Fundraising as fashion
I was out buying a giant map today and saw this display in a nearby clothes shop.
Each bag cost £45 pounds. For each purchase, the World Food Programme receives a donation that will pay for 50 school meals for a child in Haiti.
Apparently young mums have been snapping them up, but I didn’t see any actually in use. Though the US website shows that more than half a million FEED bags have now been sold worldwide.
It’s an example of a charity moving the sale of the traditional badges, CDs and T-shirts firmly into the fashion world. A virtual gift that’s a little more real than most.
Bags aren’t the only product that FEED sells. You can also buy jewelry, cosmetics and teddy bears. Every sale helps someone in the developing world. The bears, for example, fund the purchase of PlumpyNut high nutrient paste for malnourished infants.
The concept reminded me of some similar ideas that were around in the mid 80’s.
But things seem just a little more sophisticated today. A great example of this is provided by Save The Children who teamed up with Bulgari in 2009 to create a ring that sold for £200.
People give for a whole host of reasons and for those who want to publicise their generosity, it’s things like this that are going to get them donating.