Gifting Opportunities

Gifting Opportunities is the name given to a round of Secret Gifter. It would usually run for nine or ten months but there is flexibility to fit in with the structure of your year. In schools, we tend to launch in October and run it to July.

Picking a Gifting Opportunity name

If your school was commonly shortened to and known as 'NPA' for example, you could have a Gifting Opportunity called 'NPA 2021'. The following year you would then have 'NPA 2022'. Currently there are no rules or restrictions on Gifting Opportunity names (please keep it appropriate) but the recommendation is something short associated with your work place followed by the year you are launching. This makes managing the different opportunities easier.

Code

The code needs to be unique and hard enough to guess but easy enough for people to type in. It is a bit like a password so you could choose three random words and maybe include the year so people know next time it is out of date. Again, please keep it appropriate but other than being unique, there are currently no restrictions on your choice of code.

Once you have created your Gifting Opportunity, you need to email your staff with a link to Secret Gifter plus the code. They need to create an account on the site and create a profile. Once that is done, they also have to join the current opportunity using the code you chose. If they are not sure whether they have joined, they can check the home page. There are red buttons for anything yet to be completed.

Timescales

The process is as follows:

One designated person (Master Gifter) creates Gifting Opportunity
Launch/share code and allow time for staff to complete their profile and sign up (approximately two weeks)
Sign up closes and Master Gifter makes the Gifting Pairs
Gifters can see the profile of their Giftee on the Gifting page
Once a month minimum and on special occasions Gifters give/do something for their Giftee (approximately nine months)
On or near the end date, Gifter to give one final gift but include their name so Giftee knows who they are

Joining/leaving part way through an Opportunity

It is inevitable that staff will leave/want to join once the process has started. As Master Gifter it is up to you to see if you work round these problems but do not worry too much if you cannot. Here are some ideas that may be of use dependent on the situation:

Operate a waiting list.
Once the Opportunity has started you need pairs that do not know they have both signed up late
You could temporarily be a Gifter for someone
Encourage staff to let you know if they haven't received anything for a while in case their person has left
Some staff want to give ad hoc gifts instead of signing up so use that to your advantage
Have a conversation with someone if their Gifter leaves, they may be happy to continue being a Gifter and not a Giftee
If two people leave, you can tweak the pairs to make it work again