Things 4 Good
- You can see the early inventory trend drops quick which is a reflection of preorders that folk sent in.
- True North was the first scent to sell out and sold just as fast as Winter Wonderland until they were all gone.
- Just Crackle was popular with people buying many candles as gifts.
- Old Fashioned had more than other scents but still sold out quickly.
- Apple of My Eye underperformed and was the least popular scent until the end when there wasn’t as many options.
- Winter Wonderland seems to sell faster when it is on display and people can see there are so many of them. On Saturday we kept 5 of each candle on the table and added more as they were sold. The rate of sales were slower. On Sunday there were 30+ of them on the table. Do people buy more when they see there are so many?
- We sold out! Inventory went negative? Indeed we ran out of candles and I sent an email to let folks know if they were still planning to come. We did have a few people show up after we were out and I realized I had a couple dozen candles downstairs I had poured for myself. I brought them up and we kept raising more money for our causes!
- Tasks: Contrary to the sentence directly above, this is a project and not a folder. It is the only project I have at the top level. This is my generic bucket of action items that are specifically not a project and should move through my system quickly. Examples could include “Get groceries”, “Call about electric bill”, or “Schedule coffee with Jim”.
- Self: Projects that are specifically about me. Two notable projects in here are “Personal Routines” and “Technology Routines”. I use projects like this for repeating tasks like “Schedule a haircut” or “Do blog gardening”. In OmniFocus these are single-action projects that never complete.
- Family: Projects regarding our family. These can be things like “Labor Day Weekend at the Cabin”, “Celebrate Tammy’s Birthday”, or “Send Christmas Cards”.
- SPS: Here is everything about me being CTO at SPS Commerce. There are a lot of projects here and subfolders for different aspects of that dimension.
- Professional: This is for projects about me being a CTO but not about SPS. For example, I’m a board member at Air T. If I’m speaking at a community event that would go in here. It is “everything else” about me as a CTO.
- Home: Projects about our home. The anchor project here is “Maintain Home” which contains recurring tasks about, you guessed it, maintaining the home. And then there are various projects for things we do. A project that will show up in here soon via a template is “Prepare home for winter”.
- Cabin: Same as above, but for our cabin. Notably, if we are entertaining a group at our cabin on a weekend I create that as a project in Family, not in Cabin. This is about the Cabin.
- Travel: This is the newest folder I have and it has projects for trips that we take. I have templates that I’m regularly improving to populate these since I tend to forget things, or worry I did. I may have a project in here a year before we go and is a fun way to group things for those upcoming travel events. I’m still completing a couple of tasks for “Vacation to Ireland” that we did in June.
- Financial: Projects related to managing finances. Every year this is going to get a “Prepare taxes” project, again built off of a template. I have a “Teach kids about the markets” project in there now.
- Social: Projects that are about giving back. I’m on the MnTech board and I put that activity here. We also hold our annual Things 4 Good candle sale supporting non-profits and that project goes in here.
- Hobbies: Projects for my hobbies. This one does have three notable subfolders: Reading, Weekly Thing, Websites. I currently am wrapping up a project here for “Help Josh with website” that I used to get Rambling Josh setup for my cousin.
- Ticklers: Used for lists to remind me about things, or nudge me. One example I have in here is a project for “Use Gift Certificates, Credits” that gets an entry for any of those I’ve received so I don’t forget. I’ve got a task in there now with a due date to use a credit I got from a store. I also have a very special “Repeating Projects” project here that has single actions on a repeating schedule to create projects. Examples include “Create project for Pi Day”, “Create project to winterize house”, and “Create project to adjust clocks for DST”. These usually have links in the notes to go to Drafts and open that template, or to a Shortcut that creates the project itself.
- Someday, Maybe: Someday lists are powerful, especially for folks that have more ideas than time which is probably more common than not. I wasn’t sure how to structure these though so that the reviews made sense. I finally came upon the idea of having a separate Someday, Maybe list for each folder above. So this folder contains 10 single-action projects, all paused, for each of those.
- Lists: This folder contains my general reference lists. Nothing in this folder is actionable and never has tags. Things don’t get completed in these projects, they instead would get moved or copied somewhere else. This includes projects like “Books to consider”, “Shows to watch”, “Restaurants to go to”, and “Questions for Doctor”.
- Winter Wonderland is always the most popular scent and we started with more than twice as many of those as any other scent.
- Old Fashioned was a very popular new scent this year and was the first to sell out.
- Plain Jane, also a new scent, had a lot of early sales and then slowed down a lot. This scent was most popular when someone bought a lot of candles as gifts.
- We sold 172 of the 180 Wicky Thing Candles we made. Last year we sold 134 candles.
- We sold all 50 bottles of Sweet Thing Honey.
- We sold 10 Jiggy Thing Puzzles, but it was the same puzzle we had in 2021 so a number of folks already had it. Last year we sold 26 puzzles.
- We had six Wicky Thing Candle scents this year: Winter Wonderland, Apple of my Eye, Oh my Darling, Tea Time (new), Red Hot (new), True North (new). Winter Wonderland and True North were nearly half of the 180 candles and together sold out the fastest.
- I’m not sure which vessel colors are the most popular, but it seems brown was likely the least popular.
- We achieved over 400% return on the expenses to buy supplies given the amount raised!
- Thus far 28 people have redeemed the Things 4 Good 2022 Fall Fundraiser POAP token. Printing out claim sheets with directions and the claim code was a much better way to distribute these.
How much does a Things 4 Good candle cost to make?
Now that we have the fourth year of the Things 4 Good 2024 Fall Fundraiser behind us I thought it would be fun to really figure out how much a single candle costs. We’ve sold them for $25 every year. I know that we raise more money than we spend. But I’ve never done the math to figure out what the materials cost per candle. Obviously our labor is free. That is part of the fundraiser.
Most of the items in the candles have a single price. However the vessels and scents vary, and in some cases a lot. The iridescent and metal coated vessels are more expensive. Scents can range wildly in price. I also buy the larger quantities. Here is how the cost breaks down.
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| 12 oz Vessel (12 pack) | $4.75 - $5.75 |
| Soy Wax (44 lbs) | $3.36 |
| Candle Scent (16 oz) | $1.45 - $3.50 |
| Wooden Wick (100 pack) | $0.28 |
| Wick Clip (100 pack) | $0.12 |
| Candle Label (15 per sheet) | $0.23 |
| Warning Sticker (24 in roll) | $0.16 |
| Total | $10.35 - $13.40 |
I usually time my orders to get things at a discount with a deal so the real cost is probably $8.28 - $10.72.
For the Things 4 Good sale we cover these costs. All $25 of the donation goes to the charities. But it is interesting to see where the costs are in the production.
Things 4 Good Four Year Impact
We’ve now done our Things 4 Good Fall Fundraiser for four years. With the amazing support of this community we have raised $22,739 for non-profits! Thank you so much. ❤️
Opening the sale to the public via the Mt. Olivet Holiday Boutique was a great way to get to a lot of new people with a nearly 50% jump in candle sales this year!
Organizations that we’ve supported over these four years include Constellation Fund, Free Bikes 4 Kidz, Appetite for Change, Feed My Starving Children, United Help Ukraine, Agate Housing + Services, Save the Snakes, Free Guitars 4 Kids, American Prairie, Heart to Care Tanzania, Food Recovery Network, Oceanites, SynGAP Research Fund, Water to Thrive, Sprint to Cité Soleil, and World Central Kitchen.
Things 4 Good 2024 Fall Fundraiser Insights
We had a great time hosting our 4th annual Things 4 Good Fall Fundraiser. We raised $7,010 in donations for our four non-profits. I also like to take a look at the data from the sale to learn more for next year.
We made 252 candles in preparation for the sale. We had 72 Winter Wonderland, 36 Old Fashioned, and 24 of the other six scents. We really had no idea what to do for inventory since this was the first year we sold to the public at the Mt. Olivet Holiday Boutique.
We had 78 candle purchases which is a huge 42% jump from last year. On average people purchased 3 candles, down from 4 last year. However averages don’t tell the story. Most people got one candle, and there are a smaller number of people that get a large number — usually as gifts for the holidays. We had 5 transactions for more than 8 candles, accounting for a whopping 76 candles, 30% of our inventory.
This year we had eight different scents, the exact same as last year. We renamed Plain Jane to Just Crackle, and it was similarly popular for folks wanting an unscented candle. We did fine tune the scents though and increased the scent load on some of them. Here is a look at rolling inventory as sales were happening.
Some observations:
We offer folks a number of ways to donate and again Venmo was by far the most popular method, 3.5 times more popular than cash. More people knew what Zelle was this year. I continue to be surprised at how few people have Apple Pay setup. Three checks! I did not offer a method to pay via crypto this year. We’ve only ever had one candle sale in all the years we’ve done it using Bitcoin Lightning.
We are already keeping notes for things we want to do to make next year’s Things 4 Good Fall Fundraiser even better. Send us an email if you have any suggestions!
Also see 2024 Fall Fundraiser Results.
Things 4 Good 2024 Fall Fundraiser Results
We completed our annual candle sale raising $7,010 for the four organizations we picked! That is a 21.8% increase from 2023, double the growth of previous years at 9.7% and 10.3%. A huge thank you to the 78 folks from this community who made this possible by purchasing a wooden wick candle made with love!
As in previous years, we asked people which organizations they would like to support. People could pick any or all of the organizations. We even have some folks request specific allocations versus dividing it equally. We also donated $260.25 for Mount Olivet as a portion of all sales that were made at the Holiday Boutique on Saturday.
Tyler and Mazie enjoy a friendly competition trying to get their organization the most. 🤩
A little more about each organization…
SynGAP Research Fund supported by Tyler
I was first introduced to this condition by one of my favorite YouTubers UFDTech. His son has SynGAP1 which is a rare genetic disorder caused by a variant on the SynGAP1 gene. His son experiences a wide range of symptoms including Epilepsy, Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, Autism, Ataxia, and has about 100 seizures a day. My non-profit researchers this condition and is committed to giving support systems to make the lives of these patients and families easier.
Water to Thrive supported by Mazie
A cool glass of water is something that I take for granted almost every day, without considering that 48% of people in sub-Saharan Africa lack access to this privilege. Women and children walk up to 6 hours each day just to get water, only to have children dying of waterborne disease every 90 seconds. Water to Thrive is a nonprofit that works directly with organizers and communities in sub-Saharan Africa to build wells that have ensured clean, safe water for over 900,000 people since their founding. The educational, economic, and health benefits of even a single well are vast, and Water to Thrive is careful to respect the unique needs and desires of every community they work with. With your donation, we have the potential to fund a well that could serve over 500 people for 20 years! Let’s make water a right, not a privilege!
Sprint to Cité Soleil supported by Tammy
Sprint to Cité Soleil is a non-profit in Haiti that inspires and empowers kids through basketball, mentorship, and a meal. Cité Soleil, Haiti is known for extreme poverty and gang violence, but community leaders know that this can change over time with sustainable, long term programs that build community and peace. This is where Sprint to Cité Soleil comes in, providing a weekly basketball program for over 150 kids. Harnessing the knowledge and wisdom of local people to fuel change in their community, they also employ 10 local Haitians as coaches and 4 as cooks. Sprint to Cité Soleil was founded in 2016 by a teenager in our neighborhood and his friend after they visited Haiti, where his brother is from, and witnessed the needs first hand.
World Central Kitchen supported by Jamie
I first heard of this organization when they were bringing meals to people in Ukraine after Russia’s attacks started. They also are on the ground in Palestine helping people. Most recently they were one of the first organizations after hurricanes hit helping people here in the US. I’ve been very impressed with Chef José Andrés and the impact World Central Kitchen is having.
Also see 2024 Fall Fundraiser Insights for more details from this year. Additionally see results from 2023, 2022, and 2021.
Day 1 of Things 4 Good sale was great and we sold 67 candles for our charities. Getting ready for Day 2 at our house. Have 93 candles left of the 252 we made.
For the very first time ever outside of our private events, Things 4 Good Candle Fundraiser at the Mount Olivet Holiday Boutique! A bit confusing how to setup our table and get folks our message but we are figuring it out. 🤩
The Things 4 Good 2024 Candle Fundraiser POAP is ready to share with folks at this weekends event! It is a good example of how I’m not a designer. 😬
We poured the last batch of candles for this weekends Things 4 Good Candle Fundraiser! Pre-labeled, so trim wicks and ready to go. I’m very happy with how they all turned out.
Tammy and I made another four dozen Things 4 Good candles for next weekend’s fundraiser!
Tammy and I made our first batch of candles for the Things 4 Good 2024 Candle Fundraiser! Tonight we poured Just Crackle and Winter Wonderland and drained 8 gallons of wax. 🕯️
My GTD Structure
I suppose I’m a “list person”. Although I would say I’m a GTD practitioner. I like the sound of that better. And my lists, or GTD system, is managed with OmniFocus. Since my Omni Show appearance I’ve had several email exchanges with fellow “list people” about how I structure my lists. I thought I would share a more complete view.
Before getting to the lists themselves a comment. The structure that I have in my system, “the stuff” as it were, the things to do and how I organize them, is fluid. I don’t change tools often but the content and structure I refactor when it suits me. With that said though, these top level folders for my lists have endured in largely this structure for a decade.
They have endured because they are specifically aligned around dimensions of my life. If the dimensions of my life change then these would change. But really this big picture stuff doesn’t change frequently. Also note that these folders may at times have only a couple projects, which may be a signal to me that I should be doing more there.
In OmniFocus these dimensions or groups are stored as folders, and these folders contain projects. You could use this structure in most any list manager.
Those are my “working” folders and projects. I do have three more folders that are a little different.
That is all of it! This structure has served me well for a while now and maybe you’ll get some value out of it as well.
Things 4 Good 2023 Fall Fundraiser Insights
We had a great time hosting our 3rd annual Things 4 Good Fall Fundraiser. We raised nearly $6,000 in donations for our four non-profits. A fun thing for me about the fundraiser is it lets us play the role of a retailer for a weekend.
This year we had 55 candle purchases which compares to 52 in 2022 and 51 in 2021. On average people purchased 4 candles. However averages don’t always tell the story. Most people get two candles, and then there are a smaller number of people that get a large number — usually as gifts for the holidays.
We had some new scents this year, and had more scents than we have had the previous two years. The first year we had only four scents, and last year six. This year we had eight different scents. As the number of scents go up we need to be more planful with inventory. For the first time this year we tracked which scents people picked so that we could get better insight for future years. Here is a look at rolling inventory.
Some observations:
I fed the transaction data into ChatGPT and used its data analysis mode to make a run at doing inventory planning for next year. It did a reasonable job but with such a simple dataset I could have gotten most of the way there on my own. It recommended a 30% increase for True North and 20% increase for Old Fashioned. Even though it was a simple use case, it highlighted how powerful it could be at that use case.
We offer folks a number of ways to donate and again Venmo was by far the most popular method, twice as popular as cash. I’ve offered the ability to pay with crypto for all three years, and this year we had our first donation made with Bitcoin via the Lightning Network!
Interesting data for us which will help us with next years event. We are already keeping notes for things we want to do to make next year’s Things 4 Good Fall Fundraiser even better. Send us an email if you have any suggestions!
Also see 2023 Fall Fundraiser Results.
We made the final batch of candles for the Things 4 Good Candle Fundraiser tonight. We have 204 candles with 8 different scents! Looking forward to selling them all and raising $5,100 for four charitable organizations!
Took a pre-order for the Things 4 Good Candle Fundraiser and the purchase was made with Bitcoin Lightning! ⚡️ That is the first sale for our annual fundraiser done using crypto! No fees, instantaneous settlement. Magic. 🙌
We all made 60 Winter Wonderland candles for the 2023 Things 4 Good Candle Fundraiser tonight!
Just ordered 108 additional candle vessels, more wax, and scents to fill out inventory so we can start making candles for the 2023 Things 4 Good Candle Sale! Plan is to make 203 wooden wick candles to raise money for good causes. Sale will be Nov 4th and 5th!
Things 4 Good Fall Fundraiser Notes
We had a great Things 4 Good 2022 Fall Fundraiser. With the help of many friends and family we raised $5,217 to support four good causes.
Some notes from the event:
I’m already looking forward to the 2023 Fall Fundraiser! 🤩
Things 4 Good Fall Fundraiser Distributed
The Things 4 Good 2022 Fall Fundraiser raised $5,217 to support good causes! That is a $460 increase over 2021. We had around 100 visitors as well as many email orders from people that couldn’t come in person. Today we distributed the proceeds to the four non-profits that we had selected.
As in previous years we shared the non-profits with each in-person visitor and they could select any number of the four organizations to support.
A huge thank you to everyone for being part of this fun event and help some organizations having a good impact in the world. 💛