Good Stories

Shirts that tell stories

[goodthreads-blog]

Be weird.

In a recent slide deck posted about the future of nonprofit marketing,   Kivi Leroux Miller identifies three trends to watch in 2012 - personalization, experimentation, and being real time.

Her recommendations to nonprofit marketers on personalization are drawn from Seth Godin's book, We Are All Weird. “The book calls for end of mass and for the beginning of offering people more choices, more interests and giving them more authority to operate in ways that reflect their own unique values.”

If that's Godin's definition of addressing how we're all weird, then we're all for it. At GoodThreads, we believe that merchandise is a way that individuals can tell their personal stories as to why they support a given cause or nonprofit organization.

What could better opportunity for your supporters to reflect their unique values, than for them to be able to promote it square across their chest?

[goodthreads-blog]

We DoJiggy!

We are excited to announce our partnership with DoJiggy, a leading provider of online event management and fundraising solutions for nonprofits and community organizations. Nonprofits who utilize DoJiggy for event management and online fundraising can now direct supporters and donors  to an online GoodThreads' store that features organization and/or event merchandise and allows individuals to personalize the goods to tell their personal cause stories. A portion of each sale goes to the nonprofit as a donation. In order to demonstrate how a GoodThreads' store works and show how its nonprofit clients can benefit from turning event merchandise into a fundraising strategy, DoJiggy set up its own sample store. We're especially fond of the "Do You DoJiggy?" design. And we're proud to say that, here at GoodThreads, "We DoJiggy!" To learn more about our partnership, check out the full press release at: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/1/prweb9070757.htm.

[goodthreads-blog]

We love Causecast

Causecast provides hundreds of organizations with the tools to inspire, engage and activate their supporters. Causecast worked with the United Way of Greater Los Angeles on their 5th Annual HomeWalk to end homelessesness and 5K run in downtown Los Angeles. The Causecast team came to GoodThreads looking for team t-shirts, and we were more than happy to oblige. The Causecast team proudly wore those tees in the HomeWalk, as you can see in the photos below. It turns out that the Causecast HomeWalk team included a few babies. We could've totally made those kids look awesome in custom Causecast infant wear...

About the event:

Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant, the event's Honorary Chair, kicked off the event that featured approximately 10,000 participants. With over 51,000 homeless men and women in Los Angeles County, nearly one-quarter of which are chronically homeless, United Way and its partners are working to drive community awareness and action as part of its year-round campaign to prevent and end homelessness. Over the past 4 years, HomeWalk has mobilized 18,000 walkers, raised $1.7 million and moved 9,000 people into permanent housing.

We look forward to working with Causecast on many other projects in the future!

[goodthreads-blog]

Everest Shmeverest

"EVEREST SHMEVEREST" is what the Los Angeles Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s participants chanted as they defied gravity in the Second Annual Stair Climb for Life to raise money for the cause. Participants tackled 49 stories to the top of the Figueroa at Wilshire Skyscraper in downtown Los Angeles on December 3, 2011. This is the first year that GoodThreads customized t-shirts were available for individuals and teams to share their stories, and we loved the personalized stories on the tees that we saw.

Amanda's Team created their own tees to tell their story of supporting thier sister, daughter, and fiance. (View all three photos on Flickr.)

Amanda and her mother Jocelyn look GREAT in their Amanda's Ascenders custom tees.

 This participant is thrilled to be defying grafity for her friend Nicole.

re)

[goodthreads-blog]

Focusing on fundraiser loyalty yields big returns for any fundraising event. Blackbaud’s recent report Growing Philanthropy in the United States recommended an enhanced “focus on retention and building supporter loyalty” and reported that a “10 percent improvement in attrition can yield up to a 200 percent increase in projected (lifetime) value.”

Pamela Grow curated this month's blog carnival, which focused on thanking your donors. Her round-up offers (over) 30 different ways to thank donors, including a three tips for getting it right, "wowing" donors all year long, a gratitude dance, and a thank-you blog post. Of course, you could always send a tee :)

[goodthreads-blog]

Kyle Ellicott, co-founder of @EventifyMe features a story about Brandon Hance and GoodThreads on TechZulu. "We’re beginning to see more efforts like these having a greater online presence and helping spread awareness and support than ever before." Find out more about why Brandon started GoodThreads, its innovative contribution to event fundraising, how GoodThreads works, and why he's so passionate about helping nonprofits raise money in this feature article.

[goodthreads-blog]

Free webinar December 1, 2011: Turn your event merchandising expense into a source of income

Your supporters care passionately about your mission. What if supporters could tell their personal cause stories with event t-shirts and merchandise while also contributing to your fundraising goals?  

You can turn t-shirts and other merchandise into income.

We're thrilled to team up with FirstGiving to present our first webinar on Thursday, December 1, 2011 at 1pm EST/11am PST. Andrew Urban, our Director of Business Development at GoodThreads, and Carolyn Edrington of Melanoma Research Foundation will talk about new tools available to turn the expense of event merchandise into a source of fundraising income.

Event merchandise no longer needs to be an unwelcome expense and a logistical nightmare. There are fabulous new tools in the marketplace that make it possible to use event merchandise to increase organizational awareness, build your brand, create community, and generate donations. We'll look at easy ways to solve the logistical and financial headaches traditionally associated with selling event apparel and other merchandise – such as bearing costs upfront – and take your merchandise to a new level of sophistication and personalization.

Register today!

[goodthreads-blog]

We recently read John Haydon's blog post about the organization Epic Change, and how they use storytelling and social media to personally connect with their supporters and followers. Epic Change raises money to support a school for children in Tanzania that wouldn't have access to such education and nurturing. They connect by allowing the students to tell their stories of hopes and dreams. The students' stories are powerful, like Gideon's, below.

What we believe in is that nonprofits must find authentic ways to tell their stories that emotionally resonate with their supporters. We think a personalized tee can resonate deeply, if you're the one telling the story on your tee.

But so does this video. Check out other Epic Change videos and the whole story over on John Haydon's site.

[goodthreads-blog]

Ten rockin' tees from ten nonprofit organizations that you won't be embarrassed to wear anywhere. What's more, they are gorgeous and for a cause. Thanks to Claire Kerr for seeking out these great examples from around the web.

[goodthreads-blog]

Make your tee iconic

What makes an iconic image? In today's Wall Street Journal, author Chris Kemp writes about what we can learn from mega-successful images. (Think iconic Coca-Cola logo, or the commercialized image of Che Guevara.) Kemp reviewed representative images from art, politics, the commercial world and science that have achieved the highest level of iconic status and wondered: Is there a magic formula for branders?

 In his book, Christ to Coke, How Images Became Icon, Kemp identifies 11 different types of iconic images. Though there is no "magic formula" Kemp offers brands that want to create their own iconic images, he walks through the characteristics of iconic imagery, and what is - and is not - considered iconic. According to Kemp,

Iconic images transcend time, place and even original function.

At GoodThreads, we know that shirts tell stories. How can you use powerful (dare we say iconic?) imagery to tell your story at a glance? We'd love to know what you're thinking about and see those images!

[goodthreads-blog]

What is the effect of celebrities on social fundraising? Real online influence does not necessarily attach itself to the most well known, rather the most engaged. New research released today shows that celebrities encouraging others to raise money through social fundraising is a hit or miss effort. As stated by the paper's author, Geoff Livingston, "real influence is more than popularity, and this paper goes a great distance to highlighting the important components of authenticity, real strong community engagement, and a willingness to actively work with a community to affect change." Read the paper for some great insights into the role of community, and celebrities, in a social fundraising campaign.

Tweet

[goodthreads-blog]

Calling all #breastivists! Don't you want these tees?

As you may know from our previous posts, GoodThreads has teamed up with Comediva, and actress Rikki Lindhome to support Susan G. Komen Los Angeles County. GoodThreads worked with Comediva to create three awesome custom tees to support their "adopt a pair of breasts" campaign. The tees are good-looking, witty, and just right for any and all torsos.

When you buy a tee as part of the campaign, you'll receive a photo of a pair of breasts that have been "given a second chance," thanks to you! Get your cute tee, raise breast cancer awareness and be a proud #breastivist today. Visit http://www.comediva.com/breasts

[goodthreads-blog]

[goodthreads-blog]

Greetings! Today, in conjunction with National Breast Cancer Awareness Month 2011, we are excited to announce the launch of "Wonder of Breasts" - a humorous, entertaining PSA created by Comediva to educate women (and men) about the importance of early detection through regular mammograms. The video features actress and musician Riki Lindhome, who is best known for television roles in Gilmore Girls, House, the Big Bang Theory, and the United States of Tara, and is also one half of the musical comedy duo Garfunkel & Oats. Check out the "Wonder of Breasts" here: www.Comediva.com/Breasts You can also support our efforts by posting the video to your Facebook page, Tweeting about it, purchasing an exclusive "Wonder of Breasts" T-Shirt or adopting a pair of breasts at www.Comediva.com/Breasts. Thank you in advance for your support....and for joining us in our attempt to save 2 of the 7 natural wonders of the world!

Tweet

[talktechcomm-deactivated2015111]

[goodthreads-blog]

talktechcomm:

  Join Comediva and GoodThreads to support Susan G. Komen Los Angeles County. Check out the video starring “Breastivist”, actress, musician, and comedian Riki Lindhome.

Tweet

[goodthreads-blog]

At GoodThreads, we're about empowering cause supporters to share their passion for causes. That's why this article caught our eye: what prompts a supporter to share his or her passion online, and to which social channels? We think great stories + passion = sharing. Here's a bit more about who recommends products, and why.

Tweet

[goodthreads-blog]

Thank You Ketchum-Downtown YMCA Stair Climb!

We're pretty excited about our first event, the @YMCAStairClimb at the Stuart M. Ketchum Downtown YMCA in Los Angeles. The team at GoodThreads had a blast at the climb, raised some money, and got to wear some cool tees. We saw some great personalized t-shirt designs, too. Check out their site here.

And by the way, 1,500 stairs is no walk in the park - we got a great workout while raising money for the local Los Angeles Y.

From our team to you, thank you!

L-R: Brandon Hance (CEO, GoodThreads), Aaron Wiener (COO, GoodThreads), Nishit Rathod (CTO, GoodThreads), Lee Johnson (Senior Business Development Consultant)