Warm Up America!

What Warm Up America! does

Warm Up America! Foundation is a 501C3 nonprofit charitable organization founded in 1991 by Evie Rosen in Wisconsin and now headquartered at 3740 N. Josey Lane, Suite 126, Carrollton, TX 75007. It coordinates a nationwide volunteer network of more than 35,000 knitters and crocheters who produce handmade 7\" by 9\" textile sections that are aggregated and assembled into blankets for donation. As of cumulative reporting, the organization has distributed more than 1.5 million blankets and clothing items since founding. The foundation is operated by three paid staff under President Jan Kahn and Executive Director Jenny Bessonette, and is governed without parent entities or institutional investors.

The core product architecture is a standardized 7\" by 9\" section template, supported by a library of 90+ free knit and crochet patterns developed in coordination with the Craft Yarn Council. Operations are structured around the Box of 500 bulk collection program, the Made With Love street-distribution initiative, the Stitched with Sweets Hallmark partnership, and the Tiny Hats for Tiny Babies international program delivered through UCSF. There is no technology platform; donations are processed via the organization's website and Constant Contact newsletter, and shipping is handled through the Carrollton office on a first-come, first-served agency basis.

Revenue is generated entirely through individual monetary donations, with tiered giving levels of $30, $50, $75, and $100 corresponding to the number of blankets or accessories those funds can ship. Donors contributing $50 or more receive a curated weekly pattern bundle. Distribution recipients include social service agencies, women's and homeless shelters, hospitals (including Parkland Memorial), veterans' facilities, senior care operators (Saber Healthcare Group, 117 facilities), education partners (Morehead State University Build-A-Bed), and international health programs serving preterm infants in Rwanda, Uganda, and Kenya. Go-to-market is community-led via Facebook, Instagram, X, an email newsletter, earned media, and partnership channels such as Hallmark Channel.

Name

Warm Up America!

Legal name

Warm Up America! Foundation

Website

https://warmupamerica.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1991

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Warm Up America! Foundation is a 501C3 nonprofit, founded in 1991 and based in Carrollton, TX, that coordinates 35,000+ volunteers to produce handmade knitted and crocheted blankets and accessories for donation to shelters, hospitals, veterans' facilities, and international health programs across the U.S. and East Africa.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Charitable Textile Donation Programs

NAICS

Emergency and Other Relief Services (624230), Civic and Social Organizations (8134)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Emergency Shelter, Camp Management & Non-Food Items (NFI) (BPAGAAAC)

Keywords

• Volunteer charity network
• Handmade blanket donations
• Nonprofit community outreach
• Crochet knit volunteer programs
• Charitable textile giving

Headquarters

HQ city

Carrollton

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Individual Monetary Donations: The primary revenue stream is financial donations from individuals. Donors contribute to cover shipping costs of donated items, with tiered giving levels ($30, $50, $75, $100) corresponding to the number of blankets or items those funds can ship. Donors contributing $50 or more receive a curated pattern bundle as a thank-you gift. Revenue is used to offset shipping costs and build the charity network.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Warm Up America! is a national nonprofit that coordinates a network of 35,000+ volunteer knitters and crocheters to produce handmade blankets, clothing, and accessories donated to people in need. Volunteers create standardized 7" by 9" sections that are mailed to the Carrollton, TX headquarters, aggregated through programs like Box of 500, and either assembled on-site or distributed as finished blankets to social service agencies, hospitals, veterans facilities, women's shelters, and international health programs. The organization funds shipping of these donated goods through tiered individual monetary donations.

Product overview

Warm Up America! is a national charitable nonprofit organization that coordinates a volunteer network to produce handmade knitted and crocheted items for people in need. The core product is the 7" by 9" blanket section program, where volunteers across the country create sections that are assembled into blankets. Key programs include the Box of 500 (bulk collection system), Made With Love (street distribution events), and various campaign partnerships. The organization provides free instructional patterns for crochet and knit sections, hosts monthly Unboxing live streams, and facilitates group projects for schools and organizations. Distribution goes to homeless shelters, hospitals, veterans homes, women's shelters, and international aid programs.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Box of 500: A program where volunteers knit/crochet 7" by 9" sections that are collected until 500 sections fill a box, then sent to volunteer joiners to assemble into completed blankets.
• Made With Love
• Stitched with Sweets
• Unboxing with WUA!

Products and services

• 7" by 9" Blanket Sections Program The core production program in which individual volunteers knit or crochet standardized 7" by 9" sections using free patterns and mail them to the Carrollton, TX headquarters, where the sections are joined into blankets of varying dimensions for donation to people in need.
• Box of 500 A bulk-collection program where knitted and crocheted 7" by 9" sections are accumulated at the WUA! office until 500 sections fill a box, after which the box is shipped to volunteer joiners who assemble sections into completed blankets for donation.
• Made With Love An annual community distribution event where volunteers distribute hats, scarves, gloves, and mittens in low-income communities by hanging them on trees and fences with 'Take Me, I'm Yours' tags, executed in collaboration with the Dallas Yarn Bombers.
• Group Projects Organized volunteer production programs targeted at schools, 4-H clubs, scout groups, yarn stores, and workplaces, enabling coordinated group participation in making blanket sections and accessories for charity.
• Unboxing with WUA! A monthly live stream event held on the third Tuesday of each month on Facebook where staff unbox and showcase donated items received at the Carrollton, TX office, providing updates on current campaigns to volunteers and supporters.
• Stitched with Sweets A partnership-driven scarf-making initiative with Hallmark Channel's 'Countdown to Christmas' programming featuring exclusive knit and crochet scarf patterns designed by Twinkie Chan, with finished scarves donated to women's shelters across the U.S.

Quantifiable outcome

• 1.5 million+ blankets and clothing items donated to people in need since 1991
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• S.A.C.K. (Supporting a Community With Kindness)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerS.A.C.K. partners with Warm Up America! to provide soap sacks with full bars of soap (in original packaging) included in donations to homeless shelters, food pantries, and relief efforts. Soap sacks are mailed to the WUA! office (ATTN: S.A.C.K.) or directly to S.A.C.K. (PO Box 33, Allenhurst, NJ 07711). Sample patterns and additional information available at soapsacks.com.
• Craft Yarn CouncilcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Craft Yarn Council supports Warm Up America! by providing pattern resources, instructor certification programs, and design collaboration. Evie Rosen was instrumental in developing the Craft Yarn Council's Certified Instructors Program. The Council contributed 90 patterns to the 30th anniversary pattern bundle through its designer and member network.
• National NeedleArts AssociationcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerWith support from the National NeedleArts Association and the Craft Yarn Council, the Warm Up America! program grew from a local Wisconsin initiative into a national success.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Threads of Love: Volunteer nonprofit providing handmade items to families of premature and sick newborns in NICUs. Directly overlaps with Warm Up America's NICU and infant beneficiary segments.
• Project Linus: National volunteer-driven nonprofit that collects handmade blankets for children in need. Operates a similar section/blanket donation model with chapters coordinating volunteer contributions across the U.S.
• Happy Bundles: Nonprofit producing handmade blankets and bundling them with books and toys for children facing serious illness. Comparable volunteer-driven handmade textile mission and distribution model.
• Binky Patrol: Volunteer-driven nonprofit that creates and distributes handmade blankies to children in crisis. Similar volunteer-recruitment model, product type, and beneficiary profile to Warm Up America!.
• Carewear: Volunteer organization that knits and crochets comfort items for cancer patients, premature infants, and trauma victims. Highly comparable volunteer model and beneficiary overlap with Warm Up America!.
• Knots of Love: Volunteer nonprofit that distributes hand-knitted and crocheted hats and blankets to chemotherapy patients and others in need. Directly comparable mission and volunteer-craft production model.
• Snuggles Project: Volunteer organization donating handmade blankets to shelter animals through humane societies and rescue groups. Comparable volunteer fiber-craft donation and chapter-based distribution model.
• Stitches From the Heart: Volunteer nonprofit focused on handcrafted items for babies and children in shelters and hospitals. Directly comparable volunteer fiber-craft donation model with similar distribution channels.

Broad incumbents

• Samaritan's Purse: Large faith-based relief organization with international humanitarian aid and disaster relief programs. Comparable emergency relief mission but operates at much larger scale across multiple verticals beyond textiles.
• Operation Christmas Child (Samaritan's Purse): Volunteer-driven gift and aid collection program focused on children in need globally. Comparable volunteer mobilization and donor-tied donation model, though product scope is broader than fiber crafts.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/warmupamerica
• Facebookfacebook.com/WarmUpAmerica
• Instagraminstagram.com/warmupamerica
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/warm-up-america

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Warm Up America!