Fundraising: Charity Merchandise
This article is part of the Festivals For Ukraine Toolkit.
- Creator: Music Saves UA & YOUROPE
- Published in: 2024
Merchandise can promote your festival brand and foster a loyal fanbase. It can also be used as a means for charity fundraising. You can design special merch and donate all profits from its sales to the chosen charity. If you can afford it, you can pledge to donate all money raised from sales, not just the profit, resulting in a bigger donation. Apart from raising funds, such merchandise is great for raising awareness. People who wear or see this merch will be constantly reminded of what it represents, creating a feeling of solidarity and unity with others during and even after the festival.
Here are some things to take note of when designing and selling such merchandise:
- Try mixing your festival’s visual identity with design elements that symbolize the cause. If you are raising for Ukraine, you can use blue and yellow – the colours of the Ukrainian flag. You can also consider other symbols – Ukrainian coat of arms, Motherland monument, outline of the Ukrainian border or any other symbols that are recognized in your country. You can use catchy related slogans, for example, “drop beats, not bombs”.
- However, consider how much symbolism would be appropriate for your audience. Some people would enjoy having merchandise with an upfront message, while others prefer more abstract designs with more subtle symbolism.
- Consider commissioning a design from a Ukrainian artist so that you can support them financially and put them in the spotlight
- Calculate how many items you should produce to meet demand and make sure the price is not prohibitive to hopefully sell the whole batch
- Promote the merch before and during the festival, reminding people of its mission. Try to get any artists from your line-up to wear this merchandise at the festival, take pictures of them in it, or ask them to record a video promoting it for your socials. Take photos of visitors wearing the merch and post them on your socials to remind people to check it out
- You can create extra bonuses for those buying or wearing this merchandise. For example, they can get a discount for next year’s ticket or other merch. You can put a few tickets for next year in a couple of these items or let people participate in a special raffle if they buy this merchandise.
Some examples of charity merchandise that was raising money for Music Saves Ukraine:
In 2022, Swiss festival Zermatt Unplugged featured a special performance by a Ukrainian artist, during which people were offered to donate to Music Saves Ukraine. The festival has offered special high-quality Zermatt Unplugged wristbands with the festival name on them to everyone who chooses to donate €50 or more.
In 2022, the European Metal Festival Alliance, which consists of 13 European Metal Festivals, launched a fundraising campaign with a “Metal United” t-shirt. The design featured Ukrainian blue and yellow colours and the logos of all 13 festivals from the Alliance on its back. The t-shirt cost €16.66 EUR, and all proceeds (€8300) were sent to Music Saves Ukraine.
For us, at ARTmania, supporting Ukraine and their brave fight and resistance was a decision taken from the first moment of this horrific war. They are standing not only for their country, but for Western values & principles and the entire democratic Europe. That is why, any fundraising campaigns with Ukrainian-themed merch or dedicated awareness-raising campaigns during the festival was just a natural followup given the fact that direct financial support is needed now more than ever. We were very happy to also take part with our festival in the European Metal Festival Alliance “Metal United” campaign. The metal and rock community are built around values of brotherhood, integrity and freedom so both we, as promoters, and our audiences, felt it is our duty to show support. More than that, Music Saves Ukraine is the right partner to be trusted with the administration of the gathered funds, as the team includes some of the most professional, trustworthy and kind people of the Ukrainian creative community. They are doing such an important mission for their country and for all of us.
Codruta Vulcu / ARTmania
Sziget Festival (Hungary), Open Air St. Gallen (Switzerland), Jarocin Festival (Poland) and Superbloom Festival (Germany) all created unique t-shirt or hoodie designs featuring Ukrainian colours, raising thousands of Euros each for Music Saves Ukraine.
Les Eurockéennes de Belfort (France) has a tradition of making festival posters with its line-up and headliners. They also ask those artists to sign these posters for sale. In 2023, they gave these posters to the Music Saves Ukraine tent and offered their audience that they could buy them for a donation.