The Etsy shop has been quiet but steady. I haven’t been good about blogging but we continue to make quarterly donations to Carbonfund.org. I also wanted to mention an earth-friendly activity we're doing at my house for the second year now: the Carbon Fast for Lent. This was the brainchild of a group in England called Tearfund. The idea is to undertake a simple action each day during Lent, to reduce one's carbon footprint. The daily actions appear on Tearfund’s web site here. They also have an RSS feed, which I’m posting in this blog’s right sidebar. Or you can sign up for a daily email reminder (or download the full 40-day schedule as a PDF) on their site.
I wanted to participate in the Bloggers Unite group activity for World AIDS Day, which is easy to do on my personal blog, but I was unsure how best to do so here the blog for my shop. But then I saw some other neat promos on Etsy, which inspired me as well.So here’s my idea: For any purchases in my shop completed on December 1, I will donate 10% of the item price to the South Central Wisconsin AIDS Network.
Are you promo-ing for World AIDS Day? I would be happy to help spread the word. If you are doing something similar in your shop, I invite you to post the details in a comment. (Just World AIDS day promos; no spam or other promos, please.)
This is a tough year for many people, with anxious days ahead. For Thanksgiving (and every day) I’d like to recommend the “click to give” Hunger Site. Corporate sponsors make a small contribution each time you click the Give Free Food link on the page, helping to support organizations including Feeding America (the new name for America’s Second Harvest).
It was fun to realize, somewhat belatedly, that the 13 Delancey Street shop on Etsy has just passed its first quarter! It was even more fun to make the first quarterly donation to Carbonfund.org, which is the donation partner I’ve chosen for 2008. While my initial plan, as posted in the shop, was only to donate 1% of sales — to celebrate our first quarter I moved the decimal point one place and instead donated 10% of our first three months’ sales. And how nice — Carbonfund emailed me a certificate!
When I started the Etsy shop, I knew I wanted to make the venture earth friendly. The materials themselves include glass, ceramic magnets, and upcycled paper items — magazines, newsletters, discarded business cards, and the occasional political campaign sticker. But I wanted to do more, so I decided that 1% of the store’s sales will be donated to what I’m loosely describing as “earth friendly nonprofits.” (I’m keeping this loose so I have flexibility to include a variety of groups.)
For the shop’s first quarter, I’ve chosen Carbonfund.org. I’m happy with the way they make carbon offsets easy, accessible, and affordable to individuals and I like the types of projects they fund. 13 Delancey Street will make a 1% donation each quarter (i.e., the first donation will be on October 1st, covering July – September). Check back here for details!
