Consider Knitting For Charity

Knitting For Charities

Crafts can range from a simple ornament to canning your own vegetables or making your own clothes. If you want to give back to your community or to people in need, One of the ways this is possible is through crafting. You can choose a charity and send packages of crafts, which may be distributed to people in need. You can also get involved in craft making in order to sell your items and donate the proceeds to charity. There are a number of ways you can give back through crafts. This article will tell you how to make crafts for charity.

Plan Your Program

Choose your craft. Although in some situations you may need to expand your crafting repertoire, the best and most efficient way to contribute crafts to someone in need is to do what you already know. For example, a quilt guild may make quilts and jewelry makers should choose to make jewelry.

Try doing an Internet search that includes your craft and "for charity" in the search terms. This will give you examples of charities and what other people have done.

Go to http://craftbits.com/crafts/charity or http://craftforcharity.com/charities and look at the list of organizations that accept and make crafts for people in need. You can find an organization that aligns with your craft and the part of society you would like to help.

Before donating crafts or money to a charity, ensure that it is authentic. You can check this at http://charitynavigator.org.
Ask your friends or crafting group if they would like to join you in giving to charity. Many groups like to dedicate 1 month each year or a few weekends to making crafts to send to an organization they support. The more people who get involved, the more help you will be.

Consider creating a group that crafts for charity that includes teenagers or elderly people. A charity crafting class could be a mother/daughter operation, or it could take place at a retirement community. Many elderly people knit, crochet or embroider and may be interested in meeting with people who are of a different generation.

Get instructions from the charity of your choice before beginning. Most charities have instructions about the sizes of the crafts that are made, the materials and, in some cases, the patterns. Although most crafters love to be creative, make sure you are doing it within the confines of these instructions.

Ask a local craft store if they want to donate supplies. Corporate responsibility leads many large stores to look for charities to support, while local small businesses may enjoy both the ethical and marketing benefits of donating materials to a charity crafting group.

In most cases it is unlikely that all materials would be donated. You should expect to have to buy some materials. If you have a group, then you can share the burden of costs as well as time creating the project

Rotate your charitable crafts. For example, October is breast cancer awareness month, so you could contribute to a charity and use pink material, and December is AIDS awareness month, so a red craft for an AIDS charity might be preferable. You can increase your craft knowledge while contributing to a number of charities.

Create your own ties to organizations in your community who need crafts. If you want to keep your support local, then brainstorm local non-profit organizations who could use your help.

 Some of the following ideas may be a good place to start:

Make cloth diapers for local women's shelters. You can also make baby blankets, children's toys, baby socks and hats. These can be sent in kits or individually to expecting or new mothers who are in need.

Create quilts for the fire department or police department. You can create simple quilts to be handed out to people who have had car accidents or who've had a fire. They will help people in shock and be a comfort that they can keep through hard times.

Can, grow or make foods for the local food bank. Approach your local food bank to find out what foods are permissible. They most likely have to follow state food preparation standards. They may be able to direct you to other group homes or centers that are in need of prepared food

Charity Craft Sales

Hold a craft sale where all the proceeds go to charity. This is a great idea if you want to donate to a charity but they only take monetary donations. There are no limits to what each person who crafts can bring to the event to sell, so be as creative as possible.

Most radio stations, television stations and newspapers will run ads at no-cost or a cut rate for charity events. Make sure to promote your event, so that you sell all your crafts. Create posters and put them up all around your town. Many businesses are happy to put charity announcements in their stores.

Ask for donations from local quilt guilds, knitting bees, jewelry-making groups and other crafting classes. They may want to offer some goods for sale to benefit your cause.

Ask a public area, such as a parking lot or an auditorium if they are willing to let you have your craft sale at no cost in their location. You want to choose a place that is easily accessible to the public.

There are a large amount of charities that take homemade quilts or blankets. If you are an avid crafter or a beginner, this is a great way to start. These can be small or large (baby blankets to comfort quilts), and you may be able to use material from your own craft stash.