niiji

Hi. There was a thread similar awhile ago, but I have some specific questions, if you can answer them please. How do you handle your charity projects? In a committee? If more than one person, what does each person do? Basically, how is it handled in your guild? Also, where do you meet and do you have to pay for the space? And lastly, how do you earn enough money for good speakers? Thank you for any info you can give.

Shelbie

For charity projects we have a Community Projects Committee (5 members). They select projects, store and organize fabric and patterns, arrange monthly work sessions, prepare "kits" to take home and stitch and return, find places to donate the finished quilts, write publicity reports for the local paper and Guild Newsletter and generate enthusiasm for all of this with other guild members. We have a large guild (135 members) and make over 100 quilts each year as well as placemats for Meals on Wheels and pillows and caps for the Cancer Society. We meet at the local Agricultural Fair Grounds for our general meetings and pay rent. If we have small groups (20) we can use the board room at our local Credit Union free of charge as long as we don't leave pins and thread on the carpet! Our guild is twenty years old and has gradually built up funds largely by the big quilt show we put on every three years which has made us $5000 + each time it has been held. We also have quilter's auction sales, quilt raffles, fees from workshops and other smaller fundraisers. Money isn't a problem for our guild now but it certainly was in the early days.

dunster

I belong to 3 guilds. Like in Goldilocks, they are small, medium, and large in size. They all pay for their space, varying amounts of course, and they handle charity projects in different ways, with varying levels of organization and control. In all 3 guilds, members are encouraged to bring in completed quilts or tops that they have made for charity. The large guild, as you would expect, has the most money for speakers, but the medium guild also brings in some good ones, just not as often, and the small guild does not have paid speakers, but occasionally finds someone in the community who will speak to us. I suspect that you will get all sorts of answers to your questions, but remember that what is right for one guild may not be right for another, especially if they are different in size.

cjsews

For money, my guild has dues, of coarse. We also have a quilters auction once a year. Quilters bring in stuff they will not use or just want to get rid of. Purchase tickets to WIN someone else's stash. Lots of fun and a great way to fund guild classes.

eparys

Our guild is medium size - we pay for our space in a bank community room which does not give us a lot for Big Name teachers. We too have an annual auction and dues. During the auction fabric is occasionally set aside and earmarked for the Charity Project.

There is a Charity Chairperson who organizes a sewing day once a year where we meet and sew from 9 - 5 and another ongoing project that sends small baby quilts to a local organization.Our big Charity has been QoV recently and for that members volunteer to sew, iron or cut - bringing their own equipment - on the sewing day. The Chairperson and a few helpers put together "kits" for the sewers. and several of the guild members have longarm and quilt the finished tops.

The baby quilts are small things that the members do on their own and bring in finished for donation.

niiji

So appreciate the feedback!

quilt addict

I am in one guild of medium size I guess about 60 people.

We meet at a city community park and pay rent for that room. We do sew-ins at a room at the local library that is free.

For raising money we have dues, auctions and opportunity quilt we sell raffle tickets for. We also do small opportunity quilts that are seasonal through out the year that we just sell chances at our meetings.

I am not sure but I think we have one person in charge of our charity project but some people help her out with making up kits for members to sew into quilts.

gigigray032447

We are small so we don't have speakers. We do meet at a church and the space is free. Our dues pay for batting and muslin for the comfort quilts we produce. Three times a year we meet at the church and sew. Sometimes we all make the same quilt pattern for the cancer patients and sometimes we work on our on projects. A few times a year we have a member demonstrate a technique that works particularly well or that the members are just interested in hearing about. At our next meeting members will bring their favorite tool and explain why they like it. (I will take my Kai scissors). We are loosely organized but have a president and a treasurer. Others are responsible for getting the quilts to the local cancer center. One orders the batting and muslin. One sets up the tables, extension cords and irons for the retreats. Others heat up the food and clean up after (we all contribute during the retreats and bring supper on Friday night, breakfast and lunch on Saturday). We have a guild member who is a member of the church and she coordinates our meetings and retreats with the church calendar to make sure there is no conflict. Some of our members go to church there but a lot do not. Our mission is comfort quilts so we are a little different than most of the guilds in the area and that narrows our focus which is why we don't have formalized programs. We do have a couple of sources for free fabric so we don't have to buy so much. You would also be amazed at the amount of fabric that is donated by area quilters. We keep I touch by email and meet the third Monday of every month.

Sandygirl

Every Guild should pay something for the space. Yes, even to a church. You are using heat, electricity, etc. we meet at a church and ESP. In the months of AC or heat, we use those resources for our meetings. Of course we pay a nominal fee and always have . I'm the only member of the Guild that is a member of the church. It is the right thing to do.....pay something for wherever your Guild meets.
Sandy

toverly

Our Guild has two groups that do Community Quilts. One meets in a member's home and the other at a sewing center in town. Both rely mostly on donated material for quilting or from the free table, though the Guild does give them some money to share for batting, thread, ects. The projects they give to are set by the members who first started the groups. If someone else in the Guild wants to give to a different group, they have to come up with their own quilting group. After all, the groups become like bees, with a common goal to give to xyz. It wouldn't be fair to have an uninvolved person come in and say where the groups work should go. But of course, anyone is welcome to the groups. They are not closed.