| Do we, while feeling the satisfaction of purchasing a | | | | how it will work: |
| well for Ethiopian schoolchildren or a water filter for a | | | | Jane knows that her friend Joe is concerned that |
| Ugandan refugee family, notice the catch? Nonprofit | | | | people in Africa are dying of water-related diseases. |
| organizations publishing alternative gift | | | | For Christmas, Jane orders a Lifewater gift card for |
| catalogs—including the organization I work for, | | | | Joe. Lifewater mails the redeemable gift card and a |
| Lifewater International—have been participating in a | | | | greeting card to Jane, who personalizes with a note |
| well-intentioned bait and switch. Read the small print: | | | | and then gives the cards to Joe. Upon receiving the |
| “All gifts purchased through this catalog will go to | | | | gift, Joe goes to Lifewater’s website and reads |
| Lifewater International’s work where the need is | | | | about six countries where Lifewater is working. He |
| greatest.”and | | | | picks the country of special significance to him, |
| “Gifts made through this catalog represent a gift to | | | | Uganda, and spends his gift card there. Joe also signs |
| the entire mission” (found in the gift catalog of a | | | | up to receive reports on the project’s progress. |
| prominent nonprofit organization). | | | | Lifewater’s new alternative gift program has many |
| Nearly every alternative gift catalog contains a similar | | | | benefits: |
| statement. To be honest, this tactic is good financial | | | | - Doing away with the traditional printed catalog |
| stewardship, enabling Lifewater and other nonprofits to | | | | significantly reduces Lifewater’s costs and carbon |
| avoid spending their limited resources tracking relatively | | | | footprint, which means more money goes directly to |
| small donations. Your purchase of a Lifewater hand | | | | projects. (In fiscal year 2008-2009, 88.5% of |
| pump accomplishes far more when it is pooled with | | | | Lifewater’s donations went straight to projects.) |
| other gifts to meet the most pressing needs than it | | | | - Both the purchaser and the recipient participate in |
| would if the donation was tracked independently and | | | | selecting the gift. |
| rigidly assigned to purchasing that specific item. | | | | - Donation processing on Lifewater’s end is |
| Nonetheless, no one can blame purchasers for a bit of | | | | efficient, keeping costs low. |
| disappointment. Visions of schoolchildren seesawing on | | | | - Important Lifewater projects receive funding and |
| a newly installed hand pump can dissipate when | | | | prayer from people who have special interest in them. |
| donors find that their money does not actually | | | | - The country-specific donation designations are |
| purchase a hand pump but rather fills in gaps in | | | | general enough to give Lifewater and its in-country |
| Lifewater’s international project budget. | | | | partner organizations the leeway they need to use |
| The weakness of alternative giving is that it does not | | | | resources effectively. |
| adequately communicate the beauty of what actually | | | | - Gift recipients learn about Lifewater, become |
| happens with donations. For example, a donor’s | | | | familiar with Lifewater’s website, and receive |
| $100 may have been the remaining funds needed to | | | | reports on the project’s progress, involving them in |
| install a latrine system in a rural community in Kenya | | | | the adventure of solving critical needs. |
| where children had been dying because sewage | | | | Lifewater is confident that additional benefits will |
| runoff infested the water supply. While less | | | | emerge over time from this new twist to the |
| picturesque than the new hand pump, the latrine | | | | well-established alternative-giving program that |
| project has equally beautiful results that donors would | | | | nonprofits depend on for year-end gifts. For now, we |
| certainly embrace. | | | | are stepping forward in confidence that this initiative |
| This year, Lifewater hopes to close the gap between | | | | helps Lifewater International steward well the |
| what is communicated to donors and what actually | | | | resources our supporters have entrusted to us to |
| happens with their gifts. We hope to accomplish this | | | | make a difference in our world. |
| through a new redeemable gift card program. This is | | | | |