Need ideas/donations for my awesome charity

[benjaminwah]

Hi everyone, I formed a charity that provides free cover up tattoos for survivors of human trafficking/domestic violence and former gang members. I was recently covered on ABC News

Lakeview tattoo artist helps domestic violence survivors rewrite their stories

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and a Lakeview tattoo artist is helping survivors rewrite their stories.

abc7chicago.com

I'd love to do a tournament to raise some funds for the charity and hold a raffle. I've attempted to contact some big suppliers and see if they would consider donating, but no responses. Does anyone have any direct contact info for someone at a pool supply company that I can reach out to? We are a 501c3 so all donations are 100% tax deductible.

Thanks! Ben

 

[benjaminwah]

Here’s some examples of the work I have been doing

 

[MitchAlsup]

Why would anyone get a tattoo ???

 

[JolietJames]

Interesting idea.
Are victims of domestic violence often forced to get tattoos or are you just helping them erase the name of their previous partner?
Do traffickers "brand" their victims to label and keep track of them?
If so, are they really that fancy? I was expecting to see XY123 on a victims arm before seeing the pics.

 

[benjaminwah]

Interesting idea.
Are victims of domestic violence often forced to get tattoos or are you just helping them erase the name of their previous partner?
Do traffickers "brand" their victims to label and keep track of them?
If so, are they really that fancy? I was expecting to see XY123 on a victims arm before seeing the pics.

Yeah, those are their abuser's names. If you ever listen to the YouTube channel Soft White Underbelly there are lots of interviews with women who have been trafficked. It doesn't happen the way you think. Many will spoil them rotten and gradually push them towards prostitution. They prey on women who are extremely vulnerable. The stories you hear on that YouTube channel are so crazy. These guys are pros at manipulation.

 

[CocoboloCowboy]

Have you considered going to local community and trying to get silent auction prizes, or having raffle of prizes non Pool Related?

Thing like:

Restaurant Gift Cards.

Car Wash Cupons., etc. Let you mind think out of the box.

See your Charity is a Non Profit? Surprise the News story did not make you email blowup with offer of help.

 

[JolietJames]

Yeah, those are their abuser's names. If you ever listen to the YouTube channel Soft White Underbelly there are lots of interviews with women who have been trafficked. It doesn't happen the way you think. Many will spoil them rotten and gradually push them towards prostitution. They prey on women who are extremely vulnerable. The stories you hear on that YouTube channel are so crazy. These guys are pros at manipulation.

Let me know what/when you get something together.
I'll donate something for the raffle.

 

[benjaminwah]

Have you considered going to local community and trying to get silent auction prizes, or having raffle of prizes non Pool Related?

Thing like:

Restaurant Gift Cards.

Car Wash Cupons., etc. Let you mind think out of the box.

See your Charity is a Non Profit? Surprise the News story did not make you email blowup with offer of help.

Lots of people saw it and wanted to get tattooed. Zero support.

 

[CocoboloCowboy]

Lots of people saw it and wanted to get tattooed. Zero support.

Have you set up a GOFUNDME?

I think your cause might get donations?

 

[Mensabum]

Have you considered going to local community and trying to get silent auction prizes, or having raffle of prizes non Pool Related?

Thing like:

Restaurant Gift Cards.

Car Wash Cupons., etc. Let you mind think out of the box.

See your Charity is a Non Profit? Surprise the News story did not make you email blowup with offer of help.

His Tatts carry the same stigma that pool does to the normies.

 

[Mensabum]

Why would anyone get a tattoo ???

Possesion mark.

 

[benjaminwah]

GoFundMe is a scam. I recently read they set up over a million fake accounts for charities without telling them.

 

[jeephawk]

Do you have a venue/format/dates/local sponsors? If you want businesses you aren't already "networked" with contributing money you need to be making appointments and pitching your cause/event in person and helping them understand what they get out of it and hopefully setting up something other than a one off contribution. I'm guessing here and elsewhere are resources to draw upon for a successful charitable pool tournament but what is the notion driving the thought that is the best event to raise funds? Lots of knocking on doors, ideas for events needed, getting invites to present at local clubs and so forth, pounding the pavement if you need to raise a lot of money on a consistent basis.

 

[jeephawk]

Looks like the idea has been around the area for awhile, not that there can't be more doing it, great cause but . . . competition? It's survived or maybe in a new form - what's been its secret, if it has one?

Nonprofit organization rewrites past experiences

A nonprofit in Chicago doesn’t do your typical charity work. This organization does tattoos.

www.wqad.com

 

[maha]

so do you do tattoos and or go over them and get paid for it. or you do it for free for the charity.

why would this charity need money? wouldn't any decent tattoo parlor help out these people for free? it isnt like they would have a big line of them out the door. be great for their business and a write off as well.

and why arent you trying to get these people a job and then they can just pay for it themselves. isnt that a better result.

and of course any charity should or has to publish where 100% of the money goes and is spent. and that should be included with when asking for the donation.

 

[jeephawk]

so do you do tattoos and or go over them and get paid for it. or you do it for free for the charity.

why would this charity need money? wouldn't any decent tattoo parlor help out these people for free? it isnt like they would have a big line of them out the door. be great for their business and a write off as well.

and why arent you trying to get these people a job and then they can just pay for it themselves. isnt that a better result.

and of course any charity should or has to publish where 100% of the money goes and is spent. and that should be included with when asking for the donation.

Whoa there.

Just could be there are a lot more individuals affected by this than you seem to assume and no, simply providing a free service to anyone as a small business isn't automatically any kind of write off, and this wouldn't be, absent the IRS allowing tax deductibility for a nonprofit. Kind of an uninformed comment. There isn't an unlimited amount of time in a week to try and make a living at what someone does they can simply provide a lot of time, incur a lot of costs for charitable causes, regardless of you telling them they should.

He said he is connected with a group and if you look it up they provide all sorts of services including help with employment or reintegration and so forth as necessary. This gentleman is offering a needed service within the context of what he knows how to do and his area of expertise.

 

[middleofnowhere]

Whoa there.

Just could be there are a lot more individuals affected by this than you seem to assume and no, simply providing a free service to anyone as a small business isn't automatically any kind of write off, and this wouldn't be, absent the IRS allowing tax deductibility for a nonprofit. Kind of an uninformed comment. There isn't an unlimited amount of time in a week to try and make a living at what someone does they can simply provide a lot of time, incur a lot of costs for charitable causes, regardless of you telling them they should.

He said he is connected with a group and if you look it up they provide all sorts of services including help with employment or reintegration and so forth as necessary. This gentleman is offering a needed service within the context of what he knows how to do and his area of expertise.

If you boil it down, it sounds like he will provide the service but wants to be paid. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays my wife goes to the food bank, loads up her truck and distributions food to a number of families.

She doesn't ask to be paid. At the food bank they are all volunteers. Most of the food comes from Publix, Costco, Walmart and a few others. No one is getting paid. They do it because they want to.

Many years ago I got involved in a homeless feeding program. After a while I came to discover the money we were donating, I was giving $400.00 a month, was mostly being pocketed by the Priest who was running it. Food he said was being bought was actually donated.
Here's the thing, was he feeding people, yes. But he was also inriching himself.

One on one charity is a good way to help people. You can't help everyone but can make a small difference in the lives of a few. As far as the tattoo thing. It seems like the cost of a 2 inch cover up tattoo is not really that expensive.

Where is the money going that would be donated? It seems to the tattoo artist for his services. That's not charity, it's a revenue stream.

 

[jeephawk]

If you boil it down, it sounds like he will provide the service but wants to be paid. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays my wife goes to the food bank, loads up her truck and distributions food to a number of families.

She doesn't ask to be paid. At the food bank they are all volunteers. Most of the food comes from Publix, Costco, Walmart and a few others. No one is getting paid. They do it because they want to.

Many years ago I got involved in a homeless feeding program. After a while I came to discover the money we were donating, I was giving $400.00 a month, was mostly being pocketed by the Priest who was running it. Food he said was being bought was actually donated.
Here's the thing, was he feeding people, yes. But he was also inriching himself.

One on one charity is a good way to help people. You can't help everyone but can make a small difference in the lives of a few. As far as the tattoo thing. It seems like the cost of a 2 inch cover up tattoo is not really that expensive.

Where is the money going that would be donated? It seems to the tattoo artist for his services. That's not charity, it's a revenue stream.

Volunteers all over this great land do all sorts of things, but it's also the case that many services that are needed are subsidized in some way by charitable contributions - it's not a homogeneous landscape.

You're still making assumptions about what it takes to do this work - you don't know, so why make criticisms out of ignorance of the facts?

It very well may be that the artist (or maybe others as well) would have some expenses defrayed by contributions - the point is filling the gap from what he or others may be willing to simply do as you put it "one on one" and what it takes to reach more affected individuals, which you minimized and frankly marginalized in your previous post. No doubt contributors may want information about how the money is spent - whomever is raising the money would certainly be up front about it, no reason to jump to conclusions because you had a bad experience - you can always find a tale about a charity that didn't do what it should have been doing.

His question is about how to raise money as I see it, not about having people pick apart what he's doing in terms of his motives - not really fair or relevant.

 

[middleofnowhere]

Volunteers all over this great land do all sorts of things, but it's also the case that many services that are needed are subsidized in some way by charitable contributions - it's not a homogeneous landscape.

You're still making assumptions about what it takes to do this work - you don't know, so why make criticisms out of ignorance of the facts?

It very well may be that the artist (or maybe others as well) would have some expenses defrayed by contributions - the point is filling the gap from what he or others may be willing to simply do as you put it "one on one" and what it takes to reach more affected individuals, which you minimized and frankly marginalized in your previous post. No doubt contributors may want information about how the money is spent - whomever is raising the money would certainly be up front about it, no reason to jump to conclusions because you had a bad experience - you can always find a tale about a charity that didn't do what it should have been doing.

His question is about how to raise money as I see it, not about having people pick apart what he's doing in terms of his motives - not really fair or relevant.

When you put yourself out there publicly like this expect to be scrutinized.

 

[jeephawk]

When you put yourself out there publicly like this expect to be scrutinized.

He wants help with a pool tournament and raising money - wasn't asking for or deserves the keyboard chirping or "scrutiny".