fundraising on CafePress

I'm not a caregiver. I'm not a nurturer. I am not good at hugs, or finding the right thing to say to someone who has lost a loved one or who is watching them battle cancer for possibly the last time. I'm simply horrible at that stuff.

So what I do instead, is try to raise money with online fundraising. One thing I don't have a problem with, is spamming my friends and family with my cancer fundraiser store links.

Making money to fight cancer

It's working. I have been successful beyond my expectations. When I raised my first $100, donated to the 2006 Relay, I was cautiously hopeful I could raise $500 to donate in 2007. Then, Google found my shop. Fellow shopkeepers linked to me. Other fundraising sites sent customers my way. October's Breast Cancer Awareness Month promotion was a huge boon to sales.

Funds raised (cumulative):
$392.55 (as of 10/1/06, payable 10/15/06; sales thru 8/31/06)
$538.51 (as of 11/1/06, payable 11/15/06; sales thru 9/30/06)
$716.32 (as of 12/1/06, payable 12/15/06; sales thru 10/31/06)
$1,274.93 (as of 1/1/07, payable 1/15/07; sales thru 11/30/06)
$1,479.97 (as of 2/1/07, payable 2/15/07; sales thru 12/31/06)

To allow for customer refunds/exchanges covered by their satisfaction guarantee, it takes at least 45 days after a sale before your markup 'clears' and is payable to you, and then checks are mailed the 15th of the month for whatever you'd cleared on the 1st of that month. That's why there is a 60 day gap in the dates above.

So, I need to raise an additional $527 by the end of March to meet my goal of $2,007 by 1-May, to get a check sent on 15-May. Will it happen? Please help spread the word, share the shop link, and I know it will.

Yeah, right, like I could do it too

There was no cash investment. Just time, some simple designs, a little effort, a bit of a learning curve in figuring CafePress out, but nothing significant for someone pretty familiar with the Internet.

Open a store. Basic shops are free. Premium shops start at around $6 a month. (CafePress might upgrade your Basic shop to Premium if you are raising funds for charity. They're still making money.) Check out the community forums at CafePress ... the answers you're looking for are right there, with input from actual shopkeepers using the software along with you. User tips are the best, and easiest to follow. Don't skip this step; I could have saved hours of effort by learning the shortcuts from the veterans first.