The Ultimate Step By Step Guide To Organising A Group Gift

A Step-By-Step Guide To Purchasing A Group Gift‍

Isn’t it funny how often you end up being the person responsible for making a gift happen on behalf of everyone else? Granted, everyone is busy, but everyone includes you! You cannot sort everything all the time because you have a job to do too, but despite that, here you are again at the helm of arranging a group gift where the end result reflects your efforts, be that accurate or not! 

Maybe it’s because you are a compulsive organiser? Dare I say a control freak?

Or actually maybe it’s because you know if you don’t do it, no-one else will. Worse still is the scenario where someone else does do it, but executes it really poorly and everyone’s hope to leave the coworker at the centre of the collection feeling valued, cared for and with a lasting memento of the team they have worked with for years falls flat and you end up with a hurried collection in a scraggy envelope that isn’t really enough for anything of any meaning. 

The benefits of getting a group gift 

Without a doubt, the power of collective pooling of money allows you to get someone a gift that really means something. Yes, lots of little thoughtful things are great too, but when someone is leaving work, you really want something that represents the team, rather than the individuals in the team. Does an individual gift imply that only you will miss them, and those that are either too disorganised or unable to afford a big gift (all too common in current times) are assumed to be glad to see the back of you?
By creating a money pool, you make it possible for everyone to get involved and the end result for the recipient to be something impactful - whether that’s enough for an awesome experience, a splurge in John Lewis or a physical gift that they will remember for years to come, you can achieve much more as a full team, at a much lower individual cost. 

The challenges in getting a group gift 

                                                 Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

Having established that a group gift is the best option for your leaving colleague, this unfortunately then introduces a whole new dynamic which brings with it numerous complexities for you, the person responsible for actually making it happen!

There’s a simple solution that I can tell you right now - download the Collctiv app and group collections will become so easy that you’ll be actively volunteering everytime the email comes from HR advising you that someone has resigned or you get a Whatsapp message to the team group informing you that Sally is 40 next month!
However, I understand that you may not want to solely take my word for it, so let me explore this in more detail with you. 
Firstly, there’s the question of how you actually collect the money.

Cash? Does anyone remember cash in our post-Covid world? Certainly very few people carry cash now, so passing the envelope round the office doesn’t yield anywhere near the results you want. Plus, there’s the age-old issue of not knowing where the envelope has gone, as it was invariably bustled into a drawer or under a keyboard as the person the collection was for walked by where it then stays until you panickedly realise there’s just a day or two until the person leaves!

Then there’s the fact that the modern day office is almost without exception one where everyone arrives at 9am and leaves at 5pm. Different shifts, hybrid working and remote working all mean logistically that it’s almost impossible to physically ‘see’ everyone who might want to give.

Then there’s big companies that have offices across the UK or even the world, who all want to contribute to your leaving coworkers gift. What will happen, will you get rupees in the post? Euros delivered by UPS? Then do you have to take all the cash you raise, in all of its currencies, to the bank, where branches are becoming ever more rare? Of course not…..you can just send your bank details right?

But hang on, this is work we are talking about. These are your colleagues, many of which you may not even know, transferring their money into your personal bank account? You don;t want to be seen to be peddaling money, plus does that contradict any policies in work? Then there’s the unenviable admin task of separating what is a donation with what is your day to day banking. 

This is made even more difficult by the fact that you may not know the people donating. If you have sent the initial email to various departments and line managers they will have forwarded it on to people they feel might be relevant who you may never have worked with or heard of. It’s just a pain isn’t it? 

Finally, there’s the fact that the more fiddly it is to pay, the more likely it is that people won’t! Let’s be honest, you’ll be sending your email during work, when people are receiving lots of other emails. Yes 90% will be spam, but 10% will have actual things for them to do and adding you to their internet banking recipient list, entering the code the bank sends you to check it is you adding the recipient etc… is very quickly going to fall to the very bottom of that list. AKA…..it will be forgotten about.

‍Download the Collctiv app today and all of these troubles will go away! People just tap or scan a simple payment link or QR code and with ApplePay, Googlepay or by adding their card details have paid within 10 seconds. They don’t need to download an app, create an account or do any banking at all. It’s that easy! 

How to choose the best gift 

If you’ve used Collctiv, then you will now know exactly what you have got to spend. Not what people have ‘promised’ they will give, the pledges of ‘I’ll sort you out next time I see you’ or ‘I’ll got to the cash machine at lunch’. They won’t. It’ll be you on the hook for the cost, feeling awkward about chasing up the forever increasing amount people promised you.

Check out our blog about how much you are owed here….it’s a frightening read! 

Now to the next challenge - getting the gift! At one end, there’s the executive decision….where you either don’t tell anyone what you’re getting, choosing instead just to go ahead and get it, or alternatively you TELL them what you are getting, making it clear that you are not asking for input or validation!
At the other end, there’s then the opportunity to ask for input. Run a poll. Invite suggestions via Whatsapp….whatever you choose though, just remember that it’s likely to go against what someone suggested, and after you asked for their opinion too!

There’s got to be a solution right?

Well again, Collctiv has you covered. Vouchers are always a good option. They can be thoughtful enough to show you care, but not as specific as a physical gift that they may not like. Check out our blog on getting vouchers here.

Alternatively, why not let specialists who choose gifts for a living do all the hard work, whilst you bask in the eventual glory of a brilliant gift for your coworker? That’s what needi do, and you can read more about them in our blog right here.

The solution to all of your group gifting needs

What if something existed that pulled all of this together? That made it easy for you to collect money, made it super easy for people to pay in to your group collection, then allowed you every option you could ever want with the funds you have raised…withdrawal? No problem. Send the money to someone? Check! Buy vouchers straight from your pot? What?! That’s possible? Yes…..yes it is. Finally, if those don’t provide you with the solution you want, why not engage needi who in no time can find you the most perfect gift from the smallest amount of information! 

All of this can be yours by downloading Collctiv for free! Give it a try, it’s the best solution by far to your group gifting challenges. 

Organisers bring people together

Since 2019 - Collctiv has helped over one million people from 170 countries come together by making it simple for Organisers to collect money from groups. Whether it's group gifts, retirement presents or sports teams - download our free app today and start bringing people together!