Push a button and gift a goat? Giving Machines in OC support world, local charities
Last year, the Orange County branch of the Church of Latter-day Saints used the donation devices to help charities raise $431,000. This year, they hope to double that.
Goats.
Or pigs.
Or chickens, soccer balls, clean water, blankets, quality time with a therapy dog, diapers, toys and straight-up cash. Those are a few of the donations listed on the see-through menus at the Giving Machines at the Huntington Beach Pier and Dana Point Harbor.
While the Dana Point Harbor location has been active since Nov. 26, its official launch will be on Giving Tuesday, Dec. 3, at a 5 p.m. ceremony.
Giving Machines are vending machines, minus the sodas or smokes, that connect would-be donors to charities. Think of them as slightly higher-tech versions of the red Christmas kettles the Salvation Army has used for similar fundraising purposes since the late 1800s.
Giving Machine operation is pretty simple. A would-be donor looks into the vending machine and chooses from 30 placards that include photos and brief descriptions of various gifts and the organizations (some local, some international) that they support. Next, they punch in the numbers that go with that placard and insert a credit card or wave a phone-based payment app to buy the gift. Prices range from $5 all the way to $1,500, for the “777 Challenge,” which is a sampler of each item in the machine.
Finally, the donor can watch the placard fall, like a bag of chips, into a big, messy pile of kindness that collects at the bottom of the machine.
Though there’s no way to put hands on the card, the machine can issue an electronic receipt that’ll remind the donor about their donation and help them make sure their money is spent as intended.
“All five of the charities are volunteering with their teams on different nights,” said Kristin Samuelian, director of communications for the local chapter of the Giving Machines.
“One night might be a goat. Another might be an inflatable whale,” she added.
“It can be a great event, something for a business to use as part of its holiday party.”
Giving Machines first popped up during the holiday season of 2016 in Salt Lake City, a brainstorm of fundraisers at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Since then, the concept has expanded and, this year, church officials expect Giving Machines in 106 cities, places as diverse as Chicago and Hong Kong and Auckland, New Zealand.
Last year, Orange County hosted Giving Machines for the first time. Church officials said locals gave about $431,000 to charities.
“A couple of the machines in the original locations in Utah do some big numbers. But of the new guys on the block, we were No. 1,” Samuelian said.
“I plan to double that this year,” she added. “We have so many philanthropic people in Orange County, families who want to teach their kids the value of service. I know we have the capacity to give.”
Church officials say their organization gets exactly zero dollars from the machines. Instead, they say, the devices simply serve as conduits between nonprofits, including some huge international groups such as the Red Cross and UNICEF, and people who might give.
“We do a basic vetting, so we know the charities are all five-star rated. But that’s the extent of our involvement,” Samuelian said.
Local machines are online at the Huntington Beach Pier and Dana Point Harbor, and are expected to stay open through the end of the month. Another location, Winter Fest OC at the OC Fair & Event Center, is expected to open on Dec. 19. For more information, go to givingmachinesocal.org.
