It's fire pit season!

Fire pits are the new socially distant way to get cozy.

With the pandemic continuing, and as colder weather sets in, families are looking for ways to expand their living space into the outdoors. Most of us are feeling challenged trying to make our homes function as a school, office, and living space. With consumer spending trends increasing each month leading into the holiday season, charities stand to benefit from loyalty shopping programs. DigitalCommerce360 says, “U.S. online sales for September increased 43% year over year, reaching $60.4 billion, according to Adobe Analytics. This growth was just above August’s online sales growth, which increased 42% year over year.” And, they are also projecting that sales will only continue to increase.

One of the largest trends retail is experiencing is in the home improvement sector as NPR reports, “…just over 3 out of 4 homeowners whom Porch.com surveyed have completed a major project since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and roughly the same percentage have one on the drawing board. Homeowners younger than 40 are the most likely to have completed projects this year, though more than half of baby boomers have done home improvement work too.”

This why some of the top ranking retailers are thriving within the home improvement sector. DigitalCommerce360 reports, “Despite consumers flocking to Amazon during Prime Day, more than 35% of consumers continue to shop on sites such as Walmart Inc. (No. 3), Target Corp. (No. 12), The Home Depot Inc. (No. 5), Lowe’s Cos. (No. 22) and eBay Inc. (No. 5 in the ranking of Digital Commerce 360 Top 100 Online Marketplaces), to do their shopping instead of Amazon due to its out of stocks and delayed shipping times, according to CommerceHub.”

With consumer spending not slowing, how can your charity benefit? Your donors are creating a sales spike in spite of trying times. You can meet them where they are with a shopping program that gives back to your cause every time they shop without having to spend anything additional. An incentivized shopping program gives donors the option to select your cause as the recipient of a portion of every purchase they make in the same way that Rakuten offers shoppers a personal cashback reward.

With the holidays right around the corner, and home improvement projects continuing to boom this may be the right time to add a passive revenue stream to your fundraising suite to close the year-end gap.