.
Since we offer such a unique, fun product every school, pre-school, faith-based school, and not-for-profit organization will ask for a donation. There are numerous ways to say 'yes' and still make a profit.
First of all, always obtain a donation form and a Tax ID number for tax exempt organizations. Maintain this for your records and when filing your taxes. Depending on your locaiton, most of this can be deduct as a charitable contribution.
Here are a few ideas:
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Sell the Pottery: An alternative to giving a gift certificate for an auction item it to sell the pottery for the group to paint and use the item in a live auction. Discount the pottery and donate the glaze and firing fee. You still make a sale and your name goes in the brochure.
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Big Brothers/Big Sisters: Give a "2-for-1" studio fee and ask that your studio will be list as a perferred vendor on their website.
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Establish a flat fee for pottery based on quantity. As an example:
Mugs 20-50 qty $15/ea 51-100 qty $10/ea 101-150 qty $8/ea
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Tile Parties: Many organizations will paint tiles to make murals on walls. Set the organization up with colors, brushes, and samples. Let them run the event with a Tile Painting Party. You charge $5 per tile; they sell it for as much as they want. The profit is theirs. It is an excellent way to build community involvement and member participation and you still earn some money.
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Empty Bowls: There are many ways to run an empty bowl program. Teddy Wright at Al Fired Up in Kansas City, Missouri, recently worked with a church that guaranteed sales of 100 bowls. I sold it to them for a flat $10 per bowl. They held an event at the church for the congregation to paint bowls for the $10. Also, we picked three Friday nights for the congregation to come to my studio to paint the bowls. There were a lot of people that had never done PYOP before. I gained new customers for $0 in advertising. Then the bowls were auctioned off and they served soup on the bowls. Some people paid $15 for the meal and a bowl was included. The key is not to include a lot of your time and labor in the event.
Stay tuned for next month: "Do you sell your samples?"