Using Artist Shops for Charity
Whether you’re an Artist wanting to use your art for good, a charitable organization looking to sell products, or fundraising for a cause, Artist Shops is the perfect platform to help you do just that. Choosing to sell t-shirts (and other merch!) is a great way to raise money and awareness for a cause in a way that reaches a worldwide audience.
Using your Art for a Cause
Whether people are buying because they’re passionate about a Cause or because they love the art, adding a charity design is a great way to add something positive to your Artist Shop.
Adding Your Own Charity
If you're looking to add a design to raise money for charity, simply upload the design to your Artist Shop. When adding your design, be sure to fill in information about the cause and the amount of proceeds that will be donated in the item's product description. Be clear and accurate about the donation each purchase will contribute so that your customers know how their purchase will support the efforts. You can also include a link to your charity in the product description to provide even more exposure, and be sure to share on social to get the word out!
Using the Causes & Charities Feature
There is also an option to split earnings with an approved organization or charity with the Causes & Charities feature on Artist Shops! To help support Artist Shop owners' charitable efforts, we've developed a list of a few approved charities that can be added to any Artist Shop design. Adding one of these charities will allow you to automatically assign a percentage of your Artist Earnings (from 1- 100%) for any product sale directly to the charity of your choice. It will also automatically add a section share that info with your customers on your Artist Shop. For each item sold, Threadless will also make an additional donation of up to $1 per unit.
While the approved list is a selection of approved charities where donation payments are administrated by Threadless Artist Shops, you are also welcome to work with any other charity of your choice. For any additional charities, you can choose to donate the funds directly yourself from your Artist Earnings or if you'd like to have earnings automatically paid out to the organization, the organization must have an existing Threadless account and can be added as a Collaborator.
To donate funds yourself, check out the Earnings section of your Artist Dashboard to determine your sales and earnings for the charity design when earnings are paid out each month. Once you have the amount to donate, submit the payment to your charity of choice.
You may want to document your charitable donations to report on your taxes. Consult your tax attorney for more details.
Artist Shops for Charities or Non-Profits
Creating an Artist Shop is a great (and free!) way to create merchandise and raise awareness for your cause. Because Artist Shops are already free, there's no need to do anything different in your Artist Shop setup. However, since you're supporting a cause that is not listed under our Causes & Charity feature, we highly recommend utilizing your About Page to share your organization's mission and info, and the product descriptions on each product to help spread the word and share more details about your efforts.
If you are a non-profit looking to raise awareness but are unable to accept payment, you may skip filling out the Payment Info section and W-9 in your account. Also, be sure to set all your products to the base price so there won't be earnings. If your organization is looking to raise money but unable to support Paypal for earnings payments, a different earnings payment structure may be available. Email us at shop.support@threadless.com for more information.
We'd love to hear about your charity design or organization's Artist Shop. Email us at shop.support@threadless with the design or your Artist Shop url and some details about the cause you're supporting, and we may feature your cause on the Threadless social accounts or in an Artist Shop email blast!
If you're looking for additional resources, you can find these Charity related articles in our Creative Resources blog: