selling cards - cancer research

sunrise27_2

my husband and I have a very smal business making handmade cards - we will never be millionaires from it but we do sell about £650 a year.
I would like to design a range of cards that if bought a donate a certain percentage to cancer research - its only a thought at the moment but how would i go about it
I've been thinking of this for a while but now my Aunt has just been diagnosed with cancer its really something I would like to look into more
I also need a name for the range of cards - I would quite like to have a connection to my Aunt in some way. When I use her name it doesn't sound quite right, she lives in Inverkip and I woke up this morning with Inverkip cards in my head but can I use a place name like that I'm not sure that I can ???

paddyrg

Talk to the cancer charity, they will be pleased for the donations but may not want you using their name as a sales promotional tool unless the percentages are right (eg adding CRUK logo but only giving a penny a card, but selling twice as many as you would have because of the logo). Also, why not find local charities in the same sector who might benefit and make a more lasting partnership.

No problem using a placename unless you breach someone else's trademark, or the locality protects the identity. Eg Cheddar cheese isn't all made in Cheddar.

sunrise27_2

thank you for replying
I am waiting to hear from cancer research
off the top of my head I was thinking of donating 50p from every card sold in the new range to them

sunrise27_2

and we sell approx 650 cards a year at the moment not £650 not sure how that jumped in lol

easyhost

sunrise27 wrote: »

and we sell approx 650 cards a year at the moment not £650 not sure how that jumped in lol

well depends on your costs

cost of card, accessories and envelopes
cost of time to make a card

then what are you selling them for less the above

= profit per card x 650

then what would it cost to make the charity cards and what would you sell these for.
better off contacting a local cancer charity rather than the national body

paddyrg

Why not sell the charity ones at 100% of the profit to the charity, then your own non-charity ones alongside? Keeps it very clear, and shows a pure intent.

sunrise27_2

thats more or less the idea paddyrg - we would keep going as usual with our normal cards and have a special range where the profit made would go to cancer research
I've contated a photographer friend of mine to ask if he would be willing to donate a couple of his photos to use for the charity range and was aslo thinking of asking my cousin to maybe take some photos of the area in scotland where they live and maybe use those
all ideas at the moment but something I'm very keen to do

easyhost

sunrise27 wrote: »

thats more or less the idea paddyrg - we would keep going as usual with our normal cards and have a special range where the profit made would go to cancer research
I've contated a photographer friend of mine to ask if he would be willing to donate a couple of his photos to use for the charity range and was aslo thinking of asking my cousin to maybe take some photos of the area in scotland where they live and maybe use those
all ideas at the moment but something I'm very keen to do

another idea, contact a local hospice that cares for cancer patience and see if you could use their logo etc. and in return give them 100% of the profit but also give them a selection that they may be able to sell to the family members of their patience

Savvy_Sue

Can I just suggest with my small brain that it would probably be easier to give a fixed sum per card sole or a fixed % of the price of each card sold, rather than the 'whole' profit or some % of the profit?

My reasoning goes thusly:

• you create and make a new range of cards. you know what your materials cost, you know what your time cost, you know what your envelopes cost, thus you know your profit to the penny.
• BUT you don't make all that profit until they are all sold, do you?
• And when you are running low of that range, you either do a new run of the same cards, or some new cards. Either way, you are introducing new costs, and a new cut-off point at which you start to make a profit.
• So do you wait until all cards are sold before you pass on any profit? And when you introduce new cards, do you change the % passed to the charity?

I could be missing something vital here: I don't have any experience of this kind of thing, it just seems possible it could get messy.

Whereas if you say "50p from each card sold from this range goes to XYZ charity" then all (all!) you have to do is keep track of how many of that range you sell.

Or if you say "25% of the cost of each card sold from this range goes to XYZ charity" then again, all (all!) you have to do is keep track of how many of that range you sell at what price.

But you do need to get permission from a charity to use their name, so that is good advice. And I agree that smaller / local charities may be easier to work with: the big charities may have their own ranges of cards and not want competition.

As for Inverkip Cards: lovely name! Can you phone the library / post office / local council and see if anyone is already trading on the name locally?

sunrise27_2

savvy sue that is just the sort of thing I was thinking of x 50p per card would be a good amount I think
I will wait to see what cancer research say and go from ther
if the answer is no how do I find a charity more local to me - I'm assuming there must be a list somewhere ???
would cancer research not be grateful to receive any donations or am i just being naive

Savvy_Sue

They would be grateful to receive any donations, but IF YOU ARE USING THEIR NAME you must ask their permission.

So if you say "50p from the sale of each card goes to cancer charities" that's fine.

If you say "50p from the sale of each card goes to XYZ cancer charity" you need their permission, so that they can a) check they get the money and b) check you're not increasing your sales because people want to support them, while doing something which could reflect badly on them.