The Community Fund: 2025 Update

Since our inception in 2022, we have offered a tiered pricing system where people who need it can avail of a discounted price on classes and workshops -- what we call our Community Rate -- to make our offerings more accessible to more people.  To help support those discounted rates we also accept contributions to the Community Fund at checkout so that those with the means to do so can help Cut & Sew PHL continue to offer our Community Rate.  

Each year we run a report to see how the total of Community Fund contributions compares to the total of discounts used on registrations throughout the year.  Each year so far, the total of contributions has surpassed the amount of discounted registrations used.  And that's incredible.  Let's take a look at the numbers:

Every year so far, our customers have donated enough money to the Community Fund to not only cover the amount of discounts others benefit from, but there's ALSO a surplus!  So what do we do with the surplus amount?

In 2025, to put the 2024 surplus to good use, we hosted a FREE Mending Marathon for the community.  The Community Fund 2024 surplus was used to pay our wonderful menders to for their time and expertise (5 adults + 1 student).

In 2026, we hosted Angela Davis Johnson as our first Artist in Residence!  She pitched us the idea of an Artist in Residence program before the new year and we knew this would be an excellent use of the 2025 Community Fund surplus.

We share this post as a love letter to our community for supporting this mutually beneficial ecosystem that is the Cut & Sew PHL tiered pricing model.  Thank you for trusting us with your contributions. Thank you for participating in this micro economy of community care.  Thank you for showing that a financial model like this is possible and succesful even!