In lieu of gifts this year, what if your family participated in a holiday donation exchange? Even if you don’t let go of gifts completely, there is probably something on your wish list that could be replaced with a charitable act of kindness. Our staff member, Morgan, and her family have been doing a holiday donation exchange for a few years now. Morgan’s favorite part of this tradition is learning about a new charity that is meaningful to one of her family members.

A holiday donation exchange is similar to how Secret Santa works. One or two members of the family are the coordinators and reach out to their parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins to see who would like to participate. If participating, all you have to do is submit information about a charity that you are passionate about to the coordinators. They take care of the rest! A few weeks before Christmas you receive a card in the mail which states the family member you are donating in honor of that year and the charity they have chosen. There are so many amazing charities all over the world that every participant will surely have one they are excited to include in your family’s holiday donation exchange.

Donating to charities in lieu of gifts is the perfect way for our ambassadors to get their whole families involved in acts of kindness this holiday season! We encourage our ambassadors to be the holiday donation exchange coordinators for their families (with some parent help if needed). The items needed and how to section of this month’s campaign is aimed to help our ambassadors feel informed on how to be your family’s holiday donation exchange coordinator.

Items Needed for This Month’s Campaign

• Large Envelopes (big enough for the small envelope, card, and cardstock)
• Small Envelopes (of similar size to the cards/cardstock)
• Cards – 1 per person
• Stamps – 2 per person
• Cardstock – 1 per person
• Pen

How To Do This Month’s Campaign

Reach out to family members, near and far, and tell them you would like to do a holiday donation exchange instead of presents this year. Call family members or have a parent help you email family members. Participating family members need to provide their charity, their charity’s address, and their charity’s website (if able). They also need to provide their personal address if you do not have it already.

To assemble:

Stamp both the large and small envelopes

On the smaller and larger envelopes write each family member’s name and address

On the pieces of cardstock neatly write “Thank you for participating in our holiday donation exchange! You will be donating to _____’s charity this year! Include the charity name, charity address, and charity website. Donate to _____’s charity and use the included card and envelope to send him/her a kind message” Do this for every participant.

Place a card, smaller envelope, and matching cardstock in a larger envelope. For example, a larger envelope addressed to Kim will have inside – a smaller envelope addressed to Morgan, the cardstock that has Morgan’s charity information on it, and a card. (Make sure nobody gets themselves)

Mail the envelopes!