Craft Fair Fundraisers

by Karen & Jim
(Mohrsville, PA)

A lot of crafters today are getting into making & selling their crafts as a way to make money due to job loss and the economy and they're actually trying to build a business by showing at craft fairs.

My husband and I started showing at craft fairs earlier this year also to promote his custom crafts (www.jimscustomcrafts.com).

Craft Fair Fundraiser Events take a little bit of organization to set up but the end result is a lot of fun, meeting new people and raising funds.

First, you need a place for people to set up. If you have a space you can use or lease cheap, charge $10-$15 per 8ft. table/space.

It's usually best to have a place that can accommodate indoor/outdoor in case of inclement weather and has electric service.

Once you know how many spaces are available, advertise heavily so you...

1. Get enough vendors;


2. Get enough visitors!

Event Lister is one of the main online services where vendors go to find places to set up.

Be sure to advertise to the local community with email, newsletters, flyers, and local newspaper ads.

Make sure the organization participates by having baked goods, sandwiches & drinks set up to sell too.

Ask each vendor to donate one of their items and sell raffle tickets to raffle off the items later in the day.

Once the show kicks off, the organizers should visit each vendor personally with special pamphlets or brochures about the organization and pick up a business card at each table to add them to a special mailing list or follow up with a thank you letter for participating in the event.

If you get enough crafters to set up and they all have a great day because lots and lots of people showed up, the vendors would be more than happy to participate in another event and it could even become an annual fundraising event!

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Rob's Note:

This is a great idea and I'd recommend you keep one table spare to sell your own fundraising items and products off it.

You should have your organization Apparel from your SSA Apparel store available at your table plus other products like Fundraising Cookbooks, etc.

You can design and make your fundraising Cookbooks here.

Grab this Free Fundraising Product Guide to see what other products you could use or sell.

And as always I highly recommend you read as many books on running Fundraising Events and also the Instant Fundraising Event System, to get the most from all your events!