WES Staff HOLIDAY and End-of-year Gifting Made Simple:
As a convenience to families, the PTA has organized an EASY, PERSONALIZED, and FREE way for families to make our WES Staff’s holiday SUPER special. And not just that, but you are giving the staff exactly what they want: the ability to choose their own gift!
Click here to access the Wolftrap Elementary Holiday Gifting Page
How Does It Work?
On the Wolftrap Elementary Holiday Gifting Page, you will see a list of groups of WES Teachers & Staff. Click on “Join” next to the Staff grouping(s) you wish to gift. If you do not see a particular WES Staff listed, they have opted not to participate in the program.
Enter your name as you'd like it to be displayed to the teacher and your email address. You are welcome to include a personal greeting as well as upload a photo and/or format your greeting as you wish!
Enter your contribution amount of choice ($5 and up) and click “Add to Cart”
Repeat this process for all the staff groupings you wish to contribute to. Then, enter your payment information and click on “Checkout” to complete your transaction using credit card, PayPal or Venmo. Presto – End of Year Teacher shopping is DONE!
On Wednesday, December 13th at 9:00 PM, the funds collected in each staff grouping will be distributed equally among the group and every gift recipient will receive an email indicating the total gift amount he/she received together with the personal greetings from all the contributors. Each staff member will then be able to redeem 100% of their gifted amount by selecting gift cards from HUNDREDS(!) of brands (including popular gift cards like Amazon, Target, PetSmart, Dunkin, Hotels.com, Best Buy, Visa Vanilla, Airbnb, Fandango, and much, Much, MORE!)
Gifts are optional and variable by family preference. It is at your discretion whether you give gifts here, separately, or both! Our teachers are grateful however you choose.
Don’t miss this opportunity to check a to-do off of your list and contribute by the deadline on Wednesday, December 13th at 9:00 PM.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Question: Is this a Wolftrap PTA Fundraiser?
Answer: Nope! The Staff gifting initiative is facilitated by the PTA for convenience of the Wolftrap community. The PTA does not make any money from this initiative and 100% of all amounts given by families will be distributed to the WES Staff.
Question: Didn't I already contribute to staff gifts at the beginning of the school year?
Answer: The PTA piloted this platform last year, and years prior to that, the PTA facilitated Holiday and End-of-Year staff gifting collections at the same time as the collections for PTA Membership, Friends of Wolftrap, and Class Dues. During the 2023-2024 school year, the PTA has requested parent contribution for PTA Membership and Friends of Wolftrap contributions (early in school year) and in October, the Room Parents requested parent contribution for Class Dues.
Question: Why is staff gift collection different this year?
Answer: The PTA began facilitating staff gifting several years ago. In more recent years, we have noticed a decrease in participation of the gift collection. Feedback from our Families was that they wanted a more personalized way of showing their gratitude to the Staff. The GiftCrowd platform allows for the ability for Families to write personalized and tailored messages to the Staff (instead of just gifting anonymously), more meaningful and inclusive groupings of Staff, fewer barriers to contribution as it gives Families more payment options: Venmo, in addition to Credit Card and PayPal, and zero credit card processing fees which frees up more PTA funds to be used to support Staff/School initiatives.
Question: Do I have to create a log-in to contribute to GiftCrowd?
Answer: No - you do NOT have to create an account! After you click on the link to the WES Staff End of Year collection site on GiftCrowd, you will see clickable buttons to "SIGN UP" and "LOG IN" to the GiftCrowd website. You have the option to ignore these buttons, join gifts, and check out as a guest. GiftCrowd does suggest that you create an account as that does help save time and keep track of your gifts. See the Orange box in the InfoGraphic below.
Question: Why is there a $5 minimum on the amount that can be contributed to each staff grouping?
Answer: This is a GiftCrowd requirement and the WES PTA cannot change this minimum.
Question: Why don't I see certain staff listed?
Answer: If you do not see a particular WES Staff listed, they have opted not to participate in the program. You can search for a Staff member's last name by using the Search pane on the form. See the Purple box in the InfoGraphic below.
Question: Is there a way to gift to individual staff members?
Answer: We made grade level groupings because the grades take a team approach to teaching where students switch classes for Wolfie time, math/language arts, reading groups, etc. The students are taught by all the teachers in one way or another. Spreading the contributions across the group members benefits all the teachers that your student may see. If you want to contribute to a specific teacher that will need to be done outside the PTA facilitated program.
Click here to learn more about GiftCrowd and see GiftCrowd FAQs.
INFOGRAPHIC
Orange Box - it is OPTIONAL to create an account to keep track of your gifts. You can still contribute to gifts and checkout as a guest without creating an account.
Purple Box - This is a search pane. You can search for Staff by entering their Last Name into this box.
Blue Box - Click "Join" for each Staff grouping you would like to contribute to. Once you have clicked on a staff grouping the customization and contribution pane will appear to the right.
Pink Box - This is the customization and contribution pane for you to fill out for each staff grouping(s) that you Join. Here you will fill out all of the yellow highlighted fields and add your email address, the First and Last names of who is contributing, a greeting (optional) which can be customized with your choice of font, color, border, or picture. Enter your contribution amount that you wish to contribute to that Staff grouping.
Green Box - Click "Add to Cart" once you are complete with your customization and contribution for that staff grouping.
Then repeat this process for all the staff groupings you wish to contribute to.
