Crafting for Charity

There has been a buzz in the Folksy forums for the past few days about Dreamaid, with many sellers joining this website as another selling avenue but also making a difference as a percentage of the sales value is donated to a charity supporting artists in developing countries.  Dreamaid are to be featured on BBC2 tonight at 8pm, with an expected 5 million viewers, which would mean a fantastic exposure for this charity and for all their handmade sellers.  I will focus Dreamaid in tomorrows post and feature some UK designers selling through this channel.

I have written before about the great support from the craft world for charities and Folksy folk are no exception.  Aswell as dedicated shops for various charities many sellers donate  reguarly from their sales.  Often a charity is chosen because of a personal experience or close connection to a particular charity.  For the rest of the month and next month I will be donating 15% of all sales in my supply shop, Buttons & Bows, to The White Ribbon Alliance. The reason for choosing WRA is a fairly personal one after problems at the end of my last pregnancy put my own health and unborn childs life at a huge risk, but I was incredibly fortunate to have free health care, a fantastic consultant obstetrician and wonderful midwives all within a fifteen minute drive.  Millions of women are faced with delivering their baby in their home without medical assistance being close enough to be able to help.  These women are in labour for many hours and when or if, they arrive at a medical centre it is often too late. Soon after my daughter and I survived this very worrying time I read about the WRA in Red Magazine and have supported them since, as I was so grateful that I was close enough to medical care.  Whilst my donation won't make a huge difference I can help raise awareness for WRA through my shop. 

Now I will step down from my soap box and feature some other Folksy people donating to charities from sales in their shops.

Light The Fused

Over The Rainbow

Angelic Folk

Pop Up Zoo

Lemonade & Lamingtons

Buttons and Beads Gifts

Blue Box Studio

Macmillan Fundraising

Buteartism

Blue Forest Jewellery

Deborah Jones Jewellery

Cosmic Eden

Moody Cow Designs

Dottie Cards

There are many more crafters, designers, makers who reguarly donate to charity and I hope to feature some more this week.