7 Easy Things You Can Do to Support FabMo
You know how it goes: you wake up in the middle of the night for no obvious reason and think “I should clean the gutters” or “I have to reply to that email from my old friend Joe” or something along those lines. Now, I woke up thinking “I should let people know about all the easy ways to support FabMo” and then I thought “Why haven’t I done this a long time ago?”
Well, here I sit at my computer - bright and early by my standards - to share with you 7 simple ways how you can support our fabulous FabMo. I hope you find something that appeals to you.
Volunteer
We always need volunteers - there is so much to do everyday from picking up the materials in San Francisco with our founder Hannah to sorting them, helping with set-up for an event and being a greeter or floor helper during one of our regular events. Then there are outreach events, e.g. recently during Earth Day, and so much that goes on behind the scenes from marketing to accounting and event planning where we can always use an extra pair of hands, eyes, ears and that extra brain-power.
Volunteering is fun and easy, you can start slow, try out different things until you find what you enjoy the most. We don’t put you on a schedule, you do what you can. And don’t worry, we’ll train you and we have a very supportive community. It will be fun!
Here is the link to our Volunteer page where you can find the calendar to sign up and/or contact our volunteer coordinator Marge if you have any questions or have specific skills you’d like to use.
Somebody sorted and organized these fabric pieces. Want to help?
2. Donate
There are two ways of donating.
Easy one first: money. I know, everybody asks for money all the time and so we normally don’t push that point but monetary donations are still highly appreciated. We are an all volunteer organization, but life in Silicon Valley is expensive, especially the cost associated with the facility. So if you have your hands full and can’t volunteer but can spare some cash - follow this link to our Donate page. Just as with volunteering we are happy about any contribution. You do what you can!
Our can also donate stuff. Now, not just any stuff. As much as we would love to keep everything that is reusable out of the landfill, we can’t. We focus on fabrics, yarns and other crafting supplies that can be reused. To make it easy: here are our Intake Guidelines.
3. Smile at Us -
- via Amazon. This is another form of donating but I am calling it out, because it doesn’t actually cost you anything. Next time you order something from Amazon use Amazon Smile and specify FabMo as the beneficiary. Amazon will pass a small portion of your purchase on to FabMo. Every single contribution is small but if enough people do it, it will help. This is a great way to help us out if you live further away and can’t just pop in to volunteer.
4. One More Donation Option
Corporate matching! Some companies offer to match employee’s donation to a not-for-profit organization like FabMo up to a certain level. How to apply for that matching donation varies from company to company but once in place it is a great way to double your generosity.
5. Shop at FabMo
Come to our Selection Events or Special Sales - every dollar we make there goes towards keeping our doors open and the materials coming. Exactly zero percent go towards paying somebody a salary or buying fancy dinners for our Board members (being on the Board, I can tell you that we sustain ourselves during the meetings with cookies and fruit we bring in ourselves :-) If you can, make a generous donation at the Selection Events and round up at the Special Sales. As always: give what you can.
Awesome Special Sale Display!
6. Spread the Word
This helps in many ways, more people at our events means more revenue, more awareness of our mission means more donations of crafting materials and more people interested in volunteering. Tell your friend, co-workers and neighbors and follow us on Facebook and share our posts and event information.
7. Help Us Find Opportunities
Keep your eyes open for opportunities for FabMo - do you work at a company that gives grants to not-for-profits that FabMo could apply for? Let us know. Do you know of a facility in, say the East Bay, where we could host a “satellite event” (remote selection event). Ideally a church or similar location that we could get for a reasonable (ideal: no) rent? Let us know. Do you organize an event where FabMo crafters and artists could sell their FabMo products and also spread the word? Let us know!
These are 7 great ways of supporting FabMo and you can fo one or all of them.
And now excuse me, I have to run - there is fabric that needs sorting.
Do you like sorting stuff? We have a challenge for you!