From One-Time Shopper to Lifelong Supporter: How U.S.VETS Turned Merch Into a Monthly Giving Engine

For more than 30 years, U.S.VETS has provided housing and homelessness prevention services to veterans and their families across the nation. 

As a nonprofit, their mission has gone far beyond finding temporary and permanent housing, with programs designed to support individual care like food and clothing assistance, counseling, legal aid, transportation, and health care services. 

Their flagship cause-marketing initiative, Make Camo Your Cause to #HonorUSVets, has always been the public face of that mission. 

But for three years, the campaign was stuck selling the same five products: a t-shirt, a hoodie, a pullover, a long sleeve, and a hat, with no way for a customer to become anything more than a one-time buyer. 

Today, through a partnership with Fourthwall, that same campaign sells thousands of units a year, supports a full donor membership program called the Camo Club, and converts casual shoppers into ongoing monthly supporters. 

This case study explores how U.S.VETS took their marketing initiative to new heights through Camo Club and how they turned one-time donors into recurring members. 

A Merch Campaign That Had Leveled Off

Heather Harvin, U.S.VETS' National Corporate Campaigns and Community Relations Manager, has led the Camo Club initiative for five years. 

During her tenure, she took the organization's merch store from a few-item catalog and turned it into the merch magnet it is today. 

One of her biggest objectives was moving the organization’s merch store from Spring to a platform that could not only enhance its donation capabilities but also provide the tools needed to expand its merch catalog. 

When reminiscing about their previous merch store, Harvin described it as redundant. 

“We had a store (with Spring) the year prior,” said Harvin. “We were selling t-shirts annually, but it was becoming redundant. So, we asked ourselves, what can we add this year to expand and increase visibility, but also elevate our campaign as a whole? And Fourthwall, you were all able to do that.” 

But what really sold Harvin and the team on Fourthwall was the ability to add donations directly into the shopping experience itself. 

 "Some people may not want to buy the same shirt they bought last year," Harvin explains, "but it's like, hey, at least I can give a donation knowing that it's going back to U.S.VETS." 

That single idea of giving shoppers a way to support the cause even when they weren't ready to buy became the foundation for everything that followed.

Designing Camo Club: Affordable Tiers for High-Impact Services

With their new platform and donation system now in place, U.S.VETS’s next objective was to figure out how to turn a one-time donation into long-term support. 

After a series of brainstorming sessions with her Fourthwall partner manager

The answer was a series of monthly membership tiers created by Harvin and U.S.VETS’ Fourthwall partner manager. They started by considering how much people could realistically afford to donate each month.

From there, the team created options for every budget. Someone could give $5 because that was what they could afford, while others could donate hundreds of dollars, especially around Veterans Day or the holidays.

“We wanted to make sure that all of the tiers were affordable, of course,” Harvin says, “but also, sometimes you have those people that are like, ‘well, I want to give $250.’ Every donation, regardless of its size, demonstrates the true spirit of giving and the deep affection we (all) have for our veterans!” 

What makes these tiers work is that donors can clearly see how their money helps:

• $5 monthly donation provides one meal a day to a U.S. veteran.
• $10 monthly donation provides a veteran with three meals a day.
• $25 monthly donation covers transportation to and from job interviews and medical appointments.
• $50 monthly donation provides outreach kits and services to veterans living on the streets.
• $100 monthly donation can provide a veteran with one counseling session or a full month of housing and supportive services.

Each tier also connects to a specific service or form of support. According to U.S.VETS’ donor data, the average monthly donation across the organization is around $25, which is also one of the amounts that connects most with Camo Club members.

The entire membership structure comes down to one piece of advice Harvin received from Fourthwall early on—offer an option for everyone.

Veteran homelessness is a cause that anyone can support, regardless of their age, background, or income. That is why Camo Club’s tiers are affordable enough for more people to participate while still giving larger donors a meaningful way to contribute more.

Exclusive Perks That Deepen the Relationship

Merchandise and clear examples of how donations help may encourage someone to join Camo Club, but the membership experience is what keeps them involved.

In addition to supporting a helping vet in need, Camo Club offers an array of perks such as early access to new merch drops, sign-ups for their quarterly newsletter, access to exclusive member-only items, and discounts ranging from 10-25% on all products. 

Members who join the highest Camo Club tier receive an invitation to tour a U.S.VETS location in person. The idea comes directly from how the organization welcomes its largest corporate supporters. 

"We literally do it with our corporate partners who give us thousands of dollars—hey, let's take you on a tour," Harvin says. "Why can't we do it with our camo donors?"

U.S.VETS keeps the process simple by connecting each donor with the location closest to them. There is also no limit to how many eligible members can take a tour each year. 

The goal is to help donors see where their money goes and feel more connected to the work they support. Harvin believes this perk can become an even bigger part of Camo Club as U.S.VETS opens more locations nationwide.

Merchandise as the On-Ramp, Not Just the Product

In hindsight, U.S.VETS’s membership strategy wouldn’t have worked without a catalog that gave supporters a reason to show up in the first place. 

Expanding from just five products to a much larger merchandise collection gave supporters more ways to discover the organization, shop, and eventually get more involved with its mission.

Since partnering with Fourthwall, U.S.VETS has built out a full camo collection, along with seasonal drops tied to Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Fourth of July, and Memorial Day.

The organization has also introduced product bundles that combine popular items at a more affordable price, including family bundles for supporters shopping for themselves and their kids.

Their Summer Collection shows just how much U.S.VETS now listens to what its customers actually want. Using a mix of internal ideas and Canva's design tools, the team created a limited-edition red, white, and blue "Americana" version of its logo.

The plan was to sell the collection through Labor Day and then move on. But it became so popular that when U.S.VETS took it down to promote its annual all-camo Veterans Day collection, customers began emailing to ask where the Americana shirt had gone.

By 2026, as U.S.VETS prepared for its 250th-anniversary tie-in, the choice was clear—keep the Americana collection available year-round.

It's a simple example of a bigger lesson. U.S.VETS no longer decides what to sell based only on its marketing calendar. It also pays attention to what supporters are actually buying and asking for, then uses that demand to decide which products stay in the store.

What's Next for the Camo Club

U.S.VETS isn't treating the current model as a finished product. Two clear priorities are shaping what comes next:

1. Tying membership growth to the 250th anniversary. Harvin sees an opportunity to connect the year's broader anniversary theme directly into an expansion of the Camo Club's tiers and messaging.
2. Moving into everyday branded items. Inspired by seeing other Fourthwall partners incorporate electronics and gadgets into their stores, U.S.VETS is exploring items like portable chargers and speakers—products people use daily, which Harvin points out creates far more consistent brand visibility than apparel that might only be worn occasionally.

In both cases, the plan is the same one that got the campaign here in the first place. Lean on Fourthwall's product and platform expertise, and keep building incrementally on what's already working rather than starting over each year.

The Takeaway for Other Nonprofits

When asked what advice she'd give other nonprofits thinking about launching a similar membership program, Harvin's answer was simple:

"You want to offer something to everyone."

For U.S.VETS, the goal was never to attract just one type of donor. It was about giving everyone a way to support the mission, whether that's a $5 donation, a $500 contribution, a t-shirt, or even a baby onesie for someone who recently returned from maternity leave.

Just as important is showing supporters exactly where their money goes. 

By combining a wider range of merchandise with clear information about each donation's impact, U.S.VETS turned an underperforming apparel program into a more consistent source of ongoing support.

For other nonprofits, the lesson is straightforward. Give people plenty of ways to get involved. 

Whether that’s offering products that bring supporters to your store, creating membership tiers that clearly explain what each contribution helps fund, or adding meaningful perks that bring donors closer to your mission. 

Most importantly, make it as easy as possible for someone to go from simply buying a product to becoming a long-term supporter.