Organizing a Toy Drive  – GiveSmart


The vacations are a time of giving, with many individuals exchanging items with their family members worldwide. Nonetheless, some households in your neighborhood could need assistance to offer items for his or her youngsters. A vacation donation drive would be the excellent answer to those households’ wants.  

Your nonprofit can unfold vacation cheer this yr by organizing a toy drive on your constituents or a companion group. Giving deserving kids vacation items is a superb technique to give again and interact your help community. This information offers a toy donation drive guidelines and ideas for making your drive profitable.  

What You’ll Want for Your Toy Drive

Organizing a profitable toy drive takes cautious planning. Use this guidelines to make sure you have the whole lot you want on your group’s marketing campaign.  

A Drop-Off Location: One of many important belongings you’ll want on your toy donation drive is a drop-off location for the toys. You’ll additionally want receptacles to position toys in, in addition to indicators figuring out them as donation bins. Contemplate leveraging a company relationship and asking to make use of their workplace or convention room house for a drop-off location.  

Volunteers to Coordinate and Handle Your Toy Drive: Volunteers make any donation drive run easily. You’ll want individuals to assist plan, promote, acquire, wrap, and ship objects. Contemplate in case your toy drive might be a undertaking wholly owned by your junior board or different high-level volunteers.  

A Option to Promote Your Toy Drive: Getting the phrase out about your toy donation drive to as many individuals as potential is crucial. Your promoting strategies may rely in your group’s wants and attain. 

Concentrate on Particular Age Teams 

Some toy donation drives are open to toys for any age group. Whereas this could be extra versatile on your donors, narrowing your focus to 1 age group or a variety, like youngsters in first by means of third grades, will be helpful. Protecting your toy drive focused on a restricted age vary provides donors extra course in procuring and prevents purchases that don’t match your recipients’ pursuits.  

It’s additionally crucial to inform donors which age teams your toy drive will deal with. A well-meaning donor might carry a procuring cart stuffed with child toys, however they’ll be no assist in case your targeted age vary is center college.  

Whether or not you help teenagers or youngsters in short-term residing conditions, households in your college district, or different deserving youngsters in your neighborhood, make your toy drive impactful by being particular.  

toy drive

Promote Your Toy Drive

Unfold the phrase about your toy donation drive by promoting as typically and early as potential. In case your goal donors are individuals inside your group or enterprise, you may use an organization-wide marketing campaign to achieve your viewers. In case you’re promoting your toy drive to the broader neighborhood, you’ll have to market it extra extensively.  

Think about using a social media technique to let individuals learn about your upcoming toy drive. There are numerous free social media instruments for nonprofits to make use of of their promoting campaigns.  

You can too submit bodily flyers and speak to native companies in your neighborhood. You could possibly persuade a number of firms to supply reductions and coupons to encourage donations.  


Are you profiting from $10,000 in free Google Adverts each month? Most 501(c)3 organizations are eligible for Google Advert Grants, and this highly effective software may help you add a whole bunch of latest donors or subscribers to your e-mail listing each month!

Watch this marketing-focused webinar on-demand from GiveSmart and Beeline for tips about how one can safe Google Grants, confirmed methods to develop your web site site visitors and e-mail lists, and extra!!

Google Grant WebinarsGoogle Grant Webinars

Fundraise By way of an On-line Wishlist 

Utilizing a wishlist on your toy drive could assist information donors as they store. Whenever you create a wishlist on your vacation donation drive, you may guarantee your group receives toy donations that may carry recipients pleasure.  

Your group could create a web based wishlist and share the hyperlink with donors. Begin by itemizing the toys your donation recipients may need primarily based on age and gender. You would use generic names or discover particular manufacturers to incorporate in your listing. Massive field and on-line shops make creating want lists simple! 

Tips on how to Create an On-line Wishlist in GiveSmart  

Use a web based fundraising platform like GiveSmart to make your want listing accessible. Log in to your admin website and add objects by selecting “+New Merchandise” on the high of the display. Then fill out essential data on every merchandise, so donors know what to get. Choose “Donate” because the merchandise sort and fill within the value. When you’ve created your on-line toy drive want listing, donors can entry it by means of your web page’s objects tab. 

Providing a number of methods to help may help your nonprofit seize extra donors and help. And, with basic financial items, donors can solicit matching items to make a good larger impression. 

Host a Toy Drive Occasion 

Contemplate internet hosting an occasion or including a toy drive to an current occasion. Do you will have a vacation comfortable hour, board assembly, or craft honest in November or December? Supply that current occasion as a drop-off alternative.  

Can your board or junior board take the lead on a brand new holiday-themed occasion to lift funds and acquire toys? It would really feel overwhelming to do extra, however face time at the moment of yr must be a part of your donor stewardship technique. With vital fundraising occurring over the last months of the yr, don’t underestimate in-person interactions.  

Create a Purpose 

One other useful technique for profiting from your toy donation drive is making a aim on your toy drive.  

Defining a aim for the drive provides your group and donors a exact end line and milestones. A transparent goal may inspire donors to provide further to satisfy the goal donation quantity. Having a aim helps make your follow-up solicitation particular, too.  

Arrange Toy Assortment Areas 

You’ll additionally want to decide on assortment areas on your toy drive donations. In case you’re internet hosting the drive inside what you are promoting, group, or college, choose an space accessible to all members or staff. Clearly mark the gathering location for the vacation donation drive.  

In case you’re organizing a public toy drive, you could have to companion with different organizations or company companions to arrange a number of, handy drop-off areas.  

Nevertheless, having a number of drop-off spots means your group may have extra to handle. Do not forget that you’ll have to periodically acquire the toys and retailer them securely earlier than wrapping them.  

Distribute the Toys 

With each different aspect in place, you’re prepared on your toy drive! After donors have introduced of their items, the final step is to wrap and distribute the toys to the kids. Your technique for delivering your donations will rely upon the recipients you selected on your drive and your group’s capabilities.  

You may distribute toys to households earlier than the vacations by dropping them off at particular areas or having members of the family choose up their items. No matter technique you employ, get volunteers concerned within the motion to allow them to see the rewards of their efforts. 

Handle Your Toy Drive With GiveSmart 

Organizing a toy drive requires a whole lot of planning, however the impression is effectively definitely worth the effort. In case your group desires to make its toy donation drive the very best it may be, utilizing fundraising software program generally is a highly effective technique for achievement. At GiveSmart, we perceive your nonprofit or group has distinctive wants for managing its fundraisers, so we developed our fundraising answer with versatile options to help your efforts.  

GiveSmart’s industry-leading fundraising platform allows donor administration, donation monitoring, on-line fundraising, and marketing campaign administration capabilities. Our instruments and customer support group give your group the help it must additional its mission and create a extra vital impression.  

To see what GiveSmart can do on your group’s toy drive this vacation season, request a demo at the moment. 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *