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Givsly, the social impact company, today launched “Season Without Swag,” the first of its kind effort that turns budgets previously spent on gifts and swag into meaningful charitable contributions. The initiative, in partnership with Advertising Week, has a $1 million goal in donations now through Giving Tuesday, December 1, 2020. Early companies who have already committed donations include Criteo, Fluent, Haymarket Media, Inc., LiveRamp, MobileFuse, S4M, Undertone, and Waze.

Each year in North America, $25 billion is spent on promotional swag such as branded water bottles and blankets, with the majority focused toward the holiday season. Many times these products go unused. Alongside holiday swag waste, startling numbers have emerged around the impact of COVID-19 on nonprofits this year. A recent Fidelity Charitable survey found that 47% of recent volunteers believe the amount of time they volunteer will decrease or stop entirely because of COVID-19, while 95% of nonprofit employees reported impacts to fundraising (79%) or volunteer services and programs (79%). Based on these intersecting trends, as well as the COVID-driven need for every business to re-evaluate its spending, Givsly believes that now is the perfect time for Season Without Swag.

“Givsly inherently understands the importance of brand promotion and showing thanks during the holiday season; however, this year has been a wake up call for our industry and ‘business as usual’ thinking no longer works,” said Chad Hickey, Founder and CEO of Givsly. “There’s a time and a place for swag. There are also easy ways to make an impact on the community around us. We believe that the place to start is the money wasted during the holidays in the gifts that go unused. As our country becomes a culture of purpose and meaningful spend, Season Without Swag encourages our industry to start thinking differently in a way that shows appreciation but also gives back.”

How Season Without Swag Works

For companies who wish to participate in Season Without Swag, companies simply make a donation to the charity of their choice and provide the receipt of that donation to Givlsy. Sponsorship opportunities are also available for companies who would like to amplify their commitment to the initiative. To raise additional donations, participating agencies will also be volunteering their meeting time through the Givsly platform on Giving Tuesday, December 1, 2020.

To learn more about Season Without Swag, to register and contribute to the $1 million goal, please visit https://company.givsly.com/sws2020/.

“With Season Without Swag, Givsly continues to redefine meaningful social impact for the Advertising industry,” said Daniella Harkins, GM, Strategic and Media Alliances at LiveRamp. “In this time of really evaluating where our dollars go, it’s a no brainer that the industry should skip swag gift giving and use their budgets for good this holiday season.”