I Need Your Ideas!

Just want to say, I’m so sorry for what your person, you and your family are going through.

Anne- I’m so sorry to hear about your person and the financial strain you’re going through. I don’t have any ideas (outside of Sweet Zhang, lol), but I will contribute to it regardless.

I just want to add to the above – I am so sorry this hard thing is happening! My prayers are with you all!

Special fund raising tea – I am trying not to buy a lot of tea, but I remember a company that donated to mental health foundations. They had a “thinking of you” or “you are loved” type of box you could buy. It came with a heart shaped spoon to scoop the tea, a little card, and several teas. There may have been an infuser as well? Al these items were quite inexpensive ones but it made a nice package.

So….for all us folks with too much tea, maybe a package of tea we could send as a special “you are loved” gift! No one will bat an eye if we send one to ourselves, too! But it could be a fun thing to give away as a surprise for the recipient!

Otherwise, special blends (they don’t have to be unique to the fundraiser) that will have a contribution built in to the price? Or a box with several kinds of tea in it. You could also add a plain old donate button to the site that is a straight donation. I don’t know how that works out for tax purposes, though.

Our thoughts are with you! Darn it, I wish I could fix you a piece of pound cake with strawberries and give you a hug! (Unless you are not a hugger. I do have a little self-control.)

Anne, joining the chorus to say how sorry I am to hear about your person and the strain that’s putting on your family. Wishing you all peace and comfort as you navigate this difficult time.

As for a fundraiser, another idea is to do a raffle. That’s admittedly a bit more of a gamble – if you don’t sell enough tickets to offset costs, it could backfire. But you could put together a couple of more elaborate gift boxes with some reblends or raffle-specific blends and things that feel fancy but aren’t super expensive (dollar stores, thrift stores, Cost Plus, and Asian markets are my go-to sources).

Other ideas that may or may not be useful:
- an online class of some kind
- an auction rather than a raffle
- a collaboration with another tea or tea-related company (recognizing that this may be the WORST time for this idea given that you’re dealing with so much else)
- tier rewards/incentives for various levels of contributions (stickers, pins, etc. can be useful here, and can be as simple as featuring your logo if you’re not great with graphic design)

Whatever you decide to do, I’ll chip in!

Just seeing this now — I’m so sorry you are going through so much. I’ll hold you and your family in my thoughts.

I like the idea of a raffle, or some special blends, or even adding a donation button to your site — I bet plenty of folks would want to help that way!

Asking for help can be tough; I appreciate you reaching out. Hope you are able to come up with some ideas.

I’m so sorry to hear what’s going on, Anne!

Something I’ve always been interested in is the chance to create my own blend. Or at the very least, request a flavour combination. I know you’ve offered this as a contest reward in the past, but perhaps offering that opportunity for a price (plus say, a purchase of 4oz of the tea minimum), would be of interest? It certainly would be to me. Presumably the tea could then be crafted and included as a weekly tea. I’m sure there would have to be some rules/guidelines to work within to make this feasible, and perhaps also an extended timeline for delivery. (I feel like you might already allow this for VITs, but perhaps with a bigger purchase committment that not everyone can make?)

Not sure if this might be too much work on your end, but maybe a limited number of opportunities might work?

I also will say that reblending some of those white teas, or VITs, that keep being asked for would almost certainly entice me to make a purchase outside my regular subscription (e.g. along the lines of your printer fundraiser, which I may or may not have participated in, as I don’t clearly remember it).

Either way, the best way to entice me to purchase is to offer something unique – so odds are good if you create a new tea (or teas), as long as they don’t contain my most disliked ingredients, I’ll buy it.

Thank you to everyone who has posted to this topic – I truly appreciate all of your input, I value what you have to say.

So far, I just mentioned this in the post above, but I wanted to create a new post to let everyone know in case they miss that response.

I’m currently working on two limited edition, fundraiser blends. They are:

Cherries Jubilee Bai Mu Dan – this will be made with a Yunnan grown Bai Mu Dan – and it will be crafted in a very limited quantity.

Sweet Zhang Black Tea – Crafted with a Gu Zhang base & organic vanilla beans. This will also be crafted in a very limited quantity.

When they’re ready, I will be sending out a special notice via my email program as well as posting here.

I am working on a few other ideas as suggested here – PLEASE keep those ideas coming – I love hearing them from you. I also appreciate all of your kind words. Thank you!