The fourth annual Creations for Charity raised $9,300 in our most successful year yet! Not only did we top our previous record in the amount raised, but we also expanded our distribution to two countries outside the US including Chile and Croatia. Thank you to all who contributed to brighten the holidays of so many children!
Reflections
2012 was a busy year for the fundraiser. We sold over 100 custom creations, which was a huge improvement over the previous year. The results were in part due to our new introduction video that helped bring in new participants by explaining what we do. We used the video to kick off our fundraiser and to raise additional funds on the crowd funding site called Indiegogo (but we weren’t nearly as successful there, after all Lego is a niche hobby). Through Indiegogo we raised almost $900.
The biggest part of our success still came from within the Lego community from the participation of both veteran and new Lego fans. Our new option for reimbursing builders the cost of making their creation also helped increase the number of donated creations from people who were able to donate just their time. To everyone who contributed a creation to our store, even if your creation didn’t sell, we are very grateful for your efforts to help. Selling these creations on our Bricklink store accounted for over 83% of our income this year. The rest came from Indiegogo and other monetary donations we received.
Finally, I’d like to thank the other 6 coordinators for taking time out of their holiday season to hunt for Lego deals and donate the sets they purchased. Our new overseas distribution coordinators made especially memorable donations when they were able to donate the sets directly to the children in an orphanage in Zagreb, Croatia and a school for underprivileged children in Santiago, Chile. You can read about their donation experiences in the posts below.
The Future (this may be you!)
Each year Creations for Charity takes many hours each week to coordinate from September until the end of the year. As much as I enjoy running the fundraiser, sometimes there simply aren’t enough hours in a day to fit the charity into my medical school schedule. Although I plan to continue the charity for as long as possible, I am looking for help from those who share strong enthusiasm for the cause to either maintain the Bricklink store or keep track of our money as a treasurer. If you’d like to help one of those two ways, please contact me for more details via the contact form.
When I envisioned the concept of Creations for Charity in 2009, I had no idea it would engage people to raise thousands of dollars each year to buy Lego for underprivileged children across multiple cities and countries. To all who participated in Creations for Charity, I thank you for starting and maintaining a tradition for the Lego community to give back.