Give a Group Gift. photo courtesy of adactio
Weddings, births, new jobs– there are lots of occasions where group gift giving makes sense. This increases your buying power and saves time. But group gift giving can be a little tough to organize. Here are some tips to make the process go smoothly.
1. Open the Invitation: Send out an email to people who may be interested in joining together to purchase a gift. Suggest a possible price point for everyone to pitch in.
2. Use an Online Resource: There are several websites designed to help with group gift giving. This means you don’t have to live in the same town or even the same state to organize a group gift. Two sites to check out are FromEveryone.com and eDivvy.com. FromEveryone.com doesn’t have set gift card amounts, the amount is determined by how much the group aggregates. An Organizer is welcome to suggest an amount, but it’s not necessary. There’s a minimum contribution of $5 and a total gift minimum of $50. Also, each individual contribution is confidential, no one sees how much Suzy gave vs. how much Jane gave, just a running total. The site charges a 10% service fee ($.50 for a $5.00 contribution) but there are no shipping, processing, taxes or any other fees. With eDivvy.com, you can shop for a gift on the site and send invitations to people you want to participate. A great feature of this site is that if you collect too much money, everyone will receive a refund check from eDivvy.com.
3. Collect Money Online: PayPal is a great way to collect money for a group gift. Simply log on to your PayPal account and send out an email to each person including the amount owed. They’ll receive instructions on how to pay you through PayPal. You may want to also factor for expenses like shipping, wrapping and a card.
4. Set Some Rules: You may want to decide ahead of time if you want to set rules. For instance, if not everyone can give the full amount required, will they be allowed to still participate in the group effort? Laying out these rules in the beginning will limit difficult situations in the future.
With these tips, group gift giving should go smoothly. If you are the organizer, keep in mind that collecting money from some people may prove to be difficult, but in the end you’ll be able to get a great gift for someone special in your life.
