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The Why, Where, and How of Alternative Gift Fairs
Why
 Hosting an Alternate Gift Fair is a positive holiday experience you can bring to your entire local community - a fun way to bypass the annual stress of holiday shopping and "stuff" accumulation while honoring friends and relatives with donations to causes that fit their values. What's more, Alternative Gift Fairs provide critical support for a diverse collection of local, national and international organizations with established track records of helping people and the environment.
Where
To find an Alternative Gift Fair near you, go to the events page in My New Dream (you'll be asked to login) and enter your location to see events in your area.
Advertise your event and get volunteers to help out by posting information about fairs in our online event listings - you'll need to login or set up and online profile with us to post
Visit the online Gift Fair Forum to get and share tips and wisdom
How
So there's not already a fair near you? You can make it happen!
 Alternative Gift Fairs can come in many shapes and sizes, from a larger fair that fills an entire hall and involves dozens of volunteers to a single table staffed by a single volunteer. Any size fair can do a wonderful job of drawing community together around common values and alternatives to a commercial culture. And we'll provide the materials to get you started!
Read the Q and A from the recent Gift Fair Conference Call - with information on alterting the media, selecting organizations, styles of fairs and practical suggestions.
Get a free e-copy of our guide to organizing alternative gift fairs (registration required) - this guide is based on lessons learned hosting Alternative Gift Fairs in Takoma Park, Maryland from 1999 through 2002. The first fair raised $11,000 for worthy nonprofit causes, with a primary focus on helping those in need both locally and around the world. Subsequent fairs were even more successful, each attracting about 200 'shoppers' and raising between $16,000 and $21,000. Since 2002, members of our community have taken the Alternative Gift Fair model nationwide. In 2004, using our guides and materials and adding their own creative flourishes, dedicated individuals hosted 29 events in 17 states, raising $150,000 for local, national, and international nonprofit organizations!
Materials, Samples, and Templates to get you started (No need to reinvent the wheel!)
Go online for alternative gifts
Alternative gift fairs offer a chance to channel some of your holiday gift dollars to good causes, while sharing a little goodwill with others in your community. If, however, you missed the fair in your area, don’t despair. Online options abound.
Try these alt gift alternatives:
Altgifts.org
JustGive.org
Globalgiving.com
OurVoicesTogether.org
Oxfamunamericawrapped.com |
