Impressions - Team & Spirit Apparel - Spring 2015 - 20

The specific examples provided
below are targeting middle
school and high school groups
and activities:
* Sports teams, which often need to raise money for equipment,
uniforms, tournaments and travel
* School programs and activities, such as dance, choir, band and
orchestra
* Groups and clubs, such as the Drama Club, Spanish Club, Journalism
Club and Photography Club
* Graduating classes like Kindergarten, 8th and 12th grades
* Class, team, group and club travel trips
* Special events, such as themed dances, proms and homecoming
* Student government, STUCO, Spirit days, Junior week, Senior week
* PTA, PTO, and other parent groups and their special projects

THE OLD OUTCOME
You had to do a lot of work and planning to
maximize revenues for your charity, cause,
school, club or team. If you positioned
everything correctly, you could raise a
large amount of money - certainly more
than the standard 12%-20% of the sales
that is typical for fundraising products.
Other benefits were delivering products
with purpose that had lasting value, which
would continue to build awareness for
the cause and increase team spirit or help
build a sense of community.

HOW IT COULD
WORK TODAY
A lot has changed since 2009: fabrics, decorating techniques, embellishments, graphic
trends, and don't forget social media and
online tools. Think about it: Open registration for Facebook and Twitter was only 3
years old in 2009. Pinterest and Instagram
weren't even born yet.
Raising money and awareness for causes
also has dramatically changed. Specifically,
the three biggest differences are:
20 * Spring 2015

1. The platforms and technology used
in websites
2. The development of online designers
3. The speed and scope of social media.
To illustrate these major new developments, let's take a look at some industryspecific companies that can help make
this process simpler for apparel decorators
and small businesses. There is a significant amount of new technology from two
companies who are visible and active in
our industry: DecoNetwork (deconetwork.
com) and InkSoft (inksoft.com).
Both companies understand graphics
and decorated apparel, and make it easier
for your customers to buy from you. They
provide specific online tools, platforms and
websites to help you sell preprinted and ondemand merchandise. Rather than creating a fl ier, you can create an e-commerce
affi liate web store optimized for the promotion and sale of decorated apparel.
Another impressive example of how
technology can make a positive impact on
fundraising is website Ink to the People
(inktothepeople.com), Th is is a company

* Ink to the People shows how selling
custom T-shirts can really make a
difference to a charity or organization.

that is dedicated to "cause marketing." It
has heavily invested in developing its own
platform and website, and is on a mission
to "give charity a wardrobe change."
I recently spoke to Marshall Atkinson,
one of the key members of the management team, and he emphasized that this
is a "zero-risk" way to start a fundraising program. "Almost everything is taken
care of for you," he says. You have a website instead of a fl ier and order form. The
company takes care of the ordering, inventory, production, collecting the funds and
shipping the fi nal products. It only starts
production if the campaign meets a predetermined goal. The only thing you really
need to focus on is spreading the word and
promoting the cause.
One of the most notable examples
Atkinson shared was the "Boston Strong"
campaign. "After the tragic bombing of
the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013,
a couple of college kids, Nick Reynolds
and Christopher Dobens, felt the desire
to help victims," he says. "They used Ink
to the People's website to start a small

http://www.deconetwork.com http://www.deconetwork.com http://www.inksoft.com http://www.inktothepeople.com

Impressions - Team & Spirit Apparel - Spring 2015

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