Most nonprofits have run at least one Bonfire or Custom Ink campaign. The pattern is familiar: someone designs a t-shirt, sets up a two-week fundraising window, sends it to the email list, and a few hundred dollars rolls in. Campaign closes, production runs, shirts arrive, volunteers hand them out at the next event.
Then the next event comes around. Someone asks if they can still buy a shirt. The answer is no.
The campaign model was designed for one-time drives — not for organizations that want to build lasting community around their cause. Here's how nonprofits are running it differently on Brikl.
The problem with campaign-based merch
It trains supporters to wait, not to buy. If your supporters know merch only appears twice a year, they'll wait for the next campaign rather than buying today. An always-on store changes that dynamic completely.
Campaign URLs don't build brand equity. A Bonfire campaign link lives on bonfire.com. A Custom Ink fundraiser lives on customink.com. Your logo is there, but the store doesn't feel like your organization. Donors and members who click through see someone else's brand framing yours.
End dates create operational overhead. Every campaign needs to be set up, promoted, closed, reconciled, and fulfilled. Running two or three per year means running a mini-logistics operation on top of everything else your team is managing.
You can't support chapters with a single campaign. If your association has regional chapters, a national campaign store doesn't serve them. Each chapter needs its own branding, its own product selection, its own fundraising mechanism — and managing separate Bonfire campaigns for twelve chapters isn't sustainable.
What an always-on nonprofit store looks like
On Brikl, a nonprofit runs a branded merch store that lives permanently on its own domain — shop.yournonprofit.org — and looks exactly like the organization designed it.
There's no campaign window. Products are always available. When a new donor wants to show support after seeing your work, they go to your store, pick a product, check out, and it ships within a week. No batch production, no minimum orders, no inventory to hold.
The fundraising mechanics work the same way they do in a campaign: you set the retail price, Brikl handles checkout and production, and the margin (retail price minus cost of goods and Brikl's commission) gets paid out automatically. The difference is it happens year-round, not in a two-week window.
Who runs merch on Brikl
Executive Directors use Brikl to create a revenue stream that doesn't require grant applications or donor asks. The store runs in the background; revenue shows up in the dashboard.
Membership leads use it to differentiate membership tiers — members get early access, exclusive products, or a discount code. The store becomes a benefit, not just a shop.
Volunteer coordinators use it to outfit volunteers at scale. Instead of ordering bulk shirts in estimated sizes and managing the logistics, they share the store link. Volunteers order their own size, it ships to their door.
Development and fundraising teams use it around major campaigns — Giving Tuesday, galas, annual drives — as a physical touchpoint that donors can keep. A high-quality branded item reinforces the emotional connection a donation receipt can't.
Chapter managers in multi-chapter associations use it so each chapter can run its own store — its own colors, its own products, its own margin settings — under the parent organization's umbrella account.
Multi-chapter structure
If your association has regional or local chapters, Brikl supports a parent-account structure: one login for the national office, with individual chapter stores underneath, each with their own branding and admin access.
The national team can see all chapters from the top level. Each chapter manager controls their own store without touching any other chapter's setup. Brand standards — approved logos, required color codes, approved product categories — can be locked at the national level so nothing goes off-brand.
This is what associations use when they want consistency across chapters without requiring every chapter to manage its own vendor relationship. Learn more about how sub-organizations work in Brikl.
Decoration methods for nonprofits
Not every product needs the same treatment. Awareness ribbons and logo marks work in embroidery — it reads as high-quality and holds up through many washes. Event-specific items like 5K race shirts often work better in screen print or DTG for bold graphics at lower per-unit cost. Branded outerwear for staff or leadership benefits from embroidery for a professional finish.
On Brikl, you can offer products using different decoration methods in the same store. Orders route automatically to the right fulfillment partner. Your supporters see one store and one checkout.
Moving from Bonfire or Custom Ink
The transition from a campaign-based setup to an always-on store is straightforward. Your logo, brand colors, and product specifications carry over during setup. Your existing product selection and brand assets carry over — setting up a persistent store typically takes less time than launching a new campaign from scratch.
The main behavioral shift is in how you promote the store: instead of a campaign launch that needs a concentrated push, you build the store link into your email footer, your donation confirmation pages, your social profiles, and your event materials. Promotion becomes ambient rather than episodic.
Getting started
Brikl is free to start. No setup fee, no monthly subscription, no minimum order. You build the store, set your pricing, and share the link. Your first sale covers itself.
Explore the nonprofits page for a full overview, or start a free account and have a test store live the same day.