Daily News
From Home Furnishing Business
WithIt Launches Fundraising Raffle to Support Digital Expansion
September 30,
2020 by Jane Chero in Business Strategy, Designer Weekly, Industry 
As many industry events have been canceled, rescheduled or scaled back, WithIt, the women’s leadership development network for the home and furnishings industry, has worked hard to keep its members engaged online in 2020. To that end the group recently launched a new fundraising raffle to help support its mission.
The 2020 raffle, Get WithIt to Win It, features 30 days of prizes in the month of November. Only 1,000 tickets are available for the raffle. Each day’s winner will be pegged to the daytime drawing for the North Carolina Pick 3 Daily Lottery. Tickets cost $20 each, or three for $50 and can be purchased from WithIt’s website, WithIt.org.
Each of the 30 prizes ranges in value from $100 to $500 for gift cards at desirable stores like Anthropologie, Coach, Tory Burch and Tiffany. The prize fest culminates in the award of a Stearns & Foster Queen Mattress set with white glove delivery. The generous support of prize sponsors means that all revenues generated by the raffle go directly to support WithIt’s mission. The list of sponsors includes Brooklyn Bedding, Connie Post, Dispatch Track, Durham, ecUtopia, Fairfield, Furniture First, Guardsman, Jill Seale Designs, King Koil, Knorr Marketing, Leather Solutions, Lorri Kelley Advisors, Montage Furniture Services, ProfitSystems, Redhead Furniture Design, Risk Assurance, Spectrum Marketing, Storis, Tango Media Management, TD Retail Card Services, Tempur-Sealy, Versatile, and West Creek.
“The challenges of this year encouraged our board to find new ways to bring our members together online and assist them in navigating this new environment,” said Lark Shirley-Stevens WithIt chairwoman and executive director of marketing at Furniture First. “In addition to a virtual conference and webinars, we have implemented a new career center that benefits both companies and individuals and expanded our digital education center. We are holding this raffle so that we can continue to support our members now, when they need it more than ever.”
Shirley-Stevens credits fundraising committee member Amanda Daubert, director of services at Furniture First, for recruiting the prize donors and spearheading the effort.
“Like so many other organizations, we have realized the need to pivot and take advantage of the digital options available to us,” said Lorri Kelley, WithIt’s president. “We are able to continue to drive our mission -- to provide leadership, mentoring and education -- regardless of the current circumstances. I’m proud of all that we have accomplished.”