Charities pitch gifts to last minute Christmas shoppers
Howard Lake | 24 December 2013 | News
Several charities are this year offering to come to the rescue of people who have left it too late to buy Christmas presents, by inviting them to buy a virtual gift.
Oxfam’s Archie the goat
Oxfam’s Archie the goat has been inviting supporters to buy one of the charity’s new Oxfam Unwrapped e-cards. These can be personalised and can be sent straight away or on a specific date.
He also pointed out that you can you can still buy Oxfam Unwrapped gifts in your local Oxfam shop.
Lendwithcare.org
Care International has commissioned a poll to help warn people against buying gifts that are not going to be appreciated.
The charity’s poll found that “men could waste over £126 million on unwanted Christmas gifts in the frenzy of last-minute shopping”. Instead, Care International suggested they buy a philanthropic voucher from Lendwithcare.org, its charitable loans scheme, to provide “a memorable, stress-free alternative”. The voucher can be downloaded and printed in minutes at any time during the festive season or afterwards.
Tracey Horner, head of Lendwithcare.org, said: “Leaving shopping until the last minute means men risk looking less thoughtful. However there is surely no greater gift you can give to your loved one than the chance to transform someone’s life. Those who receive these vouchers in their stocking will be receiving a gift that’s in line with the true spirit of Christmas, and because they get repaid, it’s a gift that keeps on giving.”
[message_box title=”Care International’s figures” color=”blue”]Results based on the GB male population of 23,713,839, 15.12% (3,585,532.4) said they panic bought gifts last Christmas and felt at least one of their gifts were not used or went to waste. Of these men, 60% (151,319.47 men) estimated the value of their wasted gifts. The mean estimate was £58.97 per male respondent versus £37.51 per female respondent. The total wasted by panic-buying men is £126,863,309.39 versus £119,478,223 spent by panic-buying women. Total sample size was 2,038 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 8th – 11th November 2013. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all GB adults (aged 18+).
According to an expert from the British Retail Consortium, seven out of ten last-minute shoppers on Christmas Eve 2012 were men.[/message_box]
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Charity Choice
Charity Choice, the online directory of charities published by Wilmington Publishing and Information, is encouraging readers simply to donate online via their site to a charity of their choice.
“A donation to someone’s favourite cause makes a great last-minute Christmas gift idea”, they say, “and no dealing with the shopping crowds!”
The ability to donate online and the extensive range of virtual gifts from charities means that the promotion of charity Christmas presents can now run right up to the very last minute, a long time past the last date for ordering and delivering physical items.
Photo: Last minute buying presents by Rob Byron on Shutterstock.com
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.