[theforum] schwag, publicity, fundraising

Erika ekm at seastorm.com
Sat Dec 20 23:44:16 CST 2008


I'd like to be more proactive about schwag.  Some of the survey feedback 
has come back saying that we don't market ourselves enough, something I 
tend to agree with.

I tried to order a t-shirt from cafepress a few months ago and had my 
credit card turned down for no known reason. No one else ordered 
anything from cafepress in 2008.

Also, I don't think our profit margin is very big on cafepress gear. We 
could likely double our profit margin by selling limited amounts of 
limited designs on our own.  When we sell out of one thing, we can order 
something new.

I've got an order pending with a t-shirt company for a simple black 
evolt.org logo outlined on a heather grey shirt. (logo is 5"x2" on 
front... 36 shirts... I was going to do the tagwear but it's a bit too 
expensive up front..)  If no one objects I'd like to order them, promote 
them, and after I recover my costs, send the profit to evolt.org.

It would be nice to promote these in our donate block similar to how ALA 
has promoted shirts in the past.

I've received samples from stickerrobot and they offer an extra 500 
stickers for ordering in December.  I've ordered them as well.  5"x2" 
vinyl stickers.

Here's my personal plan for stickers.  In Portland, there are several 
"techie hangouts" -- these are bars where people gather, certain 
coffeeshops, and places like cubespace where you can rent 
meeting/workspace for working or meeting with clients.  I want to leave 
the stickers in these spots, and/or just give them out.

In addition, if anyone orders a t-shirt, I'd throw a few stickers in, 
too.  It would also be nice to send stickers to donors as a "thank you."

It's unfortunate to have missed Christmas season for -shirts, but I know 
that some folks in the US get tax returns in the spring and might have 
some cash to spend at that time.

Let me know what you think.

Erika






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