Signal Vine has decided to #droptheswag. Here's why.

You may have seen Signal Vine’s recent post where we announced that we’ve decided to #droptheswag. For years, we’ve spent money on the same giveaway items that most everyone who attends conferences as vendors do: pens, notebooks, sunglasses, bags – you name it.

We were about to prepare to order these items for the next conference on our roadmap, which was #NCAN2019. We tried to brainstorm items that we hadn’t already done a hundred times in the past. Better yet, we tried to think of items that wouldn’t wind up in the trash. Interestingly, a lot of conference giveaway items wind up in the trash, a depressing thought when you consider that businesses worldwide spend about $20 billion on giveaway items and conference gifts a year. That’s a lot of money to spend on items that often wind up being trashed.

Still yet, the decision to #droptheswag was not one we took lightly. We had many meetings across departments on the topic. Then, something finally clicked.

Instead of purchasing these giveaway items that usually mean nothing to people once they make it home, why not use the money to make a positive difference?

Following discussions with the Signal Vine team, I’ll talk about four of the main reasons why we decided as a company to #droptheswag.

1. The Child & Family Network Centers shares our mission and is local to us.

Once we decided to #droptheswag, the question of which organization to donate funds to was answered as soon as it was asked. We chose the Child & Family Network Centers (CFNC), an organization local to us right in the heart of Alexandria, Virginia. Truly, I could write an entire post on the plethora of services this nonprofit organization has offered to families over the past 30 years. Their mission is to help children and families with services that range from early education to family support and health services. They target members of the “working poor,” or families who wouldn’t otherwise qualify for assistance without an organization tailored to this specific demographic.

2. Signal Vine is a mission-driven organization with foundations in college access.

As such, it’s important to us to give back to organizations that help students. At the end of the day, that’s our goal as a company. Signal Vine wouldn’t exist without the need to help students. As we were just starting as a company, the goal was to help students overcome the challenges of summer melt. Research from Harvard University proved that there was a need to help college-intending students overcome “melting” away during the summer months, ultimately failing to matriculate to college. We exist as a company because we wanted to help students fight this phenomenon. Now that we’ve grown our services and expanded the business, we can place a full stop after “help students.”

3. The spending and waste were both ridiculous.

To see how wasteful this spending is, look around at what’s floating at the top of the trash cans at conferences. Sometimes, the number of conference bags and pens in the trash far supersede the amount of actual trash in trash cans. This is not just a problem of waste; it’s also a problem for the environment.

For example, cotton tote bags often given out at conferences must be reused at least thousands of times to catch up to a lighter plastic bag in terms of environmental footprints. Plastic isn’t better, though, as we know that discarded plastic ends up in landfills – or even worse, our precious oceans. 

This just didn’t seem right to us when we could eliminate the waste altogether and put the money toward a good cause.

4. We know our partners feel the same way and want to make a difference.

We partner with staff from hundreds of institutions across the nation who dedicate their entire careers to helping students achieve success. But to get students to college, we have to get them through pre-K, through high school, and through the challenges that await at every step. If children aren’t prepared to enter school, the conversation about college will never have the chance to happen.

This is why we chose to help students and families at this age. We know once they get to high school, they are in good hands with our college access partners who bridge the gap to postsecondary education. Once they get to college, they’re in good hands with our institutional partners. Once they graduate from college, our college partners as well as our workforce development partners will guide them into the workforce. But organizations like the Child & Family Network Centers help prepare students early on for those conversations and steps that will take place later in life to secure a bright future. That’s why we wanted to get involved.

How you can get involved

We have a busy event calendar for conferences that happen all across the nation. When you see us, simply come over and say hi. Fill out the form so we will know how many people we would have otherwise purchased swag for, and we’ll do the rest.

When we’re mindful of the environment, wasteful spending, and supports that help our students secure a bright future, we know that we can make a difference and pave the way for a better tomorrow.

You can learn more about our #droptheswag initiative here: https://www.signalvine.com/drop-the-swag.