Are you planning to hold a fundraiser? Are you looking for a good idea of what you might sell in this effort to stoke the coffers while providing a worthwhile and attractive item for your contributors to gain for their donations? We are way ahead of you on this one. 

Mary’s Kitchen has your supply of blank flour sack towels that you can decorate, personalize, brand or use to convey all manner of art or text for whatever purpose suits your needs. When you are fundraising, visuals matter, and what better place to start than with a blank canvas, of sorts? The blank kitchen towel has you in good company as far as using it to express your artistic side. Legendary artist Vincent Van Gogh used to resort to painting on tea towels when he ran out of blank canvas material. In the year 2000, one of his paintings fetched a hefty multi-million-dollar sum. It just so happens that it was a still life with flowers painted on a tea towel.

Mary’s Kitchen is Your Affordable Source for Fundraising Tea Towels

When it comes to fundraising, you are looking for ways to cut your costs. Mary’s Kitchen wholesale pricing gives you a break when you buy in bulk. If you have a game plan for what you want to produce, an idea of how many items you would need to sell to capture your target goal, and a window of time to meet that deadline for a successful program, you are on the road to establishing your organization as one that is remembered and recognized. We offer a variety of choices in flour sack towels from bleached and unbleached to red, gray and black as well. They are all squared with meticulously hemmed edges and a hanging loop sewn into the top corner. They generously measure 27 x 27-inches for ample area to plan a design. The cotton of our flour sack kitchen towels is a diagonal weave, which makes the both soft and absorbent for a highly absorbent, quick-drying superior quality towel. They are heavyweight making them more durable. Our towels are uniquely lint-free unlike the generic, everyday dish towels you see on display in stores. You won’t find these towels in stores as they are hard to come by. These towels deliver a streak-free shine on glass and polishables with minimal effort. They are readily used for a variety of household chores as well as craft projects. They make the perfect candidate for a fundraising project. We also offer a graduating price on volume for printing your towels, the more you get printed, the lower the price per towel. Your artwork can be digitally uploaded, and we provide a virtual sample for your approval. We also offer assistance with your digital images at no additional charge.

Winning Flour Sack Tea Towel Fundraising Ideas

If we take an example from the UK and Canada, the elementary schools there often use the tea towel to capture self-portraits of the children either in an organized display or in a scatter. Included with these endearing hand-drawn depictions are the school’s name, a logo, if they have one, and a decorative border. They get these towels printed by a company that gives them the best price for their volume and helps work with the graphics to develop the perfect class alumni album on a towel. Each child receives the same size blank sheet on which to create their portrait. Sometimes that is just a drawing of their face, others draw themselves from head to toe, and still others are not as careful to include the feet or even a head. These are comical and eclectic and so much fun to see when all the images are brought together in one collective group. With each passing year, it is possible to trace their progression. For younger kids, another option is to get them to use their hand to stamp their individual hand-print. It is done the same way as the self-portraits with each child given the same size piece of paper to help keep things uniform in size. When the array of colorful hands are displayed on a tea towel, there is a feeling of celebration and joy in the collective participation and benefit of the children. Making use of our printing services enables you to get a larger volume of pieces in shorter time. However, if you have industrious people who have the time, there are other ways to decorate tea towels. Some methods include:

• • Fabric markers

• • Fabric paints

• • Fabric dyes

• • Stamping inks

• • Machine or hand embroidery

• • Cross stitch

• • HTV

At Mary’s Kitchen, we offer both silk screening and direct-to-garment digital printing to embellish your tea towels with any design you please. Silk screening is a good choice for up to five different colors in a single design. You are provided a virtual sample to approve. Production time is 10-14 days. Digital printing can be full color, so if you plan to use a full color image, the detail is sharp and clear with resolutions up to 1440 x 720dpi. The size limit on this direct-to-garment printing is limited to 14 x 16-inches, which is still expansive for a class group image. The sales captured for these class group portraits are easily measured as the families, of course, will buy them. Then there are the extended family members. What makes the tea towels even more convenient is their minimal weight, which makes them painless to send off in the post to other family or friends who live afar. These printed towels deliver a loving memento of the child with their unique expression in a self-drawn portrait. The flour sack towel with its 100 percent heavy cotton content gives the families something that will last, even if they decide to make it part of their useful supply of kitchen towels. Often, the purchase quantity is increased so that mum can keep one in pristine condition while using others in the kitchen for everyone to see and enjoy, and of course, grandma wants her own set.

The Set is a Great Way to Go

Mary’s Flour sack towels make the best gift as a set of towels that follow a themed design. If you offer a set of towels as a premium in our fundraiser, you bring the price point up a bit more. Purchasing the towels to contribute to your fundraiser can net a great gift for the donor to give to someone they care for. Since the kitchen is both a place for comfort and humor, and there is no shortage of kitchen musings and one-liners that can be printed on a set of towels. Some examples are:

• • Sometimes I open my mouth and my mother comes out.

• • They should put more wine in a bottle so there’s enough for two people.

• • Don’t worry dishes, nobody’s doing me either.

• • Many have eaten here, few have died.

• • Last time I cooked hardly anyone got sick.

• • Blessed are those who do my dishes.

There are also tons of design ideas you can use for graphics. The kitchen is tied to all times and cultures from rustic to refined, from the shore to a landlocked paradise, from ancient to modern times and so many more ideas. Some examples of motifs are:

• • Monograms with a decorative flourish

• • Printing the name and logo of your favorite French restaurants or hotels

• • Retro stamps or branding from the old four sack companies

• • Artistic monochrome renderings of mason jars

• • Depictions of collected kitchen gadgets

• • Herbs, fruits or vegetables

• • Flora and Fauna

• • Seaside or nautical themes

• • Love and friendship

• • Fish, birds or butterflies

• • Kettles, cups and saucers, or stacked cups

• • Classic recipes

• • Famous fungi

• • Life on the farm

• • Seasonal

If you explore some examples of what is out there, you start to see all that is possible in a decorative kitchen towel. You can tailor your choices to your organization or to your donors and where or how they live.

Plan on Being Famous Fundraisers with Flour Sack Towels

Whether your flour sack tea towels are your own for use in your home or a commemorative offering in your fundraiser, we know you put your heart and soul into making them. In the same way, we put all our talent and skill into manufacturing and printing flour sack towels that will be beautiful items to cherish. Mary’s Kitchen towels are extremely popular, even in this modern age of eating on the go and using dishwashers instead of hand-washing and drying. This is due to the tea towel’s lasting appeal. An enduring work of art or message printed on them brings us memories of the moments they represent. Your kitchen towels also say something about you that is unique to your life and your home. A collection of amusing or eye-catching printed flour sack dish towels provide another way to add to your home décor. Make the mundane more interesting and meaningful with your own selection of beautiful kitchen towels. Fundraisers continue to be an attractive, well-priced choice of product offering that helps you get your message across. When you make them a recurring item in your efforts, they also record history. You never know how important they may become down the road. Some towels originating with a business or organization that stand the test of time and gain fame whether in your corner or over the world just may become a collector’s item. It is not unheard of for towels from your early days to fetch a sweet bid on E-bay. Even used, these towels hold up over the years and could still be a hot commodity depending on how your organization does over time.

Who Are the Fundraisers?

We have printed flour sack tea towels for numerous groups for their fundraising efforts. Among them are:

• • Schools

• • Playgroups

• • Colleges

• • Sports Teams

• • Scout Troops

• • Pet Shelters

• • Churches

• • Volunteer Groups 

These are just some examples of the groups that engage in fundraising efforts. Using flour sack towels as a go-getter is a real money maker. Typically, using images or graphics that relate to the group helps convey your mission. For example, scout troops have a troop number and the city can be shown along with examples of the varying activities for which they are awarded badges. Depicting the various badges is another option for graphics to have printed on the towels. Churches have chosen certain scripture verses to print on their towels. A line drawing of the church itself is another element that is familiar to the congregation. The church usually has a logo, and including the address or the city is another means of evangelism. We even had one church that included a complimentary bible wrapped in the towels. Pet shelters are notorious for needing funds. Tea towels would make a useful item for pet care. The images can be more than one, for instance, cats and dogs to satisfy both favorites for people who are giving money. In addition, text can be included that emphasizes ”Don’t shop. Adopt.” If more than one shelter is participating, more than one address or city can be printed on the towels to help people have quick access to the facility’s information. Sports teams are always looking for somewhere else to emblazon their team logo or mascot. Team spirit is both contagious and lucrative when spreading the word to get support for fundraising. When the team players are engaged, the selling becomes a family affair as all members will want to have one of these towels to keep. Any group or organization that needs a best seller for their fundraiser will find success with flour sack towels. For those who have industrious people helping in the effort, we have seen them sew towels together to make tote bags. There are simple patterns available in craft stores or online, and it goes a lot faster if you have a sewing machine handy. In one case, single towels were printed then used as the front side or facing side of the tote bag. Depending on the size of the bag, it can take one or two towels to make. This is yet another way to provide a useful memento of your event.

Ways to Approach Potential Donors

It is an interesting fact that donors have admitted to fundraisers that they would give more to charity if only they were approached more often. Largely, these are organizations that are simply asking for contributions without providing any items that donors could keep for their efforts. Offering a tea towel allows you to establish a minimum contribution. If you prefer to keep the contributions strictly to sales, then your earnings will be only from your sales. If you offer a tea towel as a premium for a minimum contribution, at least you are recouping your expense, but then you give your donors the opportunity to make the donation amount whatever they desire. You may choose to offer the tea towel as premium regardless of amount for one-time donors to show the impact they have. Many groups and individuals have turned to crowdfunding to gain resources for their mission. This can be useful for one-time efforts, but repetition in this arena can wear on donors. When there is any regular need or plan to fund an organization on a recurring basis, it is better to plan a program that recognizes the donors in a more personal way. One thing that has become clear in recent years with fundraising is personalizing. It helps build relationships and appeal to different demographics. If your reach is broad, you can take the time to get to know your donor base. You can specialize your messaging as well as account for generational differences.

Technology Can be the Best Tool in Your Arsenal

Email has been a mainstay in internet marketing, and it is no different with fundraising, especially if you have graphics to show of the tea towels you have to offer. You can produce a variety for choice, sets to ensure you garner a specific price point or individual towels that allow donors the ultimate choice. If you set up a webpage as part of your contact, you can achieve direct sales through e-commerce. There are numerous affordable options these days, and if your venture is powerful enough, it can continue to be used for fundraising throughout the year or for recurring donation. There are online donation applications that offer a powerful and efficient donation management system such as Donorbox. Linking your sites in your email signature box, in newsletters and in shared social media posts are some ways to both actively and passively promote your program. This profile opportunity allows you to express the benefits of your organization, offering support and encouragement. When you have a page or a place where donors can access your fundraising materials, you help to establish a peer-to-peer environment. Open doors allow donors to see what you are doing. Organizing an event gives donors and beneficiaries a chance to meet. Reaching out in this way is also a natural way to engage with potential volunteers should you find you need them. This is also a means of furthering the mission beyond simply donating. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been useful for non-profits to gather data for better use to advance their mission. In the case of a non-profit helping at-risk youth refrain from self-harm or suicide, it has been used to help identify young people who might be at risk. For example, Crisis Text Line’s service has achieved the ability to learn the term “ibuprofen,” which has been able to better predict the need for emergency response over the word “suicide.” Still in the nascent stage, chatbots and messaging apps present an opportunity for the non-profit. Chatbots can tackle donations, member registrations and disseminating information about your services. Personalize communication and nurture prospective donors using tailored messages based on real-time feedback. AI is one way to push the possibilities in your organization.

Fundraising Trends Can Boost Your Goals

If you approach corporate sponsorship, you can tailor your towels to include their brand to further your non-profit’s mission. If you are approaching more than one corporate donation, you can include the multiple logos on one towel that designates the year, the name of the event and all the businesses that have participated. This gives a company the chance to demonstrate their social or environmental commitments within the community. Nowadays, more than 8 in 10 donors to fundraisers express concerns about how their contributions will end up being used or if their gifts will even make a difference. Taking this into consideration in your communications also gives you an opportunity as a fundraiser to reassure your potential donors. This may even be a motto you include in your imaging in one way or another. Transparency goes a long way in assuring your donors what to expect. Forward-thinking fundraising organizations that stay aware of what is happening in the world around them in terms of their demographic and how they use technology are less likely to fail in their efforts. You must judge your target audience and how best to reach them. In the same way, tailoring a flour sack tea towel as a purchase point or as a premium gives you a universal item that is useful in driving your donations and sales.

Final Thoughts on Fundraising with Flour Sack Tea Towels

If you are planning a fundraiser and want to get in on a sure thing, contact us today with your ideas. You can bounce your ideas off our experts who can help answer your questions and provide suggestions or other ideas that will work for your program. As you are thinking which process to use and what custom design you want to achieve, there are some things to be mindful of. With our printing processes, the type of material or fabric you choose can influence the outcome of the process. If you have settled on a magnificent design and an excellent printing process, it may still only achieve a poor result if a lower quality fabric is used. At Mary’s Kitchen, we take advantage of the latest technologies to offer both quality results and bulk-order discounts that challenge some competitor’s screen-printing discounts. When you are considering ordering print services from us, we encourage your questions and trust that you will be inquisitive. We are happy to show you our portfolio and encourage you to check out our reviews. Contact us today and let’s get that fundraiser going so you can provide for your donors while you make your money!

WRITTEN BY:

Clara Rosewood

Clara Rosewood is a home enthusiast passionate about tea towels, inventive kitchen hacks, and elegant home decor. In her articles, she blends creativity with practicality to turn everyday spaces into inviting and functional sanctuaries.