OUR guild made money by hosting a bed turning display of quilts by a gifted quilter. A luncheon was also served ( chicken salad sandwiches, bowl of soup, small salad, fruitcup, and for extra a dessert could be purchased. ) What really made the money was a cD that had been photographed prior to the bed turning presentation of all the quilts. The cD included a presentation of the quilts photographs and a text file that was written up prior to the show with all the information about the quilts...ie When the quilt was made, name of the pattern or book the quilt came from, techniques used, who her instructor was if she took a class, etc.

We sold the cD for $10... $9 profit. All work and time involved in producing the cD as done by guild members who volunteered. One of the members did have a husband who could mass product the cD because he had his own equipment. We made a $1000 profit from the cDs. We sold over 100 of them just to the guild members and those people who attended the presentation. The cD were sold to the general public at the presentation. Quilt guild members could put orders in and pre-paid for the cDs, they were delivered at the next meeting. The cD could be played on the computer as a slide show presentation.

I think they also filmed the presentation and was to be sold it as a video DVD but I did not purchase the DVD so I am not sure how much money was made from it or if any sold.

Hope this is helpful to you.

I almost forgot... if you have a handout/ quilt show booklet listing the quilt and makers you can sell advertisement in the booklet for companies that pay you to advertise in your booklet.

We list all the local business that buy ads... ( $25 -$100 for a business card size ad to full page) Our printing was done for relatively free by the chamber of commerce members last year who owns a commercial xerox machine. We did provide the reams of paper used. Our group had to staple and assemble all of the booklets ( over 300 and we ran out.) In our town we barter services a lot.

Unfortunately with today's economy it is hard to get people to open up there wallets to donate to a good cause... sometimes it is because the money is not there.

I too live in a small rural town and this year we are having a quilt show without the usual festival. The festival got canceled because they did not raise enough money last year to host the parade and festival activities this year. They plan to do the festival every other year. A festival or other activities during the event can be a draw... the other organization you are working with might be able to host some family friendly activities... Food usually works out pretty good. My girlfriend's town host a CHILI COOK OFF with their fall festival and it is turning into a big draw for the locals.



Now to address your problem... have you advertised the show so more people can come and maybe increased attendance will increase the money raised.


We do a lot of on line advertising in OUR STATE of MI ... over the years I collected web page links, and posting sites ( local newspapers usually have this but do not be afraid to advertise in all the sites you find for near by towns. ) I post information in the EVENTS section in all the listers in 5 counties.. within 50 mile radius ) I also post in the event calendars that allow community organizations to post a small ad for local activities ie libraries, chamber of commerce sites, real estate offices sometimes have web pages that allow posting. Check out online posting sites your state. The state of MI has a event site to post for the whole state, maybe your state does too. Try googling .... or check your states TRAVEL AND TOURISM web pages...

If you have a state quilt museum ( usually part of a history museum in one of your universities example:
http://www.museum.msu.edu/glqc/onlinenewsletter.html ) they sometime have a web page that will post events on line for you. On line posting is free and you would be surprised how many people visit those sites.

It also will take a long time to post... I usually get started the night the quilt show date is picked. I spend several nights over several weeks posting anywhere I can think of... Be sure to post in all the QUILT related web sites you can find... other people in your state will take note of your show and put it on their calendar. I post on every QUILT RELATED web page that allows posting, most have a posting area for ANNOUNCEMENTS and EVENTS. It is hard work but someone has to do it. This works best if you have your own web page for your event with ALL THE INFORMATION about the event posted on it. YOur web page does not have to be fancy, just factual. If you can't make a web page ... get a kid or grandchild to do it... they can make amazing pages... Get them to post on YOU TUBE and you will be advertising across the world.

example: http://www.angelfire.com/art3/elainesquiltyshop/QS08.html



You would be surprised how much free advertising is available if you take the time to look for it. All TV and radio stations are required to provide some free advertising for community events, but they get to choose what is note worthy. ( I make a small quilt / wall hanging each year with the logo of the local TV station on it and send it in advertising our quilt show. The TV news team talk about the quilt show all through the local weather, and traffic reports and their community event spots. Last year I got 6 FREE ads because I sent them a nice baby quilt for the newest baby of their one TV staff. Those advertisements alone doubled our attendance last year. OUR quilt show was a bigger draw then the classic car show... that frosted some people's ( chamber of commerce )
butts.)

Be sure to hand out fliers at all the quilt shops and guilds in a 50 mile radius of you town... We mail each quilt shop AND guilds a bunch of flyers and they hand them out.... We do the same for them. Send flyers to nearby community centers, senior citizen complexes... some of them may sponsor a day trip to your event.


Guild members and quilters are your target audience so it is important you take the time to send them information to pass out at the shops and guild meetings. Many of the guilds will post announcements in their guild newsletters. Sometime they will help organize road trips to your event for their members.


I am including some example of sites that might be helpful. The rest of my sites were MI based.

http://www.quiltshops.com/events.htm

http://forums.about.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?nav=messages&webtag=ab-quilting


I hope this might give you ideas... remember finding free advertisement is hard work but I think it is well worth it. This reminds me I have to get busy for our quilt show... I have a lot of posting to do before SEPTEMBER.

I made a whole lot of little triangular bags last year for a friend's charity event (I can get 3 to 6 bags out of 2 FQs, depending on size). They are quick to make, look very attractive and can be filled with all sorts of things. I filled half with herbal teabags and half with chocolates. They all sold before the craft fair was actually opened. I have since heard that the bags, once the goodies are eaten, have been reused for all sorts of things. If you want pictures and/or instructions, get in touch with me direct. The little bag itself is very old and traditional Japanese, but the instructions have been written by me for workshops.

Lorchen

My quilting friends and I celebrated our 10th anniversary with an exhibition of our groups work in a local church. We didn't have an entrance fee as such but did have a comments book and a "voluntary contributions box". We also had a raffle, consisting mainly of quilting things but also chocolates etc and we also offered "teas and coffees and home made cakes".as refreshments for a small charge. Each of the group members brought in a home made cake or biscuits and a raffle prize too. (14 group members in all). We did very well over the 4 days of the exhibition raising £800, £300 went to the church restoration fund and £500 to our local Childrens Hospice. The comments book is a lovely reminder of the event.
Not sure if any of these ideas will work at your end but I thought I might share them as a possibility. :
Yvonne

How about having someone who could do quilt appraisals?

pknord wrote:
Thanks, Pat, but we do all of those things. We do an opportunity quilt and sell tickets for about 6 months, we charge for vendor space, we have raised our quilt entry fees and our admission price. We also did a silent auction and sold raffle tickets for prize baskets.

How about a raffle quilt? And maybe increase your admission fee a bit? And have a "Country Store" where folks can bring things that they no longer love to sell, and the show gets 20% of the selling fee? And if you have room at the venue, have vendors and charge them a fee for their space?

Pat in Rockport, TX

: Our quilt guild partners with the Soroptomist club in our small town to host a quilt show to earn money for local projects. We love having the show and supporting Soroptimists, but we find that we do not make a significant amount of money for the volume of work involved. Does anyone have any ideas for fund raising ideas we can implement to make this event worth all the trouble? :