Donate through our Fiscal Sponsor: Haywood County Arts Council

Tax-deductible donations towards Our Recovery can now be made through our Fiscal Sponsor

We are pleased to announce that our wonderful supporter, The Haywood County Arts Council, has become our fiscal sponsor. They are a great friend to us, The Village Potters Clay Center, and are eager to help us in our recovery.

A fiscal sponsorship is an existing 501(c)(3) nonprofit offering to provide its tax-exemption status and associated benefits to another group, typically for a charitable project or an organization that is in the process of becoming a 501C3. By agreeing to partner with us as our fiscal sponsor, they will in turn receive 10% of all donations. This donation to them helps with their administration costs and hopefully leaves a little for the good works they do as well.

We are incredibly grateful for all of the support we’ve received so far. We’re also excited that you can now donate to The Village Potters Clay Center and now receive a tax deduction!

For a tax-deductible donation, please use one of the options below:

  1. By Check:
    Make checks payable to HCAC (Haywood County Arts Council) and mail to:
    PO Box 306, Waynesville, NC 28786
  2. Online Payment:
    Pay conveniently through our donor portal HERE
  3. If you are donating from your IRA/trust, here is our EIN : 58-1322291

*Please note “The Village Potters Fund” with your donation in the memo line.

*If you donate through the donor portal, the “tip” feature is optional and is a feature that allows GiveButter to stay free to non-profits. Please select “other” to change the tip amount that goes to give to GiveButter or selection “none” to not give anything

To make a direct donation with a check via mail, please make the check out to: 
The Village Potters

and mail to:

Sarah Wells Rolland
The Village Potters Clay Center
324 Smokey Cove Rd, Canton, NC 28716

List of Donation Needs

This is our larger fundraiser to raise $250,000 that will be used to establish a 501(c)3 to insure the legacy of The Village Potters Clay Center’s multiple educational programs and retail gallery. These non-profit funds will also assist displaced artists with the exponential increased rental costs.

The amounts below are allocated for equipment that could not be be salvaged from the flood or repaired, that we require to get up and running again, as well as very costly service professionals, i.e. plumbing, electrical and flooring.

1. $72,196 for Large Geil Downdraft Gas Kiln

  • Large downdraft Geil Kiln that in itself costs $49,276
    • Plus controller for the Geil Kiln costs $6,315
    • Plus shipping for this kiln is $550
  • This kiln is the replacement for our large 40 cubic foot downdraft kiln (image below). We lost Sarah’s personal 40 cubic foot gas kiln valued at approximately $60,000 to rebuild. It was used by resident potters, for large pots, apprentices, and our intermediate student classes
We need this 36 cubic ft Front loading downdraft Brick Kiln, Specs, Ventilation Hood. We hope to replace the large kiln seen below that we lost.
Sarah Wells Rolland’s personal downdraft gas kiln that she moved from her home studio to the RAD studio so that many potters in our group could use it
Sarah Wells Rolland and her friend/mentor, Gary Clontz, who designed this kiln. The 26 ft flood waters destroyed it. The exterior wall fell on it

Bertha loaded with pots of varying sizes. You can see the big pots that need to be fired in a big kiln like this

2. $29,695 for several electric Skutt Kilns, $5939.00 each

  • We have had some small electric kilns donated to us but we still need 5 electric KM 1227 Skutt Kilns to replace those kilns that had the roof collapse on them.
These production kilns by Skutt are what we need to fire the hundreds of pots that will go through our facility
This was our “Kiln Alley” where 7 of our original Skutt kilns lived, as well as our previous Geil fiber kiln. You can see the entire roof collapsed because the flood waters demolished the outer wall. We were unable to salvage any of them…

3. $42,000+ for the extensive Subcontracted Labor Services

  • Our facility is 18,000 square feet and currently only has 2 electrical outlets and only has sinks in our bathrooms
  • Extensive Electrical Work by Towne Electric needed to accommodate all of our wheels and kilns. We estimate this work will be around $20,000.
  • Extensive Plumbing with TP Howard installing multiple sinks around the center. We estimate this work will be around $15,000.
  • Floor preparation (sanding and resealing the floor) estimated cost of $7000.
  • We expect the subcontractors official quotes any day now

4. $6,000 for materials to build pedestals for our gallery space

  • We need to build over 60 pedestals. We have 14 donated currently. We hope to build them before our soft opening in June 2025.

5. $11,000 for Small Billboard

  • Billboard will be located on I-240, right before our exit. This will let the community and visitors know we are back and at a new location.

6. $20,000 Electric Powered Forklift for the Clay Company

If you’d rather all of your donation go directly to us and don’t mind that it won’t be tax-deductible, you can To make a direct donation with a check via mail, please make the check out to:  The Village Potters

and mail to:

Sarah Wells Rolland
The Village Potters Clay Center
324 Smokey Cove Rd, Canton, NC 28716

We also still have our GoFundMe up if you’d prefer to give that way.