Starting a charity website?

Question

I was thinking of creating a website selling homemade items (exactly what I'm not sure yet...original clothing designs, t-shirts, bags, jewelry, maybe a mix of all of them, etc...), with profits going to charity. From your experience, how well do homemade things sell online, typically? Would I need some kind of certification to do this? This wouldn't be a charity directly; the money would be given to another charity (btw, do you have any suggestions of good causes?)

Answer 1

You need to talk to the charity first -- any income you generate either needs to go directly to them (bypassing you entirely). Otherwise, you will have to pay taxes on this income, even if you donate it. Also, charities prefer you get their permission before you start raising money on their behalf.

Look locally in your own area for a charity that might be interested in selling your items via their web site. They will want to see samples, so they can know they are of high quality.

Most successful online shops are run by people with lots of experience running offline shops -- they know the law regarding sales, how to accept credit card donations, how to market, how to provide excellent customer service, how to record sales for audits, etc. If you've never done this, you should probably get some experience first in an onsite shop.