Here for Good: Fundraising for Community & Unity Marketing Framework

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With all the chaos unfolding in every corner of our country — every corner of our world — the significance of communities banding together has never been greater.

For all intents and purposes, we are at war. Our healthcare system is under attack. Our economy is under attack. Our first responders, the doctors, and nurses on the frontlines, are under attack.

The enemy might be invisible, but it’s persistent.

And even though local businesses aren’t its primary focus, they’re getting seriously harmed as a  byproduct of the assault.

Standing together in the face of adversity

Whether you’re located in Sacramento, California or Lincoln, Nebraska, in the plains of Alabama or in the Rockies of Colorado, you all belong to something.

You all belong to a community.

And no matter how different your communities are, how uniquely your communities function, that thing that connects you to the people around you, to the region you call home, is special.

It’s sacred.

Small businesses are part of what defines that thing. The mosaic of local restaurants and retail shops, of service offerings and neighborhood venues, is what separates your community from the next one over.

So, when the operations of businesses in your area are interrupted, when their revenue streams are no longer feasible in this climate — that’s when it’s time for you to stand up.

Because standing up doesn’t just mean supporting a couple of businesses. It means supporting the community as you know and love it — and helping to maintain the big picture.

Intention becomes actionable

People around the world, right now, are coming to that conclusion. The conclusion that they need to do something.

Not just to ensure their own safety and stability — but to ensure the local businesses around them are getting the support they need.

We’re sure you feel that inclination, that call to action, too.

So, after some heavy brainstorming, we’ve come up with a route for you to turn that desire to help into action.

It’s simple. It’s crucial. And, in every instance it’s been implemented, it’s effective.

The breakdown

Imagine your favorite local business.

It could be a brick oven pizza restaurant, a neighborhood barbershop, a family-owned sporting goods store — whatever it is, it’s been impacted by the chaos.

Maybe it’s had to close, or it’s had to lay employees off, or it’s had to slow or stop all operations.

What we’re proposing is a way for local businesses — in every industry — to gain a new revenue stream.

How?

Through decorated apparel. Specifically, through custom branded t-shirts.

The first step? That brick oven pizza restaurant partners with a decorated apparel printer in its region.

The second step? The decorated apparel printer walks the pizza joint through designing its own custom t-shirt — digitally, of course. The shirt includes the name, the logo, the slogan — all of it.

The third step? The decorator inputs the t-shirt into an online store, where other local businesses in the pizza restaurant’s community are already having their own custom t-shirts showcased.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is it. That’s the program.

In three easy steps, the pizza restaurant has diversified its business. It’s made it easy for its customers to buy-in and help out.

All it has to do is let its customers know — hey, here’s a way you can support us.

Here’s a way you can help keep us afloat through these strange, uncertain times.

And guess what? Remember that inclination we mentioned before — the one to help out your community?

This is where that comes in. This is where community members, whether they eat, sleep, and breathe that pizza restaurant or whether it’s just a familiar awning, come in.

They buy a t-shirt. They share the store with their friends. And suddenly, it’s not just a few bucks the pizza joint is seeing in returns — it’s enough to amount to something real.

To something hopeful.

The big picture

With every $20 t-shirt sold, $10 will go to the local business — the pizza restaurant — and $10 will go to the decorated apparel business. (Which, by the way, is also a local business that’s hurting.)

That means that, for the price of one t-shirt, members of the community are supporting two local businesses.

With just a few clicks, they’re affecting change. And they don’t need to leave their couch, or their social distancing practice, to do it.

So, yes, money is earned. The local businesses will see profits. But more than just the cash, they’ll also stay alive in the minds of their customers.

Their brand won’t just be visible in their storefronts, they’ll be visible on their customers’ t-shirts — on their torsos.

Brand awareness doesn’t get more personal than that.

And, if every customer that shows support by purchasing a t-shirt tells their friends and family about the initiative, or posts a picture on social media and tags the local businesses involved — that’s brand awareness to the extreme.

All while spreading awareness for the community fundraising program that, at the end of the day, has the power to help businesses survive.

That’s it. That’s the proposal.

One custom t-shirt, one local business’s customer base, and a whole new way to turn profit — all while spreading awareness of the brand.

What we have to do with it

At InkSoft, we’re extremely mindful of everything that’s happening — in our local community and our global one.

That’s why we’re trying to make continuing to operate as feasible, and easy, for our customers as it can be.

With programs like this, where they can use their skill-set to increase sales for both themselves and other businesses in their community, we believe our customers will step up.

They’ll work diligently and masterfully, like they always do, to produce the highest quality of output — all while supporting more than just themselves.

By using our features (like Designer, Stores, and Fundraising), our customers are able to make programs like this possible — not just passably, but effectively. And quickly, too.

We know how important it is to get this right. Local businesses are the lifeblood of every community, and if we don’t support them now, we might not be able to later.

So let’s band together and give it our all.

If there’s anything we at InkSoft can do to help your team out, please don’t hesitate to give us a call. You can reach us at 800-410-3048.

We’re here for you — because, like you, we’re still working. We’re still brainstorming. And we believe, at our core, that we all do better when we’re working together.

Stay safe,

The InkSoft team

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