Instead of flocking to a red-suited Santa to discuss their Christmas wish lists, shoppers in many Canadian cities can visit red machines this Christmas to give — not receive.
From a distance, these machines look like vending machines. But they are giving machines, and what they offer inside is very different.
“Rather than dispense pop and chocolate bars, they dispense things like chickens and goats and hygiene kits and after-school tutoring and all kinds of things depending on where the giving machine is located,” said Gail Haarsma, the Canadian media director for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The giving machines are part of the Mormon church’s Light the World campaign. Started in 2015, the campaign encourages church members to do good things for others during the holiday season.
Since 2017, those good deeds have included using red giving machines to give to charities.
The first giving machine was in Salt Lake City, Utah. This year, giving machines are in 106 cities across 13 countries, including Kenya, Mexico, Australia and the UK.
In total, giving machines have raised US$43.4 million in financial donations since 2017. Donations have also been used to purchase millions of meals, millions of vaccines and thousands of chickens, goats, shoes and winter clothes.
The first giving machine in Canada was in Calgary in 2022. This year, there are machines in Calgary, Lethbridge, Toronto and, for the first time, Montreal.
Dispensing donations
Each giving machine is stocked with cards showing different donations people can purchase for local and international charities. The charities are different in each city, and include local and international options.
Shoppers can purchase lunches for school children in Calgary or help Lethbridge residents access mental health care. In Montreal, they can support women fleeing domestic violence. In Toronto, donors can support the city’s food banks.
Each donation item has a code, just like drinks or food in vending machines. Donors punch in the code, provide their credit card information and receive a receipt confirming the donation and telling them how to get an official tax receipt.
“You know if you buy a pair of boots for someone, someone’s going to get a pair of boots,” said Fatima Glowa, a church member in Montreal who organized the city’s giving machines. Each participating charity is required to sign a contract confirming they will give exactly what donors purchased.
People can also give donations as presents to relatives and friends, Haarsma says. “It’s a nice way to do something very tangible that people will appreciate,” she said. “It’s not another thing that they may or may not need.”
Charitable giving in decline
The giving machines come during a year where a lengthy postal strike disrupted year-end giving for many charities.
“There’s a very real challenge that you actually can’t mail a check or cash to a charity right now,” said Nicole Danesi, communications manager at CanadaHelps, a charity that facilitates online charitable giving.
Many people turned to online giving for the first time during last month’s Giving Tuesday campaign. The campaign saw $16.2 million raised for charities, up from $13.6 million last year. But that does not mean charitable giving is increasing.
“We’re not thinking that it’s an explosion of generosity,” said Danesi. “It’s likely more of a trend of Canadians moving online.”
The number of charitable donors in Canada has declined for years. In 2021, just under 18 per cent of Canadians donated to charity, down from nearly 22 per cent in 2013, according to a recent report by CanadaHelps.
Organizing the giving machines is a lot of work, says Glowa, who started organizing the Montreal giving machines in April. Finding a location was tough, but she secured two: one at Complexe Desjardins Mall, located in the busy Quartier des spectacles; the other at Carrefour Angrignon in the LaSalle borough. The machines are open from Dec. 13 to 30.
The machines were shipped from Toronto, where they were at the Eaton Centre until Dec. 8.
Glowa says many of the best locations were already booked by the time she began looking for space. Besides that, many people do not want something affiliated with religion, she says. The church’s name is not on every giving machine.
The giving machines are not a way to encourage people to attend church, Glowa says. Church volunteers are at the machines to help people give or explain how the machines work. But they will not show up at donors’ homes to tell them about the church, she says.
Glowa wants the machines to remind people of the importance of giving.
“Hopefully people will give and realize it’s not about anything except the charities that are in that machine,” she said.
“It really is about trying to give back and feel good about the Christmas season. It’s not just about hustle, hustle. It’s also about remembering people who need help, and this is a way to do it.”
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