Q&A with nonprofit director, Carolyn Deters
Alleviating isolation and loneliness felt by many seniors is the primary mission of Twin Cities-based Gifts of Seniors. During the year, but especially during the holiday season, Gifts for Seniors collects items of need, as well as personalized gifts for the elderly in the nine county area surrounding Minneapolis and St. Paul. COVID-19 pandemic reduced their ability to collect items through in-person collection sites, but introduced them to the MyRegistry Gift List for Nonprofits, an online gift list and registry for nonprofit in-kind donation drives. Using MyRegistry gift list Gifts for Seniors has seen an increase in both the number of items donated and value of the kinds of items. We sat down with the nonprofit’s Director, Carolyn Deters, to talk about her experience.
What is Gifts for Seniors?
Gifts for Seniors is a Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN-focused charity that is most well-known for its holiday gift drive for isolated older adults. The gift drive is like Toys for Tots, but we work with seniors that might not have friends or family stopping by during the holidays. Historically, we have done gift donation barrels throughout the Twin Cities community, like at YMCAs, Menards, and at our corporate partners to collect gifts. During the pandemic in 2020, we started using gift lists to source donations. The pandemic was a horrible time to go through, especially with our social mission to alleviate isolation for seniors, but one of the positives that came out of the pandemic for us were the gift lists, because now we do a hybrid – online and drop-off locations. It's just been amazing for us to use gift lists. We serve over 6000 isolated older adults just during November and December for the holiday season. But we also provide support year round.
And the mission?
Gift for Seniors' deeper mission is to alleviate isolation for older adults through our nine county metro area here in Minnesota. Our mission revolves around life affirming personal contacts and visits with seniors. We partner with 140 human service agencies that provide the direct service. The visits are a much needed resource to find out what they need. Maybe they have had a health change, or they've either gained or lost weight, so they need new clothing. Or a much needed appliance broke down, a microwave or a coffee maker, we partner to supply those items. During the pandemic, we also launched our Tablets for Seniors programs. We've been putting the Amazon Fire tablets on our gift list to help folks that are less mobile or homebound socialize online.
How did you discover MyRegistry?
I found MyRegistry thanks to Best Buy. They are one of our large corporate partners here in the Twin Cities and they use MyRegistry for its gift list and registry software. We also do a gift list with Target because they're a big local company as well. For 2023, one of our strategic growth areas is to start using the MyRegistry year round, not just during the holidays.
When did you first use the platform and how did donations change that year?
When we started using the gift list in 2020, we saw significant growth. By using the gift registries people were able to select the contactless direct ship option, people felt way more comfortable purchasing larger or more expensive items shipping them directly, as opposed to putting them in a public barrel.
How do you build the gift list? Is it something that your team leads or do individual people provide suggested gifts?
Each year, we curate a senior wish list, some based on our personal experience, what folks are asking for the most requested gifts. We use that list to load the gift list. We add colors and sizes where needed like for clothes and linens. It's a huge benefit that we're able to customize the list, especially if it's for someone if they have a favorite color, or a favorite sports team. We're able to add those very personal touches to make it a more meaningful gift.
Who are your partners?
We work closely with 140 human service agencies in the Twin Cities area, and they provide the direct service for the seniors. Our goal is to make sure everyone has a connection within the community for the resources, services, or support that they might need.
Is there a particular organization that is important in terms of distribution and interaction with the community?
My favorite partners are the block nurse programs. There are 13 throughout the metro area, and they are primarily working with folks that are still living independently in their home to eliminate early nursing home admissions. They provide services and do those one-on-one, life affirming personal visits. I love all our partners, but we work closely with the block nurse programs, and those are where some of our best stories and photographs come from through those partnerships.
How about your corporate partners?
We work on donations through our corporate partners like Best Buy and Target. They have hosted gift drives through different employee groups. They do a lot of other projects too, throughout the year our corporate partners will make cards for seniors, as well as hygiene packs or activity packs, with large print books and puzzles and things like that.
Is there any concern this season with respect to the economy and inflation?
Obviously, it's a current concern for all of us. I'm part of an executive directors’ group for leaders of local nonprofits, and we've been discussing how it will impact this year's giving season. The fortunate thing is Minnesota is known for being very charitable. But we don’t know how the economy might impact families and then impact our gift drive. We try to have varying price points as far as the gifts that we put on our gift list. If someone wants to give, but might not have the greater means, they can still feel purposeful and good about giving to the elders in their community.
MyRegistry is happy that your organization has found the MyRegistry for Nonprofits so helpful. Thank you for your time and best of luck this holiday season with the gift drive.