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.
How
You can make a gift fair 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!
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 Since 2002, members of our community have taken the Alternative Gift Fair model nationwide.
Materials, Samples, and Templates to get you started (No need to reinvent the wheel!)