OUR STORY — WHERE DO THE PROFITS GO?
We buy Nativities from artisans at whatever price the artisans desire. We pay the artisans up front so they can improve their lives immediately. We shoulder 100 percent of the risk of selling our substantial inventory. Then we sell the sets at a modest profit above our cost. All profits from the Nativities are returned to charitable causes in Third World or developing countries.
We run this project with zero expenses, meaning that all project costs—like having this website or buying packing supplies or driving endlessly to the post office to mail items—are donated by the Hyde family (in addition to many hundreds of hours of our time each year). Buyers can be very pleased that none of their purchase dollars go to our overhead costs.
While our markup is modest, we have sold many Nativities on eBay where the final bids have often been far higher than our regular prices. Thus, we have generated significant profits for this project.
So where do the profits go?
We look for inspired causes in the countries where we have Nativity artisans, but we also support many worthwhile causes all over the world that are run by many different organizations. Here are the causes we have supported, in no particular order:
We run this project with zero expenses, meaning that all project costs—like having this website or buying packing supplies or driving endlessly to the post office to mail items—are donated by the Hyde family (in addition to many hundreds of hours of our time each year). Buyers can be very pleased that none of their purchase dollars go to our overhead costs.
While our markup is modest, we have sold many Nativities on eBay where the final bids have often been far higher than our regular prices. Thus, we have generated significant profits for this project.
So where do the profits go?
We look for inspired causes in the countries where we have Nativity artisans, but we also support many worthwhile causes all over the world that are run by many different organizations. Here are the causes we have supported, in no particular order:
- Water wells dug in remote villages so villagers have clean water
- Wheelchairs given to disabled villagers who have no means of transport
- Education in neonatal resuscitation for healthcare professionals from poor countries
- Surgery for people in poor countries for cataract removal so they regain their vision
- Tuition donation for students in poor countries to attend college or vocational schools
- Donation for cell phones through a micro-credit organization to women in Rwanda so they can use the phones as a business service to generate income
- Donation to a micro-credit organization for small business loans in DR Congo
- Orphan sponsorship in Nepal
- Donation to a micro-credit organization for small business loans in countries affected by the 2004 tsunami in Asia
- Sponsorship of girls to attend school in Ethiopia
- Sponsorship of a physical therapist to treat remote villagers in Peru
- Donation to a micro-credit org to train peasant farmers in China for new vocations
- Donation to a micro-credit organization for small business loans in Mozambique
- Donation for a teacher's salary in Afghanistan
- Donation for girls to attend school in Afghanistan
- Donation for school supplies worldwide
- Donation for hygiene kits for victims of natural disasters worldwide
- Donation for shoes for girls in rural Africa
- Donation for seeds for African families to grow food
- Donation to cover all operating expenses of an orphanage in Ghana
- Donation to support an orphanage in Kenya
- Donation to support an orphanage in Liberia
- Donation to buy tools for a vocational carpentry shop in a village in Honduras
- Donation to build a marketplace in a village in Honduras
- Donation to support an orphanage in Haiti