How do we give in a sustainable manner?
You probably love to give! As resellers, we give and give, and want to give more!
We are passionate about what we do.
The question is: How do we give in a sustainable manner? How do we give in a way that grows alongside our reselling business?
Picture a wine glass (this is borrowed from the Jewish tradition) with a saucer underneath. You fill your cup, that sustains you, your business, and your family. Keep pouring . . .when that is full, the remaining spills over into the saucer, this is what we can give. We really need to fill our cups so we can give and keep giving.
I was at a reseller meetup chatting about giving and charitable events a few months ago. I had heard this story many times before, in different forms, and each time it had a sad ending. It goes something like this “we were raising so much money and had so many people involved, it was incredibly successful; however, after a time, I needed to earn a living and support my family, so we had to stop . . . we had a great run.” The intentions are always so admirable, maybe that is why it always breaks my heart. Their cup was empty, there was no overflow.
The good news is, as resellers, we can easily give in a sustainable manner, we can fill our cup, we can have an overflow, and give in a sustainable manner that grows right along with our business!
In simple form, the only thing you need to do to get started is to connect with a person, organization, or family. Chances are you already have a cause you are passionate about! If you are a consignment reseller, all you would do is open an account. You can take items to sell on behalf of the organization (or dip into your own Money Mountain, aka Death Pile). Then sell the items and make a donation!
Conshy Connects
Once you have the basic structure in place, the sky is the limit! In my business, Conshy Consignment, we started with one non-profit and built it into a whole program that we named Conshy Connects. Now we are able to run events once a quarter and donate even more. We most recently had the honor to work with Diane Lassonde of the fearLESS Living Fund and the Blind Center of Nevada.
In addition to being able to give through this program, List Perfectly provided a generous match for the donations! Think about the people who are invested in your program, or invested in who you are connecting with, and ask for a match or an incentive item for the account!
Make giving a part of what you do!
Sustainable giving and fundraising can fit right into your existing business model; just make it a part of what you do! The more your cup is filled, the more you have to give.
To hear more about implementing a sustainable giving program, watch Consignment Chats Episode 109.
To hear about what your fellow resellers are doing, watch the Consignment Chats Episode 111 “Reseller Round Table on Giving Back.”
The Consignment Chats mission is to create an authentic space to talk about online consignment and share our personal journeys, both past and present. The women of Consignment Chats can share knowledge and experience with potential and active consignment resellers. Come explore consignment as an environmentally friendly way to resell.
