Giving to your attendees can be an excellent way to give back to humanity.
For the last seven years, Stacey Horowitz, founder of Shopping for a Change, has teamed with artisans in developing countries to offer one-of-a-kind incentive gifts that give their families the tools to live a better life.
“They’re taking skills that have sometimes been passed down through generations, giving them a way to rise out of poverty, put food on the table and give their children an education,” Horowitz said.
The San Francisco Bay Area-based Horowitz began Shopping for a Change following a trip to Ecuador and Peru in 2008. After seeing the challenging conditions many people in those countries live in—and especially women—Horowitz came back from her trip depressed by what she saw.
“I had traveled internationally before, but where I was in my life—about to turn 50, traveling with my child for the first time as a mom—you start to see things differently,” she said. “It hit me hard that these people living in poverty were no different than me, except for where I was born. We all want the same things: shelter and an education for our children.
Horowitz, who has a background in the advertising industry, took the initiative to launch Shopping for a Change, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that follows a fair trade policy that buys the merchandise up front, sells it on their website and splits the proceeds with various nonprofits in the U.S.
Besides the products that are already on her website, Shopping for a Change can also come up with custom merchandise ideas for the artisans to produce for attendees.
Big retail companies and large nonprofit organizations are taking notice, with Shopping for a Change recently announcing a partnership with Patagonia and getting approached by hunger-relief organization World Vision and the New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art to customize products for their events.
In addition to selling fair-trade incentive gift products, Shopping for a Change is also branching out into CSR programs, with real estate giant Keller Williams Realty recently bringing in the company to run a CSR component for its international convention in Las Vegas. During the program, Shopping for a Change partnered with a local nonprofit that helps homeless people move into permanent housing—a great fit for a real estate convention. Participants packaged common kitchenware items into kits for their move-in day.
Horowitz said that the holiday season is a good opportunity for planners to buy their products for attendees, or with enough lead time, design custom branded gifts, and that the Shopping for a Change model is very scalable, so even small organizations can afford to participate.
