Volunteer Gift Cards
Thanksgiving is in just over a month from now, which means that food banks and soup kitchens are just starting to plan for their holiday events. For those of us lucky enough to have food on our tables, I'd like to share an idea.
If you're a retailer or a grocery store, take some of your marketing or advertising budget for the holiday season and put it into gift cards in the amount of $5, $10, or $20 dollars apiece. Then, put these cards into the hands of churches and non-profit organizations for them to give to their volunteers as a "thank you" for helping out around Thanksgiving.
If you're planning on being open for business the day after, this makes a whole lot of sense. Why more retailers aren't clamoring to get gift cards into the hands of as many people as they can the day before the biggest shopping day of the year is a mystery to me. But then, good opportunities tend to reside in what no one else is doing.
One thing for the charitable organizations: they must be gifts, given after the fact, and only after the fact. You shouldn't entice volunteers into your place on Thanksgiving with promises of a gift card or else you run the risk people will show up just for the reward. It's a gift, not a means of sweetening a deal.
Chances are good I'm not reaching anyone who works for a non-profit or controls the marketing budget for a consumer retailer. But maybe you know someone who does, and could tell them for me?
If you're a retailer or a grocery store, take some of your marketing or advertising budget for the holiday season and put it into gift cards in the amount of $5, $10, or $20 dollars apiece. Then, put these cards into the hands of churches and non-profit organizations for them to give to their volunteers as a "thank you" for helping out around Thanksgiving.
If you're planning on being open for business the day after, this makes a whole lot of sense. Why more retailers aren't clamoring to get gift cards into the hands of as many people as they can the day before the biggest shopping day of the year is a mystery to me. But then, good opportunities tend to reside in what no one else is doing.
One thing for the charitable organizations: they must be gifts, given after the fact, and only after the fact. You shouldn't entice volunteers into your place on Thanksgiving with promises of a gift card or else you run the risk people will show up just for the reward. It's a gift, not a means of sweetening a deal.
Chances are good I'm not reaching anyone who works for a non-profit or controls the marketing budget for a consumer retailer. But maybe you know someone who does, and could tell them for me?