This Christmas, Toybox is delighted to be joining forces with Childrensalon for the first time. We sat down with Dana Artz, their new Head of CSR, to talk about why they selected Toybox as one of their 2022 seasonal charity partners and what giving back means for their business.
Why are the holidays so important at Childrensalon?
I think the holidays are really important at Childrensalon for a number of reasons. We are the world’s largest online destination for quality childrenswear – so, obviously the season is important for our customers and their families – but more than just that, I think our love for the season really links back to our roots as a family-owned and family-friendly business. When we look forward to the holidays, we’re all thinking about finding joy and spending quality time with our own families. This is where we’re coming from and why it’s so natural for us to want to help even more families find comfort and joy all around the world.
Tell us about the Comfort & Joy Campaign you are running this Christmas.
Every year, we try to capture the magic of the season and find ways to delight and bring joy to more children and families. Since our expertise is all about dressing children, we always put a ton of love into our online Christmas Shop; it's curated to delight little ones of all ages. But we also want people to know that – for us – the holidays aren’t just about shopping.
Every year we try to use the holidays to shine a special light on inspiring charities working to protect children and their families around the world. Especially on Black Friday – it’s our tradition to make the focus of that day all about giving. This year we’ll give 10% of Childrensalon.com sales on 25th November to our 2022 seasonal charity partners including Toybox. And who knows, maybe by starting the conversation with our customers, we might even inspire some of them as well – though many are already involved in causes they care about.
There are lots of amazing charities working to support children, why choose Toybox?
It's true - choosing is hard! When we decided to include a new charity in this year’s Comfort and Joy Campaign, we started by casting a wide net, looking at all types of programmes focused on supporting children and their families.
We found hundreds of wonderful organisations. And honestly, we didn’t want to choose – comparing them and weighing their relative merits somehow felt wrong. But “compare and choose” is of course exactly what we had to do.
Having a bit of structure really helped. Giving What We Can and The UK Charity Commission website have some great advice on how to approach choosing the right charity. We looked at things like how aligned the charity’s mission is to our own company values and their transparency around spending and programme impacts. It was also important to us to look for programmes that respect the culture and beliefs of the kids and families they serve without pushing a specific religious or political agenda. As a final step, because for us these decisions can’t just be made on paper, we spent time actually speaking with each charity and getting to know their team.
What can I say? On all fronts Toybox won our hearts. You totally impressed us with your commitment and competence, and we’re thrilled to be able to support your work this year.
Why is giving back so important to Childrensalon?
Again, I think our commitment comes from our core values. Sybil Harriman founded Childrensalon 70 years ago, and today her grandchildren still run the company. For me it’s really clear they care about the legacy they’re building and their responsibility to future generations.
Giving back in our local community and supporting global initiatives like Toybox is something we’ve always done; our team gets really involved with internal fundraising and now we have the Childrensalon Foundation to help us do even more – but charitable giving is just one piece of it.
We also want to “give forward” and do good in the world by living our values, treating our suppliers and customers very fairly (like family), and participating to improve social and environmental standards in our industry.
It's a journey, and one that we’re just starting. But we take it seriously. Our whole world centres around children and celebrating the magic of childhood. Working to give them the best possible future just makes sense.
Discover the Childrensalon Christmas Shop
