Want to start a business selling for charity

[dixiedragon]

Has anybody done this? I would like to donate 50% of my sales to charity. I don't want to make a profit, I just hope to cover most of my costs, raise some money for the charity, and also make room in my house for more soap!

 

[Earthen_Step]

http://foundationcenter.org/getstarted/tutorials/establish/check.html

The above link might help some. I haven't looked into it much so I cant really help. Do some searches like "starting a nonprofit organization in (whatever state/nation)".

Hopefully someone on the board has some great details for you, until then hopefully that helps some.

 

[cpacamper]

Are you wanting to cover your costs, then donate your profit?

 

[snappyllama]

That is a great idea! Let us know how it goes. One day when I finish farming out the kids and get good enough at soaping, I would love to devote my energy into something like that.

 

[cmzaha]

My daughter does such quite regularly. At the moment working on getting something going with a huge women's shelter here. When we do the charity we set up a page on our site and products just for the charity sales. Not all products on our site are included in our fundraising.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Again I would suggest that you make sure your soaps are priced to the market - for one thing it means more money for the charity and also less damage to other soapers in the area

 

[dixiedragon]

My plan is to charge $4 a bar - that's about the going rate at craft sales, etc here. I plan to donate 50% of all sales - my idea is to work with a few different charities and people could choose which charity when they make their purchase. My choices at the moment are Cavalier Rescue USA (I posted pics of my Cavalier themed soaps in another thread), the ASPCA, and 3 Hots and a Cot - an organization that helps homeless veterans.

 

[cpacamper]

dixiedragon, if you are in the US?

In general for income tax purposes, the cash charitable contributions should be reported as an itemized deduction on Schedule A of your personal tax return (assuming your are not incorporated as a C corporation).

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

My plan is to charge $4 a bar - that's about the going rate at craft sales, etc here. I plan to donate 50% of all sales - my idea is to work with a few different charities and people could choose which charity when they make their purchase. My choices at the moment are Cavalier Rescue USA (I posted pics of my Cavalier themed soaps in another thread), the ASPCA, and 3 Hots and a Cot - an organization that helps homeless veterans.

I'd suggest all profits going to charity rather than a set 50% - if at the start your costs per bar are $2.20, you're giving $0.20 to charity yourself for every bar sold. When you are selling so many that you're buying in bulk, your costs go down to $1.50 and you're making $0.50 even after giving the $2 to the charity.

I do love the idea that they can choose from a range of charities. In a certain supermarket in the UK they give you a token when you spend a certain amount and there are a number of different boxes that you can put it in to, each one for a different charity. The supermarket then donates accordingly.

 

[SplendorSoaps]

I plan to donate 50% of all sales - my idea is to work with a few different charities and people could choose which charity when they make their purchase. My choices at the moment are Cavalier Rescue USA (I posted pics of my Cavalier themed soaps in another thread), the ASPCA, and 3 Hots and a Cot - an organization that helps homeless veterans.

Dixiedragon, what a lovely idea! I like to have a choice of where my donation money goes, and I think a lot of people feel that way. What a wonderful endeavor for you to take on!

 

[boyago]

For those of you who are not as altruistic as donating all of your profit but still care about things, I have a friend who makes jewelry and sells at fairs and things. She donates a dollar with every sale to food banks and posts a little sign on her stand. $1 buys two pounds of food. She started this just to do and found her sales picked up after posting the sign.

 

[cmzaha]

For those of you who are not as altruistic as donating all of your profit but still care about things, I have a friend who makes jewelry and sells at fairs and things. She donates a dollar with every sale to food banks and posts a little sign on her stand. $1 buys two pounds of food. She started this just to do and found her sales picked up after posting the sign.

This is similiar to what we do on our site. We do not pretend to donate all profit. Although I do not have signage at my fairs

 

[dixiedragon]

I'd suggest all profits going to charity rather than a set 50% - if at the start your costs per bar are $2.20, you're giving $0.20 to charity yourself for every bar sold. When you are selling so many that you're buying in bulk, your costs go down to $1.50 and you're making $0.50 even after giving the $2 to the charity.

I do love the idea that they can choose from a range of charities. In a certain supermarket in the UK they give you a token when you spend a certain amount and there are a number of different boxes that you can put it in to, each one for a different charity. The supermarket then donates accordingly.

I see what you're saying, but 1) since I want to do different charities, I'd have to calculate the profit of each order. I plan on offering soap, lotion, lipbalm, etc, so for each item it would be different. 2) I think that people will like knowing "If I buy $20 dollars here, $10 goes to charity" vs not knowing the exact amount that is being donated.

I don't mind it if some of the donation come out of my own pocket, and if this really takes off and there's actually profit after donating 50%, that can go towards expenses.

 

[boyago]

This is similiar to what we do on our site. We do not pretend to donate all profit. Although I do not have signage at my fairs

Hey Carolyn, I am forgetting which co you run. Are you guys the Keep the change at checkout people? For autism kids? I love the keep the change option when available. I know I should check out the charities more than I do but I usually give in when that option is available. Unless the charity sounds supper vague or nefarious sounding.