How Can Craft Businesses Give Back? Would Works as Case Study for Giving
During this giving season, Craft Industry Alliance staff writer Laura McDowell Hopper interviewed our program director Lee Buchanan about how the craft community supports organizations like ours through both monetary and in-kind donations.
“As crafters, we all know the positive, life changing power of making something beautiful with your own hands,” Buchanan said.
Like many social enterprises, revenue from our product sales only covers a portion of our operating costs, leaving about 50-60% of our budget to be covered by donations and fundraising. While many non-profits are supported by bigger foundations and corporate sponsors, Would Works relies almost entirely on individual donors and in-kind donations from the craft and design community.
“Consider giving to organizations like ours who are sharing the love of craft with people who really need a positive community, generative creative practice, and the satisfaction of seeing the concrete and beautiful outcome of a hard day’s work.”
The hardwood lumber we use for our products is donated every month by Bohnhoff Lumber, the machining of our products is donated by Offerman Woodshop, the sand paper we use to sand the products is donated by Uneeda Abrasives, the board oil and wax we use to finish the products is donated by Walrus Oil, and even the signed artisan thank you cards that come with the products are donated by Paper Chase Press. If you happen to get something custom engraved, well that is done on a donated laser etcher that a Would Works volunteer helped us install. Oh, and where does all of this happen? In a beautiful workshop space that is donated to us by office42 architecture.
In the article Hopper explores other ways that craft businesses around the country can and do give back in meaningful ways. See the full article here.
Want to help support our program? Donate here
Local LA woodworkers volunteer to machine products for Would Works at monthly volunteer days.
Also in News
With Heavy Hearts, We Must Announce The Closure of WW at the End of 2025
After 13 years, Would Works has made the difficult decision to sunset operations at the end of 2025. Over the past year and a half, we have worked to position Would Works for long-term success and to better serve our unhoused community in Los Angeles. Despite our best efforts, it has become clear that the current climate is not in our favor.
A New Chapter: Beginner Builders Youth Pilot Program
On August 23, 2025, Would Works officially kicked off our reimagined paid job training program in woodworking for youth experiencing homelessness, in partnership with My Friend's Place, and funding support from Snap Foundation, Cedar-Sinai Grantmaking, and the Arlene and Michael Rosenfeld Foundation.
Nick Offerman Partners with Would Works to Empower At-Risk Angelenos Through Woodworking
Beyond woodworking, Nick Offerman highlights the “incredibly benevolent and warm humanism” at the heart of Would Works. "We're giving people … mental health, counseling, job counseling, life coaching. It's a place to say, 'Come on in, I see you, I care about you, I recognize the trouble you might be having. Here's a sandwich, here's a bowl of soup. Now, this is a hand plane,'" Offerman said.