Non-Profit Fundraising Ideas

The Tea Towel Fundraiser

This site is packed with non-profit fundraising ideas, but THIS has to be one of my favorites!

Popular in the UK, Canada and Australia - but still relatively unusual in the US - tea towel fundraisers (or dish towel fundraisers, depending on your terminology) are easy to organize, HIGHLY effective and produce wonderful commemorative keepsakes that your supporters will be HAPPY to buy!

What Is a Tea Towel Fundraiser?

A tea towel fundraiser is where you have members of your 'group' (pre-school, grade school, church, sport's team etc) collectively design, then sell, tea towels.

There are 2 approaches to doing this...

The less common is to purchase blank tea towels, then have your group members paint them using fabric paints or fabric dye sticks.

But the second option - easier, and far more lucrative! - is to have your tea towel (or dish towel) DESIGNED by members of your group, then printed in bulk by a company that specializes in doing so.

The process is straightforward and follows more or less the same format with every tea towel company...

• Distribute a piece of white paper and a black marker to every member of your group.
  
  
• Ask each member to provide some sort of design for the completed tea towel (see below for ideas).
  
  
• Collect all the members designs, include a title or logo, then send the whole lot to the tea towel printing company! You will usually be asked to specify things like colors and the type of border you'd like for the finished product.

The finished tea towels are then sent to you, ready to sell through your organization or at fundraising events.

Ideas for Decorating Your Tea Towels

• Pre-school students could each supply a hand print and teachers could add their names below.
  
  
• Grade school students could supply simple "self portraits" (see photograph below).
  
  
• High school students, sports team members etc could provide their signatures, perhaps accompanied by their personal "logos" or favorite quotes.
  
  
• Church members could provide their favorite verses in Scripture.
  
  
• Any organization could provide their group's favorite recipes - very appropriate for use on a tea towel!

Why Are Tea Towel Fundraisers One of My Favorite Non-Profit Fundraising Ideas?

Because they're just SO successful!

Unlike some fundraising items, which supporters tend to buy purely to "help a good cause" without actually WANTING the item they're purchasing, people really LOVE to buy these commemorative tea towels.

Particularly effective for pre-schools and schools in general, these tea towels make amazing gifts and parents tend to order several at a time. After all, what grandparent/aunt/uncle/family friend etc could fail to love a tea towel featuring a handprint or hand drawn self portrait of a little person they love?

In fact, I STILL have one made by my daughter's school when she was 5 (above)... and she's 19 now!

What's more, they're lightweight and small in size, so they're easy to post to recipients far away - another factor that can increase sales significantly.

If you'd like to get started with a tea towel fundraiser for YOUR non-profit organization, here are some great resources...

Expressions (Australia)

Countryside Art (UK)

Creative Tea Towels (Canada/US)

Where would you like to go now?

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How to organize a heads or tails raffle

Candle fundraising ideas

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