Traidcraft launches virtual gift catalogue
Howard Lake | 5 October 2005 | News
Traidcraft Exchange, the charity that fights poverty through trade in the developing world, is the latest charity to launch a ‘virtual gift’ catalogue, “Gifts for Life”.
The catalogue presents a series of gifts to be bought as a charitable gesture for third parties as an alternative to a material gift.
Gifts for Life range in price from £15 to £100 offering a wide variety of gifts to help impoverished traders around the world from educational workshops teaching business people in Asia to access export markets to loans for African farmers to equip themselves with protective clothing and beehives for honey production.
The gift recipient receives an attractive hand-made and fairly traded card with details included about the project being funded.
The charity has been working on the catalogue with direct marketing agency Cascaid, which has been helping Traidcraft to develop long-term strategies to build awareness, reach new audiences and grow the charity’s supporter base for future appeals.
The Gifts for Life campaign runs from September to December 2005 and uses a mix of direct mail, cold inserts and Internet activity. In all, 100,000 catalogues and 450,000 promotional leaflets will be rolled out.
A warm mailing will carry the catalogue to 20,000 existing and lapsed supporters during October. Catalogues will be inserted into fulfilment parcels from Traidcraft’s commercial Fair Trade gift catalogue that targets Christmas audiences. Catalogues will also be inserted into Traidcraft’s newsletter to its base of 6,000 UK Fair Traders and retailers.
Promotional leaflets, highlighting three of the virtual gifts on offer, will be inserted into consumer press with a focus on lifestyle magazines and national newspapers, prompting purchase or request for the full catalogue.
A new website at www.giftsforlife.org supports the campaign and will be promoted by pay per click advertising on Google.
Helen Lawlan, Public Fundraising Manager, at Traidcraft Exchange, said: “A small trial of the virtual gift catalogue last year was a huge success producing more than double the estimated return.”
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About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.