WHAT'S A BADGE OF AWESOME?

A Badge of Awesome is a unique gateway into the DIY craft world. Learn how to embroider. Make something you can be proud of. Know that you've helped someone in need.

We're the first company selling DIY embroidery badges. Not only that, but our kits have everything you need (except scissors) to easily make your custom merit badge in 1-3 hours with no prior sewing/embroidery experience. The best part—20% of the profits generated by every purchase go toward helping refugees of climate change. 

*** We are currently HAND MAKING each of these badge kits and are raising funds to lower the cost of production (which means less expensive badges in the future and more $$ donated. Thanks for your support!) 

INCLUDED:

• One hand-made 3" badge of your choice from our line (printed on just plain gorgeous fabric)
• Black embroidery floss
• One 3" embroidery hoop 
• One embroidery needle
• Instruction book 
• BONUS: Iron-on adhesive backing  

All those icons in the middle of the circle (DO THINGS, the heart, the disco ball, the cupcake; 10 in total) are printed in ink on the fabric, so all you have to do is embroider over the ink, cut it out, and iron or stitch it onto anything you like.

WHY REFUGEES OF CLIMATE CHANGE?

Because every day there are more and more people being displaced by the direct and indirect effects of climate change.

While future projects may include helping other social and environmental causes, we want to focus 20% of our profits for this campaign on a cause that's closest to our hearts: climate refugees.

• Climate change causes flooding and draughts that drive malnutrition and sanitation issues, which means that people in high flood or draught-prone zones will be forced to move from their homes in order to survive.
• The United Nations estimates that 36 million people were displaced by natural disasters in 2009, the most recent year for which statistics are available. Scientists predict this number could rise to at least 200 million by 2050 — meaning that within 35 years, one in every 45 people in the world could be displaced by climate change.

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• According to UNICEF, children will suffer disproportionately from climate change and growing environmental risks, as over half a billion children live in extremely high flood occurrence zones and nearly 160 million live in high or extremely high drought severity zones. 
• The current regulations and systems already in place are not even close to ready for the type of mass migration that we'll see over the next 30 years. We want to help, and we want to give you the opportunity to help, too.
• We're waiting to decide on the organization(s) to which we'll contribute until after we see how this campaign goes. Here are some of the ones that we're considering:

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6 Ways You Can Help

1. Donate toward our campaign: buying a badge is ultimately what we hope you do.

2. Get the word out and make some noise about our campaign: you sharing our campaign is the difference between our friends and family contributing to our cause and everyone helping. PLEASE, SHARE THIS WITH YOUR FRIENDS ON FACEBOOK, TWITTER, AND OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA SITES.

3. Collaborate with us: want to work together? Contact us! badgesofawesome@gmail.com

4. Tell us about great causes that support refugees of climate change: we're always open to learning more about organizations that are doing great things. PLEASE, let us know if there's a group of people helping our cause that we might not know about!

5. Read/watch/listen to some of these resources that have inspired us, and help spread the word about climate change refugees:​

• Read Unicef's document on the impact of climate change on children
• Listen to This American Life's recent episodes on refugees

  • 592: Are We There Yet?

  • 593: Don’t Have to Live Like a Refugee

  • 560: Abdi and the Golden Ticket

  • 597: One Last Thing Before I Go (Act One)

• Watch Josh Fox's "How to Let Go of the World and Love Everything Climate Can't Change"

6. Inspire someone to go out and Do Things: however small, change happens when we start.

MORE ABOUT BADGES OF AWESOME:

You'll get to choose one of these designs from our Classic theme and can suggest a general color or pattern type, if you'd like. 

If we reach our $12,000 USD goal, then you'll be able to choose from these added options:

SUPER EASY TO MAKE!!!

Quick. Crafty. Customizable. Kind. Our badges are for fellow do-gooders that like making things and contributing to worth-while causes.

OUR FUNDRAISING GOALS

MINIMUM VIABLE PRODUCT: We need $5000 USD. Here's where it's going:

• We've already invested around $2000 USD in prototyping materials, so that we can get the badges out to local shops and to any investors on this Indiegogo campaign
• Because 20% of our profits go toward climate refugee relief efforts, we want to reduce our unit costs and increase amount donated: lower production costs on our part means more money to non-profits. So, we need to be able to buy in wholesale
• With $5000 USD, we can hit the minimum order quantity to scale our production outside of Portland and contribute more to our cause.

TARGET: We want $7000. Here's why:

• We started working on our website but quickly realized that, in order to make the site to the same high quality of our product, we're going to need some help.
• With $7000 we can not only purchase materials wholesale, but we'll also be able to start an expert built online shop for Badges of Awesome. This will allow us to side-step selling our badges through retail shops at wholesale prices and put more money towards helping climate change refugees!

BEST CASE SCENARIO: We would love $12000. Here's what we'd do with that:

• Looking towards the future, we'd like to sell more than our initial 10 Classic badges. Ultimately, we have 10 more themes that we'd like to carry (with 10 badges per theme). As we start selling badges that better suit each individual's personality, they'll keep getting more and more awesome. 
• With $12000, we'll be able to do everything above AND increase our product line to specific badges for gamers, nerds, kids, and makers. It's where we wanted to start, but had to hold-off because of the complexity involved. 
• Extra badge options mean: altering our packaging slightly for each line, a more complicated website, and more work on the manufacturing side. Your contributions will help us raise the bar on our product options without raising our stress-level. 

OUR FAVORITE PERKS!!!

We've created a variety of perks at a few tiers for people who want a Badge Kit and for people who just want to help us increase awareness and raise money for our project.

• Every perk comes with a small iron-on patch we've made from our badge scraps and a thank you in our future packaging for all of time. Throw us $6, and that's what you'll get. 
  
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• THE "BUY-LOCAL" 
  We've added the "Visit Portland" badge kit option for Portland-lovers who would like to contribute to our project.

• POSTER CHILD
  We've included a screen printed poster of our DO THINGS MANIFESTO in a couple of our perks options. Put it on your wall and let it help you get things done!
  
   
• Want a badge, but don't want to make one? We've got a perk for that, too! For a premium investment, we'll make one (or several) for you. ...donate a whole lot, and we'll use our background in design to make you a beautiful bag with several badges on it! 

Risks & Challenges

Before we created Badges of Awesome, we worked in design research and strategy and helped companies solve design and business problems. We've got a background in helping create successful businesses, so you can trust that we're going to see this project through. That being said, there are a few small risks to this project. Here's what we see and how we plan to resolve potential issues:

• What if you don't reach your $5000 goal?
  • We understand that there's a chance that we may not reach our funding goal on Indiegogo but we're ok with that risk. If we can't meet our financial goal and are unable to pursue bulk, wholesale purchases of our materials, we intend to fulfill our Indiegogo orders and will then continue our project in Portland, growing slowly and selling out of brick and mortar shops.
• What if you sell too many badges on Indiegogo, and you can't meet orders by December of 2016?
  • Yes, too many orders means slower delivery times. We've already prepped more than 250 badges and are prepared to keep you in the loop, should this campaign become wildly successful.
• What if your scaling lowers the quality of your product?
  • Thankfully, our product is made of materials that cost us less when we buy bulk, but do not have to be manufactured any differently. Our scaling will not change the quality of materials that we use.
• What if people want a custom badge kit and you can't make it?
  • Part of our plan for the future is to make fully customizable DIY badge kits a reality. In order to guarantee a quality product and timely delivery for this campaign, we have to stick with the images that we currently offer. As we grow, we'd love to give you the ability to make your own icon, choose your own fabric, and make your badge as truly unique as you are.