Promote Your Bead Jewelry Business by Donating to Local Charities

One of the beaded necklace and earring sets that helped raise money for my friend who was diagnosed with cancer!

I’ve discovered a great way to promote my bead jewelry business and help people at the same time!

I’ve met lots of people through my bead jewelry business and one of those people is a wonderful woman who runs her own massage therapy and natural healing center. She’s been self-employed for about five years and she’s actually displayed and sold some of my jewelry in her little storefront! About a year ago she was diagnosed with cancer and had to undergo some fairly expensive treatment, but because she was a struggling self-employed store owner, she didn’t have any health insurance.

So about four months ago a bunch of her friends and family got together and held a benefit event, with all the proceeds going directly to pay for her medical treatment! There was a concert by a local band, plenty of free food, an open bar donated by one of the local clubs and, here’s where the bead jewelry comes in: a charity auction! The organizers of this event went around asking for any sort of donation that could be used as a prize in a ticket auction. Some businesses were donating television sets and computers and restaurant gift certificates… a lot of really expensive high-end stuff!

At first I didn’t think I could contribute anything but then I realized how silly I was: I had a closet filled with jewelry that I’ve made for fun and craft shows. I had some standard pieces, but I also had some really unique pieces that I thought would do well. So I contributed two sets of bead jewelry, and packaged both with my business card, just so people could see where they came from.

It was a great! The charity event actually put each item up on a long table and people would buy tickets to drop in the buckets for items that they wanted a chance to win. So I had hundreds of local people seeing my jewelry with my business card displayed out front! There was only one other jewelry item, so my work really caught the attention of a lot of people and wasn’t lost in the haze of a hundred other craft vendors. The best part was secretly watching people drop tickets into the bucket for my jewelry items, which showed that they wanted a chance to win them!

The charity event also had a “Gift Booklet” which they handed out to everyone at the event. It had photos of my friend and it listed all the people who donated items to the gift auction. So I was listed in there as well!

The best part of all this? My necklace and earring sets helped raise money for my friend’s treatment, I met some great people, and I later got two phone calls from total strangers inquiring about my work!

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