Funding a Creative Marketplace

by Charlotte Whitehead in Norwich, England, United Kingdom

Funding a Creative Marketplace

Total raised £175

raised so far

31

supporters

We are half way there to fund our online marketplace place, fee free for UK small businesses for at least 2 months from opening.

by Charlotte Whitehead in Norwich, England, United Kingdom

We're still collecting donations

On the 16th August 2020 we'd raised £175 with 31 supporters in 21 days. But as every pound matters, we're continuing to collect donations from supporters.

Thanks for viewing my fundraiser. I have been running the Handmade and Creative Market, a regular monthly artisan market, for over 2 years. In that time I have worked tirelessly to promote the amazing work being done in the creative community and to support creative entrepreneurs.

The coronavirus has had a devastating impact on my business and I, like many other independent makers, did not make enough profits in my first year of business to be eligible for any of the government assistance. At least, as a part time business in the previous tax year, I earned less from my business than I did from my employer and this makes me ineligible. Myself and many others went from a fairly stable self employed income to zero overnight and the only way we have any chance of weathering the storm is to vastly increase our online presence.

We have our thirdonline market coming up this weekend, the 13th and 14th of August, and I would encourage you to drop by the Instagram page to support over 100 small, handmade businesses from around the UK. You can find us at www.instagram.com/handmadeandcreativemarket

The last market had over 82,000 views over the 2 days, more than 125,000 including the posts in the week leading up to it. This did not include viewers of the #handmadeindoors. Over 50% of sellers made sales at this market and over 95% reached a new audience and gained new followers both on Instagram and on other online platforms, such as their Etsy shop.

Participation for sellers in August is £5 to be a featured seller.

I am hoping to raise £250 through this fundraiser in order to set up a new online marketplace where small businesses will be able to further grow the community we have established and find a new way to reach customers and generate sales. I intend to make this fee and commission free for vendors until October, charging a small 5% commission after this point to pay for the upkeep of the site.

£600 is the basic annual subscription charge for a fully functional online marketplace. £356 has already been raised Through kind donations. It does not include a fee for the time it will take me to build the website, or that I have already put into the current online event. There is no time limit for raising these funds but the sooner I reach my goal the sooner I will be able to get the store open to vendors. Should I miraculously exceed the goal then any extra funds will be put towards a much needed new computer, following the death of my graphics card last week, and paid advertising for the site.

Benefits of the new site will be:
- No listing fees - only pay when you sell.
- No monthly subscription to use the site - only pay when you sell.
- No commission charge until 2 months after opening.
- Very low 5% commission on sales from then on.
- No mass produced items sold.
- No advertising of other people’s items on your shop - keep your browsers with you.
- No bias towards people who offer free shipping - it’s too big of a chunk taken from our small profits.
- Paid membership available with access to online tutorials in things like photo editing, mastering social media, graphic design and more.
- Only site members will be able to participate in future online markets.
- Join a fantastic supportive community of makers to share in your successes.
- Reach more supporters and customers than you can on your own.
- Faster set up than your own website.
- Cheaper to maintain than your own website.

I want to thank everyone for supporting this campaign, whether £1 or £10. Even a quick share to your social media is massively helpful in helping this community venture reach it’s goal.

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Rewards

This project offered rewards

£5 or more

£5 featured seller

Be a featured seller at our market on the 13th or 14th, including 2 carousel posts and story shares.

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