We had a great month filled with big gift box donation days, and breaking records in sales thanks to Sarah Landry (@thebirdspapaya). Sarah very graciously shared an unboxing of our gift box in her Instagram stories. In doing so, we had five times our biggest day ever in website traffic, and our biggest day in sales. Even bigger than when we were on the local news around Mother’s Day.
We are always so grateful when women with such a large audience such as hers chooses to share about us, because it has a major impact on our nonprofit. The exposure, and support we gain is amazing. It matters in instances like this because we know that with large influence comes a larger demand from organizations/small shops/brands who want to work with Sarah. It means so much to us that she chose to share about In Kind.
You don’t need to have a blue check or thousands of followers to make an impact. Any time someone chooses to share about In Kind, and our mission to help moms is greatly appreciated. Even the smallest acts such as a follow, like or share means a lot to us. We’re thankful for all of it.
This month we partnered with LGBT Mummies Tribe on Instagram to give away a gift box. They are a community organization connecting women’s families worldwide. They’re working to educate, share and celebrate. We were excited to offer their wonderful community of mamas a gift box.
A second giveaway happened during an Instagram Live with Dr. Jessica Shepherd, and LeToya Luckett. The two ladies discussed pregnancy, delivery and postpartum in a real, honest, and hilarious way. There are so many things that were brought up that you can only learn in conversation with other moms- things you won’t find in pregnancy books. It was a really great Live and is posted on LeToya’s feed on October 18 if you want to go back and watch. During the event Dr. Shepherd discussed our gift box with the audience, and why it makes such a great gift for a new mom. She then offered the gift box as a prize to one lucky participant!
We had a few gift box donation days in October. Virginia Garcia’s Women’s Clinic received their 4th delivery this year, totaling 100 boxes to them so far in 2020. We were also able to deliver to the Mother and Child Education Center in Portland, and a special gift box donation to Sunshine Division. Sunshine Division is working with families displaced from the recent fires in Oregon, and we wanted to help. We donated gift boxes to be given to new/expecting mamas receiving support from Sunshine Division during this crazy time.
We recently decided to start a new program next year. We wanted to help reach more moms, and support the amazing work of doulas/midwives in the process. Our application for the gift box sponsorship program for doulas and midwives was open all month. We are excited to read through the submissions from all over the US. 2 winners will be announced by December 1, 2020. Winners will be receiving a gift box a month in 2021 to support their work with parents within their community.
I have spent this month trying to prepare myself for the holiday shopping season. It’s hard to know how it will go as I don’t have much to compare it to. Our first gift boxes were available for sale right before Thanksgiving last year. With COVID this year, it will be interesting to see how it all goes- especially with shipping!
We have some fun things planned for the coming weeks so stay tuned.
Thank you for being here and for your support.
~Maria
