Charity52 Helps Non-profits Meet Their Largest Challenges One Shirt At A Time

Oct. 30, 2012 - PRLog -- According to a recent Convio survey 34% of charities list fundraising as their top issue and another 32% listed donor engagement as their top challenge.  Charity52 is dedicated to helping raise funds and awareness for nonprofit organizations as a core part of their business model.

For each t-shirt sold, Charity52 donates $8 to select charities to help further their mission.
Previous campaigns for organizations such as AdoptAClassroom.org and the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence have helped create a unique platform for the benefit of the donors
as well as the non-profit organization.

Charity52 was founded in the summer of 2012 by Chris Scharff and Alice Ruiz in Austin, Texas. Charity52’s founders believe that one person can make a difference and that every shirt sold helps to raise awareness and brings about real change.

In the spring of 2012, Alice was applying for a job in marketing with a Central Texas t-shirt company. As part of her interview preparations, she was developing marketing proposals to expand the company’s customer base. One of the ideas she came up with, was to market and sell t-shirts benefitting non-profits. She didn’t get the job, but the idea of raising money for charity using t-shirts stuck. Over the next few months Alice collaborated with Chris on developing a business plan to put her idea into action.

Chris has previously collaborated with a number of successful start-ups in Austin. Working with Alice, the idea of selling t-shirts to raise money for charity combined his love of the start-up environment with his desire to find a way to make a real difference in the world.

“Over the last 15 years, I’ve helped launch some great high tech start-ups in Austin, but honestly wasn’t really that excited about building the next ‘revolutionary’ technology platform. I was looking for something more; A business that wasn’t just about moving bytes on the wire,” said Chris Scharff, President of Charity52. “When Alice started telling me about her project I immediately saw the value the business model could have in the lives of others.”

Each week Charity52 offers a new limited edition t-shirt featuring a design by a nationally renowned artist. A full one third of the sales from that week’s shirt benefit one or more select charities.

“Being able to work on a project that potentially has a long lasting, positive impact on the lives of others is extremely gratifying” said Alice Ruiz, Executive Director of Charity52. “After many years of management and running my own business, it was refreshing to be able to step outside of my comfort zone and begin a program serving the needs of others”

This week’s campaign to end world hunger is dedicated to former Senator George McGovern who passed away last week at the age of 90. Senator McGovern was a strong supporter of a number of non-profit organizations dedicated to ending world hunger.
In the preface of The Third Freedom: Ending Hunger In Our Time McGovern wrote, “The earth has enough knowledge and resources to eradicate this ancient scourge. Hunger has plagued the world for thousands of years. But ending it is a greater moral imperative now than ever before, because for the first time humanity has the instruments at hand to defeat this cruel enemy at a very reasonable cost. We have the ability to provide food for all within the next three decades.”
Join us in honoring his legacy and help put an end to world hunger today. Visit www.charity52.com to learn more.

Contact info:
Alice Ruiz
Executive Director
Charity52
512-410-0004
Alice@charity52.com