A note arrived recently: “Please accept this donation in honor of my mother. She loved to sew and she would love knowing that her love inspired me to make it possible for someone else to sew.”
This gift, given so graciously through our Forget Me Not program, helps us to help others. The donor’s mother’s name was added to our Forget Me Not page and the donation was celebrated by The Sewing Machine Project.
We are funded by private donations. Occasionally a private organization or corporate group will make a gift and these are such beautiful surprises, but the gifts from individuals are what fuels us the most. The Sewing Machine Project is a “small but mighty” grassroots group. The bulk of funding goes to ship machines, to support education, and to purchase supplies for classes. And some funding must go for infrastructure. We are celebrating 10 years of service in 2015–not a small milestone! And with age and growth comes the need to evaluate the foundation we are building. Among the foundational pieces we are working on:
purchasing software to manage our amazing volunteer base;
paying a technician to train us to ensure that machines going out are consistently in good working order;
evaluating and purchasing more effective donor software.
Years ago, when the Sewing Machine Project was in its infancy, a friend asked me “do you want this organization to grow broadly or deeply?” And without hesitation, I answered “deeply”. And it is. Each decision, each donation, each expenditure is considered thoughtfully, making sure our compass is holding onto our core values. We carefully evaluate whether our decisions align with our core vision. And they do.
Please consider The Sewing Machine Project in your year end giving. We will shepherd your gifts with wisdom and care.
