Olive Tree Promise

I wanted to tell EVERYONE about a website that is designed to help families who are adopting.  Whether you are an adopting family or someone who is trying to support an adopting family, you need to know about this site.  It's called Olive Tree Promise (OTP), and you can click on it on the right side of my blog.

I'll explain, but let me define a few terms first.  (Hang with me.  I may get wordy!)

Vendor - the person selling an item
Buyer - the person buying an item
Family - the family fundraising for an adoption
Cost - the amount the vendor receives
Retail - the amount the buyer pays
Family Cut - the amount left over between the cost and the retail prices

Example (I'm making up these prices!)
1.  A Vendor lists a t-shirt for sale.  He sets the cost at $7.  Then he sets the retail price at $12.  The vendor has already included a little for shipping in the cost.  That way shipping is included for the buyer.  The difference is the Family Cut (12-7= $5).
2.  Next, a buyer comes to the website.  They see the t-shirt and put it in their cart.
3.  During checkout, they are asked to choose a family.  They can pick the family who told them they were on here, or they can pick someone at random.  (You can even browse the families by country and read their profiles.  Remember, we are Bulgaria!)  The buyer pays $12 for the t-shirt and receives it later in the mail.
4.  OTP processes the payment (usually sending out checks once a month).  They send $7 to the vendor and $5 to the family.
5.  The vendor receives his $7.  Out of this he pays for shipping and his cost for making/buying the product.  Then he ships the t-shirt directly to the buyer.
6.  The family receives a check for $5 and deposits it into their adoption fund.  

It doesn't get much easier than that!!

Now, here's the icing on the cake.  Listen up, you adoptive families!  If you have something you have created to sell as your own fundraiser, sell it here!  I designed and made bracelets to sell for our adoption.  Sales went fine for a while but have now slowed down a lot.  After I registered with OTP as a family, I registered again as a vendor.  Then I began adding new products.  I listed my bracelets as well as some large and small American flag magnets.  (We had a ton of these magnets donated to us.)  So, let's pretend for a moment that I am selling that t-shirt up above for $12.

Scenario 1)  Someone buys the t-shirt AND chooses our family.  I get $7 for being the vendor and $5 for being the family.  I get the whole $12 (minus shipping and my original investment in the t-shirt).

Scenario 2)  Someone buys the t-shirt I am selling but supports a different family.  Now, I get the $7 as the vendor, and the other family gets the $5.  I'm cool with that because I might not have sold the t-shirt at all on my own.  If your friends buy it while supporting you, at least I get a little something out of it for MY adoption.  And I get to help you too!

Scenario 3)  Someone buys a CD (that I am not selling), but they DO choose my family to support.  I still get the Family Cut for this product even though it's not mine!  So ordering ANY product while supporting us will help us raise funds for our adoption.

Right now there are only a few families and a few products.  But they have t-shirts, CDs, necklaces, burp cloths, and more.  You can even purchase a Donation like baby formula for Ethiopia or mosquito nets for Zambia.  Of course, you can ALWAYS just buy up my bracelets and magnets, though!  (Is it too early to push these a great Christmas gifts?  Well, they are!)

So, go to Olive Tree Promise if you want to support us, if you are fundraising for your own adoption, or if could list items for sell and give a portion of the proceeds to an adopting family.

By the way, I'm always open to other ideas of something I could make and sell on here.  I would love to continue selling things here for other families even after our adoption is completed.

(Whew!  I hope that made sense...)