Inflation, shortages force Caracole to come up with new holiday fundraiser
CINCINNATI (WKRC) - Inflation and national Christmas tree shortages are forcing a Northside non-profit to shift gears for its annual fundraiser this year.
Caracole, an HIV/AIDS support organization, has sold Christmas trees ahead of the holiday season as its annual fundraiser for nearly two decades.
Last year, shortages threatened to cancel the sale but organizers were able to make it work. For 2022, transportation costs and shipping challenges proved to be too much.
“This year it was an even bigger challenge. The trees have gone up by about 17% which is huge for us because our profit margin is not that huge to begin with and then the transportation challenges seemed even more difficult this year,” says Linda Seiter, CEO of Caracole. “While we feel like we sell a lot of trees, our order is relatively small compared to other vendors so, we were kind of at the end of the list for transportation and ordering in sizable numbers. So, those barriers we obviously couldn’t overcome them so we decided to do something different."
Caracole came up with the idea to sell ornaments complete with a Christmas tree growing kit.
It has seeds and two peat pallets inside a biodegradable ornament to grow your own Douglas fir tree.
“We were racking our brain trying to figure out how to make up for this lost fundraiser and decided the next best thing is a tree ornament where you can grow your own tree,” said Alana Miller, Community Investment Manager “We were a little bit disappointed because we’re missing that community engagement with the volunteers that help us out year after year. We usually have hundreds of folks that come out to help us out, so we were disappointed from that perspective, but also from the loss of funds that we raise.”
The ornaments are being sold primarily online for $25.
The Christmas Tree sale usually nets $10,000 for Caracole. The money goes to cover expenditures that some of its grant funding may not cover throughout the year.
The HIV/AIDS service organization focuses on prevention, housing, and care for individuals in the greater Cincinnati area.