The blog:
Collect small donations

It is always useful to try collecting small donations. It might be a tiny but sustainable source of income to cover some of the project expenses. Perhaps to be able to do a new fundraising run and to pay for printing some promo booklets for sponsors?

Here is a tip on how to craft a handy gadget to do so while distributing USE-IT maps. You only need access to the laser cutter and a bit of DIY experience.

Article outline:

The idea

At the beginning of the story there was a meeting in Ljubljana in 2017 where the team of USE-IT Nicosia was showing their merch and other creative products. Amongst others they showed their design for the map stand.

And during the FUND-IT project when mentioning the ways how to sustain an NGO, the Prague team shared their experience with collecting tips at the infocentre.

We thought: why not to merge the two ideas? And we had to try this.  So we chose one of our FUND-IT partners meetings to bring this task, partly also as a teambuilding activity. We asked the designer from Nicosia, Savvas, to help us with designing the product and preparing the right files and we  arranged a meeting place in a DIY workshop place in Prague that helped us with laser cutting.

It went very well. The learning point was the next time to make sure the dimensions of the file are the right ones and not to try to fit too many patterns on one wooden board. Otherwise the maps would not fit in the right way.

Make your own donation box/map stand

Three of our FUND-IT pilot cities brought the box back home and we hope it might be an inspiration for you too. Feel free to use the prepared drawings. Creative approaches and modifications are more than welcome.

Follow the legislation

Small sidenote. Different countries might have different legislation concerning donations. Make sure you fit within your local legal framework. 

Straight to the tools

You know what you need?
No time to waste…
Access directly our toolkit right here!

Follow us