Travel Fundraisers Join the Circular Economy

Forget the sweaty bake sales and sock selling – Emmy’s pilot project is updating school group and sports club travel fundraisers for the era of the circular economy.

Traditionally, school groups and sports clubs have raised travel funds by selling new products, such as cookies, candy, or socks. In families with many children, there are several fundraisers throughout the year. Could there be a solution that doesn’t require selling or buying new items?

At Emmy, we believe there is. In November 2023, we launched a pilot project based on selling items already in your wardrobe.

“Why sell something new when most of us already have closets overflowing with good-quality clothes and accessories that aren’t being used? The purpose of the pilot is to wake up these closet dwellers and turn them into money for the travel fund. At the same time, children get an important first experience with the circular economy,” says Emmy’s Chief Growth Officer Sienna Kruk.

The idea of the concept is that families or their close circles can donate unnecessary but good-quality items from their wardrobes, and the donated items are sold on Emmy.fi. All proceeds go directly to the class or sports club’s travel fund. In addition, groups can boost their travel fund by sharing a code for Emmy’s online store; Emmy will pay the pilot group an extra 10% of online purchases made with the code.

The purpose of the pilot is to assess how Emmy’s service model fits travel fundraisers and how we could better serve this target group. The new concept has been designed to be as effortless as possible for both parents and children. Even in the early stages, we have already received good development suggestions and encouraging feedback from pilot groups:

“The best ideas are often the simplest! I honestly can’t find anything bad about this: children learn about the circular economy, there’s less stuff in the world, and the class gets to raise money for their trip at the same time,” says one parent.

Donors have also been positively surprised by the new idea.

The pilot lasts six months and includes three school groups and two sports clubs.

The pilot participants are:

• Class 5A of the French-Finnish School of Helsinki, raising funds for a class trip to France
• Class 2C of Meilahti Primary School
• 6th grade of Mäntynummi Comprehensive School
• Attitude Helsinki Dance School, raising funds for the World Championships in Belgium
• Basketball team ToPo’s Micro Girls 2015

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The pilot ends in spring 2024. Products included in the pilot are marked with the “matkakassakeräys” tag in our online store and can also be found as a collection in our bio. By purchasing from the collection, you help give children a model of what the circular economy can mean in practice. Link to the collection: https://store.emmy.fi/matkakassa

For more information about the pilot, contact Chief Growth Officer Sienna Kruk, tel. 050 598 9619 or sienna©emmy.fi.