Know the Results

Recently there was a conversation between some of our “staff” and our intern while we were setting up the new Patreon site, www.patreon.com/CardzforKidz. The baseline for this discussion was how can we start to increase donations without scaring away current participants. 

This conversation was primarily sparked as we now have international shipping fees based on our partnerships with special locations in Canada and Mexico (Dr Sonrisas, St Joseph’s Health Center, and Reseau Selecion).

We’re trying to think of creative ways to raise funds besides our Donate page and our GoFund Me page. Also, as we point out on ALL of our videos Cardz for Kidz! is completely free for everyone…..but us. So, yes, thanks to some people (e.g. David and Shante), some groups have been able to provide the best of both worlds – cash & cards, but as expected that’s been rare.

Since we’ve received a bunch of cards from Central America, we decided to do a test package to Honduras! After our test shipment of cards to that country, we realized that although those smiles are priceless, it’s VERY expensive and hard to do! Therefore, we’ll likely have to revert to our original plan and hope that people are willing to Carry a Bit More.

As you can see, now that we’re shipping cards to our northern and southern neighbors, as well as increasing the number of destinations in the USA, our shipping costs are continually increasing. Finally, we have our promise that we’ll make sure that every destination we work with has at least one DVD player and the Lion King and we agreed we’d help another hospital make sure they always have enough Beanie Babies to fill Noah’s Ark.

Now, even with all of that talk about how essential monetary donations are, we still think cards are better are both ends. So here we go with more of our “100% open and honest” talk. We’ll give you a glimpse into our backend analysis for Q2 2016 as of 6/29/16.

• $520 for shipping fees
• $222 Cardz for Kidz! stickers for the back of cards
• $14 transportation to and from the children’s hospital

Unfortunately, as of June 29^th we had received only $65 in donations in Q2 2016. Now the distinct benefit of delivering a card is, you know, the results! Every hospital, shelter and/or home that we partner with understands that they need to deliver all the cards room to room. 

With that official pinky promise in mind, you know that as long as you don’t write ‘Get Well Soon’, your card is going to impact and reach a disheartened child.

In summary, we’d love it if some of the corporations and groups we partner with added financial support, (please note how we used added not replaced) but we still think creating quality cards is what’s most rewarding for everyone involved. With those card donations, you KNOW THE RESULTS of your labor will be a smile.

#KnowTheResults #UpliftingSpirits

To see more pictures and stories please check out our website www.cardzforkidz.org, like us on Facebook page, follow us on Twitter, visit our Google+ page, or visit our LinkedIn page! Also, check out some of our videos on YouTube or pictures on Instagram!

Streets of Chicago

Now this is something that’s going to be obvious for A LOT of people, but did you know that just because a company’s logo is on the outside of a building, it doesn’t mean that the company owns the entire building?!?! :)

For some folks who grew up in small towns, when arriving in big cities, like Chicago, you are amazed by the skylines. There are SO many tall buildings. Some with names/logos that you see ALL over TV and others that you’ve never heard of before. One thing that’s interesting is that those companies often only have a certain number of floors in the building and sign agreements with the real estate companies that if they rent/buy a certain amount, that  their logo will go up on the outside of the building as additional advertising/marketing.

Here’s how it connects with Cardz for Kidz! in two manners. First, you can now note, although there are nearly 50 logos up on our site, more than 50 groups have joined in to help make over 20,000 cards! Also, while walking around downtown Chicago it’s fun to see some of the logos that are on the sides of buildings up on our site. Here are just a couple examples.

• Huron Consulting Group

•  USG

• Morningstar

Now while you’re walking through the STREETS OF CHICAGO or other big cities, you’ll notice a bunch of logos on the side of buildings, but please note, similar to our Participants tab, there are many other vital contributors who help keep the building up and running.

#StreetsOfChicago #UpliftingSpirits

To see more pictures and stories please check out our website www.cardzforkidz.org, like us on Facebook page, follow us on Twitter , visit our Google+ page, or visit our LinkedIn page! Also, check out some of our videos on YouTube!