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Message ‘Tag Your Bag’ Donation Process Oxfam International is known for its global efforts to improve education, health care, sustainable livelihoods, and disaster recovery. Vital to Oxfam GB’s ability to provide aid are the funds it receives from donations and the sale of secondhand items in its retail stores. The UK government recently began offering 28 percent tax relief on charitable donations made by UK taxpayers through a program called Gift Aid. This tax relief extends to the sales of goods donated to charity shops like Oxfam’s. Recognizing this as an opportunity to increase its funds, Oxfam GB approached IDEO to design ways in which the organization could increase the number of people signing up for the Gift Aid program. The project focused on three areas: in-store awareness of the Gift Aid program, in-store sign-up experience, and connecting donor information to the donated goods for tax relief. To understand the challenges of the donation process and the in-store behaviors of donors and volunteers, members of the IDEO project team became Oxfam volunteers in two London stores. This immersion in the donation journey, from drop-off to sorting and pricing, gave the team the critical insights that would later inform the communication, space, and process design in response to the new government policy. During their time in-store, the team observed that donators were unsure where to put donations and didn’t want to ask staff; they also didn’t have the time to fill in the necessary forms for tax relief. Donators seemed keen to drop off their donations with limited fuss. As a result, the team responded by focusing its design efforts on drop-offs rather than sign-ups and looked for ways to integrate sign-ups into the donation process. The team built an Oxfam shop in the basement of IDEO London, using the space to prototype concepts and iterate thinking and ideas, continually collecting feedback from the client, designers, Oxfam volunteers, and donors. Based on all of the insight and information gathered, IDEO created the design concept “Tag Your Bag,” offering an obvious, simple, and integrated solution for donors that was still easy and flexible for staff members. After the project concluded, Oxfam’s in-house team developed and implemented IDEO’s work, initially launching “Tag Your Bag” in 12 shops in the UK and then rolling out to the rest of its network in 2009. http://www.ideo.com/work/tag-your-bag-donation-process/