How

Our team identifies and interviews a local individual (“sponsee”) experiencing homelessness who is ready to share their story. The goal is to pair authentic storytelling with meaningful financial support.

A citizen journalist records the sponsee’s story, capturing their journey and aspirations. This content becomes the foundation of their fundraising campaign.

The sponsee works directly with our art team to create a custom t-shirt that expresses their individuality. Each shirt features a unique QR code linking to their personal story page, allowing customers to follow their progress.

Each design is offered through Painter Shirts, our sponsoring company, with a retail price of $40. Painter Shirts donates $24 per sale toward the sponsee’s fundraiser.

The citizen journalist also serves as the campaign’s sales ambassador, earning up to 50% of the net profit ($24 per shirt) as commission. Journalists may choose to donate all or part of their commission to the sponsee’s campaign.

Each campaign aims to raise $5,000 in direct support for the sponsee.

• Selling 200 shirts achieves the goal if the journalist donates their full commission.
• Up to 400 shirts may be needed if the journalist takes the full commission amount.

NGOs will amplify every Shared Threads campaign by donating resources directly to sponsees. These contributions stretch each $5,000 grant further, fulfilling specific resource requests and accelerating every individual’s path toward stability.