Sweet Charity Cookies

I’m Christopher Trela–welcome to Sweet Charity Cookies!

The concept for Sweet Charity Cookies has been simmering for some time. I started baking cookies just for fun more than 20 years ago, but after I won second and third place ribbons at the Orange County Fair for my chocolate chip cookies, people who tried the cookies kept telling me I needed to start selling them.

But I didn’t want to simply sell cookies, I wanted to help others by sharing the profits. Having been on the board of directors for several small nonprofit organizations, I know the big impact even small donations can make.

And so, Sweet Charity Cookies was born. The name comes from the 1960s musical “Sweet Charity,” and the names of the cookies are also related to musicals(“Phantom” chocolate chip, “Damn Yankees” peanut butter, etc.).

I’ve been the Director of Public Relations for several nonprofit arts organizations, including Pacific Symphony and Laguna Playhouse. I currently have a boutique PR agency called ArtsPR that works with arts groups, which is where my passion lies. I also put that passion to use when I served four years as an Arts Commissioner for the City of Newport Beach.

And for those who don’t know me–in addition to ArtsPR, I’m the editor of the Newport Beach Independent, and I co-write the Off the Menu dining column with Catherine Del Casale, my partner in dough for Sweet Charity Cookies.

I’m also an Adjunct Professor of PR and Marketing at Chapman University. One of my classes is PR Campaigns, in which my students create PR campaigns for four to five nonprofit organizations every semester.

Catherine was my student at Chapman University several years ago, and now works for Saddleback Memorial Foundation, the fundraising arm of Saddleback Memorial Medical Center (a not-for-profit hospital). She is also the co-writer of Off the Menu, and the inspiration behind the Sweet Charity anime logo.

Laura Wise, Vice President of ArtsPR, will facilitate the accounting and order processing for Sweet Charity Cookies. Laura is a Chapman University grad who helped start ArtsPR six years ago.

The Concept

Here’s the basic concept of Sweet Charity Cookies: I want to partner with a different small nonprofit organization every month (there are hundreds of them in Orange County alone). Half of the net profits from all cookie sales that month go to the charity. The more cookies I sell, the more money I can give to that charity.

Sweet Charity Cookies will be sold mainly via our website, although we intend to go to Farmers Markets and other retail locations and sell the cookies. We’ll start small and build up steam, so eventually we can be giving significant donations to a variety of charities–donations that can have a life-changing impact on the charity.

What We Need & What You Get

Our Indiegogo campaign is for $5,000, a seemingly small amount, but we want to start small. That initial dough (pun intended) will help pay for kitchen rental at The Hood Kitchen in Costa Mesa, baking/packaging/mailing supplies, website and logo design, and related startup costs.

We have a variety of fun and unique perks for those who can contribute to our campaign, from a dozen cookies (of course!) to naming a cookie-of-the-month after yourself or a loved one. You could even enjoy a private wine and cookie party for 10 people.

The Impact

Once our 30 day campaign is done and we get the initial funding (no matter the total amount raised), we can start partnering with nonprofits, and baking and selling cookies, within a couple of weeks.

This means that by the end of 2015, we can donate hundreds of dollars (and possibly several thousand dollars) to at least three charities. We’ll gain momentum and help more charities, and contribute more funds, in 2016 and beyond.

One challenge we have: too much success. We want to sell as many cookies as possible, but need to make sure we have the capacity to fill all the orders we anticipate getting. That’s why we want to start small and grow as we learn what the demand will be for Sweet Charity Cookies

Ways You Can Help

In addition to contributing to our campaign and buying cookies once they’re for sale, you can help us by spreading the word about Sweet Charity Cookies. We’ll be using our social media platforms to get the word out and hope you’ll share our posts, and our passion, for this project.

Summary:
I want to partner with a different small nonprofit organization every month (there are hundreds of them in Orange County alone). Half of the net profits from all cookie sales that month go to the charity. The more cookies I sell, the more money I can give to that charity.

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrM7YsRmbrw
See Campaign: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/sweet-charity-cookies#/story
Contact Information:
Christopher Trela
Catherine Del Casale

Tags:
Indiegogo, United States, Reward, English, Food, California, Food and Beverage, Industry verticals, Regions, Types of Crowdfunding deal, Language

Source: ICNW

Sweet Charity Cookies: Sharing our profits with charities, one cookie at a time

Sweet Charity Cookies