Quilt Guild Fundraising Ideas

Ask local businesses to donate items for quilt guild fundraisers.

Quilt guilds are groups of people who enjoy quilting. They meet to swap patterns, discuss methods of quilting and sometimes event quilt together. Quilt guilds often raise funds to purchase materials and supplies for the quilts they are going to make. Sometimes these quilts are then donated to area families or organizations who can use the quilted blankets.

Quilt Raffle

Create a quilt that everyone in the quilt guild works on. After selecting a design and color pattern, each person can quilt a square or two. When the squares are completed, the guild can meet to attach them together. In the interim, guild members can print and sell raffle tickets for a pre-determined amount at various town events. Parades, music concerts and sporting events are ideas of places where raffle tickets can be sold. Be sure to check with your state regulations if you need to obtain a permit to hold the quilt raffle. Once the date of the raffle arrives, hold a guild meeting where the winning raffle ticket is selected.

Quilt Auction

Create an auction event for the quilt guild. Members of the guild should agree to quilt at least five quilts to be auctioned off. In the interim, guild members should secure a location to hold their auction. Town theaters or school gymnasiums will often donate the use of their facility to a local guild. The type of auction can be either silent, where people pass through and write their bid down, or live, where people bid against one another. It all depends on the quilting community and how significant its outreach is in the city or town. Other ideas are to make smaller quilts for babies or children, which are faster to produce and can add to the stock of items you are going to auction. At the auction, you can also sell homemade refreshments to help boost funds.

Dinner

If the quilt guild meets in a location with a kitchen, such as a church basement or local school, then you can ask permission to hold an event where you can make use of the kitchen. Prepare a spaghetti, chicken or fish dinner for the community and sell tickets to the evening. Ask local grocers to donate food and beverages to keep costs low. You can also decorate the room with various quilts that the guild has made and which are for sale. Advertise the dinner on local community websites and by placing flyers at local businesses.

Quilt Puzzles

Rather than holding an event for a fundraiser, you can create a sellable item that will be available all year long in the form of a quilt puzzle. A quilt puzzle is a package that contains all the material needed to make a quilt. The design of the quilt is that of a puzzle where 16 pieces make up the final quilt. This activity can be completed with children to inspire their love of quilt making. Create five to 10 quilt puzzle packages, and list them for sale on your quilt guild website. You can link to PayPal as a payments system and use the USPS flat rate shipping boxes to ship the quilts. These make excellent gifts for birthdays or holidays. Just remember to price the quilt puzzles high enough so that you are making a profit on them.

References

• Blount County Quilters Guild
• Uncommon Quilts: Guild Fundraising