PPB September 2021

believed in what I was doing, and how I could use my business to help others and also help the 501(c)(3) nonprofit “communi- TEE” and socially-conscious companies throughout the U.S. We have chosen the .org domain to market and promote our brand, but as our website clearly states, we are a for-profit company. We use our profits to help the community through various donations and scholarship programs, and we offer our nonprofit clients discounted pricing, free art and, when we can, free shipping. PPB What are some of the unique ways that ChariTEES works to help its nonprofit clients to raise awareness? Can you share a case study with us? Firestone Our ChariTEES CROWD program offers nonprofits a free sales page to sell tees and raise awareness and donations for their cause. Most small- and medium- sized businesses need a vehicle to do this that is all-inclusive, from art design and web hosting to printing and fulfillment/drop shipping services for individual donors and payment platforms. Our ChariTEES CROWD program addresses all these needs. We believe t-shirts and apparel continue to be the most popular and visible form of advertising in the promotional products arena, and this is why we concentrate on offering these products to our clients. We have a unique relationship with the National Coalition for the Homeless in Washington, D.C., and the shirts we sell are used to further their important mission to eradicate homelessness in the U.S. To see an example of how this program works, visit www. charitees.org/homeless-nch. We will also again offer scan technology for fundraising shirts, where we print a QR code on the sleeve or back of a tee, so potential donors can scan the shirt and the code will link to the charity’s donation page. PPB Can you share more about the other two services ChariTEES offers its clients: ChariTEES ON CAMPUS and ChariTEES STAR? Firestone Our ChariTEES ON CAMPUS program teaches and promotes volunteerism and fundraising to our younger generations using t-shirts. Students design a shirt and vote on the best design to be printed and sold at their school. They then learn about different charities, decide which they wish to support and hold a t-shirt fundraiser at school and via social media. ChariTEES supplies the shirts at wholesale cost and provides the promotional materials needed at no cost to promote this fundraiser at their school. Finally, the donations are sent to the chosen charity and recognition is given by the charity to the participating students. We also plan on growing ChariTEES ON CAMPUS with our ChariTEES ambassadors throughout the U.S. who promote our products and services to service clubs and organizations on campus. ChariTEES STAR understands and appreciates the power of social media and how it can raise donations through the efforts of high-profile individuals from the worlds of sports, entertainment and music, to design an exclusive collection of printed t-shirts that will raise awareness and donations for their favorite cause or charity. PPB What are some current areas of focus for ChariTEES? Firestone We continue to do good things with t-shirts and raise as much money as possible to give back to the community and/or to offer free services to our nonprofit clients. COVID-19 caused a setback in donations for all nonprofits and we feel it is important to help them in any way we can. We recently started the OveRRuns Project, and we hope that we can attract more vendors in the promotional products industry to help us. To run the program, we need their donations of misprinted, discontinued, cancelled or returned items, such as apparel, socks, blankets, towels, backpacks, toiletries or their overruns that are suitable for donation to our network of homeless and abuse shelters across the U.S. We are also growing our webstore, corporate gifting and employee incentive programs using apparel and promotional products, and we hope to launch a national ChariTEES t-shirt contest to further raise donations and awareness for community causes. For more information on how you or your business can help ChariTEES achieve its mission, visit www.charitees.org. To make a donation, email jeff@charitees.org and mention “OveRRuns" in the subject line. Danielle Renda is associate editor of PPB. Camp Treasure is an initiative of AACY that serves as a respite camp for children who serve as caregivers for a family or household member, which ChariTEEs also helps to support. COVID-19 caused a setback in donations for all nonprofits andwe feel it is important tohelp themin anywaywe can.We recently started the OveRRuns Project, andwe hope that we can attractmore vendors in the promotional products industry tohelp us. To run the program, we need their donations of misprinted, discontinued, cancelled or returned items. | SEPTEMBER 2021 | 79 THINK

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