Perfect presents? Never.
Howard Lake | 24 December 2008 | Blogs
Every year the same thing. What to get our charity partners, what to get the team?
The former are tricky – no one-size-fits-all case of wine when you’re working with charities, one of whose creeds is temperance … and is it appropriate to be sending hampers of fine foods to development organisations whose beneficiaries are happy to have any food at all?
Then there are the environmental issues – all that packaging, the fuel for deliveries, the sheer consumerism (I write this as Zavvi goes into administration).
And it’s a Christian festival isn’t it? The corporate cards hedge our bets around issues of religious inclusion and atheism with ‘Season’s Greetings’ (anyhow, Merry Christmas implies alcohol-related indulgence – see temperance above) but should we be delivering gifts at all? Then there’s the personalities – the charity may disapprove, but Callum has to have his single malt …
And it’s the same with the internal agency team. I think I know them well enough but everybody has their own favourite beverage – we used to buy them Champagne but many bottles lingered on their desks into Spring as some hankered for nothing more sophisticated than a case of Stella.
Last year I went out with colleague Robin and we guessed between us. Hopeless. A frenzy of swapping followed but nobody was entirely happy.
This year I thought I’d cracked it. I emailed the team to tell them I’d be blogging on the subject and asked outright what their favourite tipple was. The majority replied with an Out-of-Office message because I’d left it so late. Hey ho ho ho.
But I think I may have found the ideal solution. Make it an SEP (Somebody Else’s Problem). Between them, Nick and Diane and Rich sorted out the Christmas cards, the corporate gifts and the latter organised the booze. So blame them/him/anybody but me.
Season’s greetings to one and all.
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.