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Charity and Fund Raising Calendars

Calendars are a popular tool for charities and other organisations who need to rely on public support for their income. The calendars can be produced by the charity directly or by companies/organisations who want to promote a particular charity and in some cases are produced by individuals who want to raise funds for their favourite cause. There are also specific websites that specifically sell calendars where at least 10% of the calendar price benefits the charity the calendar is dedicated to.

Probably the most well known of the Charity 'Fund Raising' calendars are the 'Naked Calendars' produced by groups who want to raise money for a particular local charity. These are not full nudes but individuals in a state of undress with their modesty protected by strategically positioned items.  The most notable of these, and probably the first, is the one that hit the headlines back in 1991 produced by North Yorkshires Rylstone and District WI and resulted in the film 'Calendar Girls' in 2003. This calendar was produced to raise money for Leukaemia Research. Their calendar was tasteful and artistic using such items as cakes and flowers to protect the women's modesty. To date many other groups have also produced similar calendars including ambulance crews, builders, chefs, gamekeepers, women football teams, church workers and many others in fact more than 200 copy cat calendars of this form have been produced since, and they are still a popular format. Many of them are produced as a 'one off' on a local basis raising money for local groups such as a church in Suffolk who raised £2,900 towards the church's upkeep.

Another well known annual charity calendar, particularly to photographers, is the one produced by the BBC Countryfile Programme, who each year run a photographic competition and then use the 12 best images to create a calendar for the BBC Children In Need appeal. In 2008 each calendar was sold for £9, and £4 of this went to the charity, raising £270,000 from around 67,500 copies sold. The 2010 calendar raised £779.946 and for the 2011 calendar they had over 60,000 photo entries.

Many of the larger charities and organisations such as the WWF, RSPCA, British Waterways, Cancer Research, English Heritage, Save the Children, CLIC, The Pink Ribbon Foundations, British Heart Foundation, Macmillan, Blue Cross and many many more all produce calendars each year raising money for their good cause. Even a small charity, local group or school could potentially raise £250-£3,000 for producing a calendar and selling it to the parents. For example 250 calendars costing £600 to print and selling for £10 each would raise £2,500 producing a profit £1,900.

From this perspective it is therefore worth checking out which charities and organisations produce/sell calendars to raise funds and try to identify who their publishers are. They are a potential source for you to sell images to.

On the other hand if you want to put together your own calendar for your own local charity or group, there are a number of things you will need to do.

• Research the market for what is currently being offered - this is usually a good indication of what currently sells.

• Research and cost up what it will cost to produce each individual copy.

• Most charity calendars on sale raise 10% of the selling price from each calendar. Of course if you want to be more generous you could donate all the profit, after you have deducted the costs, to the charity.

• Identify how you are to sell the calendar, through word of mouth, colleagues, retail outlets, online etc. This will allow you get a better idea of the quantity you need to produce, you don't want to print more than will sell as they go out of date.

• Outline your idea incorporating the research you have done in written form but also include examples of your photographic work. Take a look at Producing Calendars for tips on layout, styles etc.

• Read An Income from Calendars for help with how to cost up your calendar and Printing Calendars for the different ways to get them printed.

• Use Calendar Further Information for some links to other websites you could use for online sources to help with putting your idea together.

• Approach the charity you want to work with and get their co-operation. Because of the Calendar Girl affect, many charities and local groups are more cautious now on what they would like to have in a calendar that is promoting their good cause. It is understandable as they don't want to put off existing donors in the process of trying to get additional funds. If they like your idea they will probably want to offer it to their existing donors and this all helps both them and you.

We have many other articles looking at different aspects of calendars from producing to printing them, to getting an income from them, looking at charity and fundraising calendars as well as templates and much more. See Calendars for the full list.