If you’re dreading this year’s holiday shopping and are looking for something different, a Pasco church’s Alternative Gift Fair may be just the thing. “It’s a charity event where we host different local, regional, national, and international organizations,” explains Kim Lycan, the gift fair coordinator at Community Unitarian Universalist Church (CUUC). “The idea of the fair is that guests can make a donation to a charity in a loved one’s name.”
2021 marks the church’s 15th annual fair and the second year in a row in which it will be an online-only event. The church’s sanctuary is transformed into a holiday-themed bazaar, complete with Christmas trees and other festive decorations during in-person gift fairs. Live music, crafts for children, and a bake sale complete the experience.
The virtual gift fair takes a similar approach. Charities are grouped by category, and each category is assigned an hour during the event. Charities can use their allotted time any way they wish. “They can explain what their charity does, the work, show us different programs that they have, how the donations might be used, and really do a deeper dive into the services that they provide,” Lycan explains. The different categories are advertised ahead of time so that attendees can come and go as their interests dictate. According to Lycan, this flexibility is one of several benefits to an online event. “We had people say that they got more information about the charities — a greater understanding about them — in the online format,” she says.
Over the years, the church has streamlined the donation process to make it easy for charities and patrons alike. All the charities are listed on a single order form and guests select the charities they want to support, the amount they wish to contribute to each, and then make a single lump sum donation. CUUC handles the bookkeeping, keeping track of each charity’s total amount and then distributing checks.
This system is helpful to those who want to give to multiple organizations, and it allows the charities to spend their time engaging with guests, not handling money. That being said, the funds they earn are spent judiciously. “Many of the non-profit organizations are mostly run by volunteers,” explains Judith Cox, a returning participant who represents NAMI Tri-Cities. “So, money coming into the organization[s] is spent for programs and services that in turn helps the community.”
And that money adds up — last year’s fair raised $15,700 for participating charities. Lycan estimates that the fair has raised over a quarter-million dollars since it began. “They [the charities] can count on pretty consistent funds coming in at the fair,” she says. Though space is always at a premium, the church did add two new organizations in 2019, one in 2020, and four more this year. Lycan hopes to add even more charities to future gift fairs. “We always pretty consistently have a list of about ten charities on the waitlist,” she says. “I want to work on ways that we can continue to do a hybrid/online event moving forward and ways that we can either utilize more of our church space or expand into a different location.”
Returning organizations echo the gift fair’s popularity. “Our staff looks forward to this event every year,” says Sara Harpster, the executive director of Safe Harbor Support Center. “For us, it kicks off the holiday season with a focus on giving and caring for others. We love being able to connect and share our mission.” Judith Cox agrees. “The fair is an efficient way to learn about local non-profit organizations,” she says. “From that information, it is then easier to choose which organization or organizations one wishes to support.”
The church lists charities in attendance in both the fair’s advertising and on the online order form. Neither resource was finalized at press time, so interested parties should keep an eye out for the church’s advertising. Community Unitarian Universalist Church will promote the gift fair on local NPR and PBS stations, in the November issue of Tumbleweird, and through ads on their Facebook page. Promotion will start a few weeks before the event. “All of the money for the advertising for the fair comes from our church community,” Lycan says.
The Alternative Gift Fair takes place from 12 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, December 4. The Zoom link for the fair will be posted to CUUC’s website and the gift fair’s Facebook event page the week before the event. Those who wish to donate to future gift fairs’ operating costs may do so via the same online order form that lists the attending charities. Specific questions may be directed to gift fair coordinator Kim Lycan at agf@communityuu.org.
