Why Swag?

Who doesn’t love good swag – a cool t-shirt, a beer koozie with a clever saying on it, a refrigerator magnet or sticker that makes you smile every time you see it? The list goes on.


 

And yet, we can’t tell you how many times we’ve gone to a nonprofit’s fundraising event and got a cheap, beefy-t shirt with a thick vinyl imprint for participating. If you give out something nobody wants to wear or use again, it’s a waste, both financially and environmentally, and it fails to achieve its purpose – to spread the word about the organization! 
At Shelter Swag, our goal is to engage with people who love animals and help shelters across the country market themselves. Together, we can raise awareness for animal nonprofits by wearing t-shirts and swag that promote animal welfare in a fun way. 
If you love animals, join us on this journey as we work to save animals one good design at time. Together, we are stronger, and can speak louder for those who can’t.

 

 

Our History
While working in the for-profit sectors of advertising, business consulting and start-ups, both Linda and Sharie started out as volunteers at different animal nonprofits and ended up working full time in animal welfare. They met when their organizations worked out of the same building.  


Between the two of them, Linda and Sharie have more than 30 years of experience in fundraising, design, advertising and marketing. They know the power of marketing and what it can do for an organization. Regular companies successfully use cool swag to market themselves -- why can’t nonprofits do the same?


Over a cold one, they discovered a few common threads with animal related nonprofits…mainly that most smaller organizations don’t have a marketing department at all. If there is a staffer with “marketing” in the title, she or he also has a dozen other hats to wear. Meanwhile, bigger, more well-funded animal nonprofits can afford a marketing department and can successfully raise awareness about themselves. 


Another common thread is that while the approach to saving lives might be different across the various organizations, the overall goal is the same: Saving animals’ lives. What if these shelters could combine their efforts and save more animals as a result?


Shelter Swag was born to help animal related nonprofits share the cost in marketing their messages. By consolidating the design process with animal messages and working with various venders to produce the products that shelters use and sell in bulk, Shelter Swag takes the hassle out of the process. We make it easier for nonprofits to market themselves. 


T-shirts, unique donor cards, signage, event or issue-related materials, promotional items and more — Shelter Swag can help. Are you planning an online fundraiser for a virtual run or a special event? Contact Shelter Swag about handling your orders and fulfillment so your team can focus on promoting and running the actual event instead of sending out merchandise.


We put the “wag” in Swag!