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serynOne of the things I ran across today was a link to Black Mesa Weavers. It sounds like a concept I would like to support but their website is completely incoherent. It explains, repeatedly, the need for fair prices to be paid for the rare churro fleeces. It does not, however, explain anything about why they need donated funds with which to do this.
There is a section "About Churros" but it does not describe the type of wool or quality of the fleece. It has very little about the sheep and is, yet again, used as an opportunity to explain how horrible the conditions are. It does not even link to the wiki article.
They make it difficult to give them money, which is probably wise since they obviously do not have a clue how to do what they are doing. Step one: market churro sheep wool as rare and describe what makes it special. Step two: make churro wool and yarn and products available at boutique prices online (and have your store set up by people who know how to do it right so there are no security concerns and you can take credit cards for transactions.) Step three: sustainable product/profit loop.
So if they need to have an up-front pile of cash to get the shepherds to bring fleeces to the sale, then when I send money, it should buy me a place in the queue for my choice of fleece. At least that ought to be an option. I am not insisting on a discount or that my donation be applied to a purchase. But what do I get out of giving them money? It sounds like all the fleeces are re-sold immediately to local users and nothing is made available for outside purchase. If that is the case, then the local users should just buy the fleeces and leave me out of it.
When I was a child, my father taught me that it is easier to get a job if you do not need one. You need to be able to go into the interview in good clothing and with enough research to show that you are interested in the business. You need to explain that you will be an asset to your employer. It is not about you needing the job because lots of people can do most jobs and you need to convince the employer to choose you. Obviously doing all that becomes difficult if you do not have money for good clothes or have to work several low-end positions waiting for the right opportunity. But you are selling yourself as the best choice and the best choice is someone who has already put the effort in before they even start.
Charities are like this too. I want to see what the small scale experiment did when you asked your friends for money to get the ball rolling. There should be clear information about goals and where money is being spent. I want to see a professionally laid out website that has (at least PayPal) credit card buttons for donations. There should be references and security seals provided. All of that costs money, sure, but I did pro bono work when I was a web designer. I expect there are attorneys who are happy to provide boiler plate privacy policies to not-for-profits. And there are canned site building tools out there which have drop-in shopping cart functions. Some of them are there for the cost of the hosting. (Yahoo had a free one for a while, it was not horrible.)
I will likely be searching out more rare wools in the future, but if I buy churro wool, it will not be through Black Mesa Weavers.
There is a section "About Churros" but it does not describe the type of wool or quality of the fleece. It has very little about the sheep and is, yet again, used as an opportunity to explain how horrible the conditions are. It does not even link to the wiki article.
They make it difficult to give them money, which is probably wise since they obviously do not have a clue how to do what they are doing. Step one: market churro sheep wool as rare and describe what makes it special. Step two: make churro wool and yarn and products available at boutique prices online (and have your store set up by people who know how to do it right so there are no security concerns and you can take credit cards for transactions.) Step three: sustainable product/profit loop.
So if they need to have an up-front pile of cash to get the shepherds to bring fleeces to the sale, then when I send money, it should buy me a place in the queue for my choice of fleece. At least that ought to be an option. I am not insisting on a discount or that my donation be applied to a purchase. But what do I get out of giving them money? It sounds like all the fleeces are re-sold immediately to local users and nothing is made available for outside purchase. If that is the case, then the local users should just buy the fleeces and leave me out of it.
When I was a child, my father taught me that it is easier to get a job if you do not need one. You need to be able to go into the interview in good clothing and with enough research to show that you are interested in the business. You need to explain that you will be an asset to your employer. It is not about you needing the job because lots of people can do most jobs and you need to convince the employer to choose you. Obviously doing all that becomes difficult if you do not have money for good clothes or have to work several low-end positions waiting for the right opportunity. But you are selling yourself as the best choice and the best choice is someone who has already put the effort in before they even start.
Charities are like this too. I want to see what the small scale experiment did when you asked your friends for money to get the ball rolling. There should be clear information about goals and where money is being spent. I want to see a professionally laid out website that has (at least PayPal) credit card buttons for donations. There should be references and security seals provided. All of that costs money, sure, but I did pro bono work when I was a web designer. I expect there are attorneys who are happy to provide boiler plate privacy policies to not-for-profits. And there are canned site building tools out there which have drop-in shopping cart functions. Some of them are there for the cost of the hosting. (Yahoo had a free one for a while, it was not horrible.)
I will likely be searching out more rare wools in the future, but if I buy churro wool, it will not be through Black Mesa Weavers.
