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Introducing Crafting4Good CIC

Crafting4Good CIC is our new company name, reflecting how we put people, wellbeing, mental health and respect for our environment first.  Creativity is good for wellbeing, so our social mission is to make creativity accessible and affordable, while also as eco-friendly as possible.  We are a social enterprise where society profits, rather than us, with any surplus income being reinvested*

* Please note this was written when we first started, back in 2017
...we have evolved into so much more *


Crafting4Good CIC - Social Enterprise - Business Where Society Profits

 

We are a registered "Community Interest Company" (denoted by CIC at the end of our name) and we have to report to, and are regulated by the CIC Regulator from the UK Government.  Our legal documents state that we are a nonprofit* which exists to fulfil a social purpose, benefiting society, rather than ourselves.  

We will continue to trade as the printable craft shop, providing easy access to creativity through printable activities and digital craft supplies, while increasing our community-based services and re-use of unwanted craft supplies donated to us.

 

Why "Crafting4Good"?

The name sums up what we do nicely.  Creative activities are known to promote wellbeing, but even though we know that, many people still can't access them due to income or circumstance.  Therefore, we aim to make creativity accessible and affordable, but also in as 'green' and eco-friendly way as possible. We promote creative wellbeing by 'crafting for good' in 4 ways:

 

1. Craft Activities & Digital Craft Supplies

We fund ourselves through our digital downloads store, The Printable Craft Shop.  We sell creative activities to download and print, whenever you need them, wherever you are and as often as you like, to both individual crafters and for group activities in the community and organisations.  Need an activity this afternoon?  Print it, and make it.  You can even Sell What You Make.  Income generated through our store is reinvested back into the social mission.

 

2. Donated Craft Supplies

Got a cupboard full of stash you will never use?  Donate it to us and we will put it to good use in community-based sessions, preventing waste and giving people the opportunity to be creative with items they might never get the chance to.

 

3. Group Activities & Community Support

We provide downloadable craft activities which can be used for group activities worldwide, as well as supporting those community groups and organisations who are trying to engage the very people who may not usually get the chance to enjoy some creative me-time, but who could most likely do with some!  We do this through re-using craft supplies from donated stock as well as our own printable activities.

 

4. Socialising & Volunteer Opportunities

Connecting with others, even in small amounts, can do wonders for wellbeing, reducing social isolation and improving self-esteem.  We aim to provide those opportunities both in real life and online.  Not everybody wants to sit in a craft class, or can get to them, but you can be social online or enjoy your own company while still being creative with our printables, and maybe just connecting with us, showing us your makes etc.  

For those who want it, we aim to provide Volunteer opportunities too, both in real-life with local community groups and helping us online.  Volunteering your time to help others benefits the Volunteer as well as those they're helping.

 

Social craft sessions are not about making masterpieces,
they're about a bit of relaxing time-out through
creativity, chat and a cup of tea.

 

*The Non-Profit Dilemma

All new Community Interest Companies (CICs) have to be approved by the UK Government's CIC Regulator and we have different 'rules' to other companies - one of those is that CICs are run on a "Not for Profit" basis, meaning any 'surplus' we make must be reinvested, as shown below in this image from our legal documents:

Crafting4Good CIC is a not-for-profit that must reinvest any surplus income or assets

The Confusing Part...

A better term would be 'not-for-personal-profit' because we should be trying to make a profit for the social mission to succeed - the more profit, or 'surplus' we generate the more we can reinvest back into doing good stuff, making more of an impact in the long run.  

But this provides a dilemma in the way we communicate that to our customers and readers because it's confusing - the legal structure of a CIC demands that we are officially a non-profit, but we don't rely on grants and funding like other non-profits like charities and we are a business, which needs to make a profit/surplus in order to survive and do what we set out to do...but that profit doesn't go to 'society' and not to the business owners.  Make sense?  

Normally a company can share out any profit to its owners or shareholders, but we cannot, it must be reinvested e.g. if we had a huge profit, we can't pocket that and go get a big house for ourselves, instead, it might be put towards getting a building for a craft centre!  (I wish!!!)  We also have to report back to the CIC Regulator on what we are doing, how we have fulfilled our social aims and how the income we have generated is being reinvested.  

We need to generate a sustainable income
through our digital craft supplies and activities 
to help fund all the ways we want to be Crafting4Good!

How Can You Help?

You may not realise it, but just by reading this blog post you are helping us because the more people who read it, the more Google thinks it must be worth reading, so the more they show our site to others in the search results when people are searching for things to do with craft, creativity and group activities etc. There are many other ways you can help too, both free and paid.

Got questions?  Run Group Activities?  Need Digital Creative Resources?

Contact Us

Crafting4Good CIC is a not-for-profit Community Interest Company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales Company No.10690435. Registered office: 9 George Street, Normanton, WF6 2LT