Don’t see your question here? Feel free to submit your question to info@echoage.com, or for charity specific inquiries, charities@echoage.com and we’ll quickly get back to you.
- How does ECHOage work?
Guests are invited to an ECHOage birthday party online. Instead of bringing a wrapped and packaged present, guests simply RSVP and give a secure online contribution. Payments are pooled by ECHOage for the parent hosting an ECHOage birthday party and a 15% administration fee is deducted to make the program possible. Half of the funds collected at the party are sent by ECHOage to the parent hosting the party so that a group birthday gift can be purchased for the child. The other half is sent by ECHOage to the charity of the child's choice at the direction of the parent hosting the birthday party.
- How does my child benefit from having an ECHOage party?There are many benefits that your child will experience from having an ECHOage birthday party. The greatest benefit is that your child will be able to make meaningful choices and have a positive impact on others, and on society, at the time of his/her birthday. This, in turn, will empower and reward your child. Your child will be able to read birthday wishes from all of his/her friends. Your child will be able to participate in helping other children in need and feel rewarded by it. Your child will be a leader and set a wonderful example for others to follow in his/her footsteps.
- How do my guests find out that my child is having an ECHOage party?The invitation to an ECHOage party is sent by email. Invitations tell your guests the date, place and time of your party as well as any additional information you input after you have chosen your invitation style.
- How does my child get the birthday gift(s) and how does the charity get the donation?
The ECHOage system pools all the contributions for you, and a 15% service fee is deducted from the total. Then, the money is split in half. One half is sent to you, the parent of the birthday child, to purchase any birthday gift(s). The other half is sent by ECHOage to the charity at the direction of the parent hosting the birthday party, and this parent receives a tax receipt in the mail from the charity.
The funds assembled by ECHOage on behalf of the parent hosting the party are within the control and ownership of that parent who may elect to donate, or not donate, any or all of the funds to a charity.
- How do I convince my child that it is 'better' to receive a group gift(s) that they have chosen rather than many small ones?
Tell your child that he/she will now be in the driver's seat. The birthday child gets to choose his/her own gift(s).
Ask your child to think about the gift(s) that he/she would like to have from all his/her friends. Children might want a musical instrument, something electronic or a special item that may be costly and can be bought when all the funds are pooled together.
Most important, do not fret if your child does not wish to have an ECHOage birthday party. Many children who were initially resistant to the idea become very excited about it the following year!
- How do I choose an invitation and email it out to my guests?
The black button on the left hand side of the ECHOage website says: ECHOage YOUR PARTY. Clicking that button will take you to a sign up page. After easily completing the information for sign up, you can choose an invitation style.
- What does it say on the ECHOage birthday invitation?
Each ECHOage birthday party invitation says:
Please RSVP and contribute online. This year for Gwendolyn's birthday she will be: Getting - DESIRED GIFT IS INSERTED HERE - and Helping - DESIRED DONATION RECIPIENT IS INSERTED HERE.
You can view samples of the invitations by clicking the INVITATION button on the ECHOage site.
- What will my guests see when they RSVP to my party?When your guests RSVP to your ECHOage party, they will be able to send you personalized and relevant information about their child. They also send your child a special birthday message. Any children with allergies who will be attending the party will be protected because there is an allergy alert section customized for each child. For further comfort, your guests can give you their cell phone number when they RSVP, ensuring they can be contacted if necessary.
- What do I do if my guest tells me they did not receive the invitation?
Please ask your guest to check their "junk" or "bulk" mail folder. It is possible that some mail programs will flag the invitations as Spam incorrectly, but this is not the norm.
Ask your guest to go to the FIND A PARTY tab on the ECHOage homepage. This will help you guest get a new invitation in seconds.
You can easily resend an invitation to any guest on your list by going to your ECHOage Tracker and clicking the "send" icon beside their name. This will send only one invitation instead of resending to your whole list.
- How does the money portion of ECHOage work?Guests contribute funds online. ECHOage pools the funds and deducts a 15% administration fee. Then, ECHOage sends half of the funds to the birthday child for him/her to purchase any gift(s) they wish, at the discretion of the hosting parent. Further, at the direction of the hosting parent, ECHOage sends the other half of the funds to the charity. The parent hosting the birthday party has the choice to donate the funds, or not donate the funds, to charity.
- What lessons might I expect my child to take away from an ECHOage party?
There are many lessons that your child can glean from having an ECHOage birthday party. The most important is that your child will have the ability to have a positive impact on the lives of others.
ECHOage gives your child a hands-on, realistic way of doing something to help others in need and to help the planet.
There are additional lessons your child might learn from having an ECHOage party. He/she may learn:- to take a leadership role in his/her community
- the value of influencing others to do good for the world
- creative solutions to environmental and societal problems
- compassion
- empathy
- how to manage finances and money
- What if I love the idea of ECHOage but I am unsure about asking people to contribute funds online?
ECHOage has received feedback from parents who have been guests and hosts at ECHOage parties and overwhelmingly people are thrilled with the service. Guests are particularly pleased when they receive an ECHOage invitation because they can give a contibution in just a few moments instead of having to drive to the toy store, select a gift, wrap it, find a card etc. ECHOage makes it all simple and meaningful. Your guests will surely thank you!
- What DOESN'T ECHOage do?ECHOage does not come to your birthday party or change the party you wish to have in any way. ECHOage adds meaning to your party. We handle the RSVP, gift-giving aspect and make it simple for your guests and for you. ECHOage includes a page of birthday wishes for the birthday child, notifications for RSVPing, reminders to attend the party, Thank You Notes, and Awards for each child that attends an ECHOage party.
- What if my guests are not RSVPing to my party?ECHOage automatically sends out a reminder to your guests to RSVP to your party 1 week prior to the party date, and again 3 days before the party date, if they have not done so already. ECHOage has found over time that people tend to RSVP to a party closer to the party date. You can email your guests to ask them to RSVP if you are eager to get the responses but most people RSVP around one or two weeks prior to the party date.
- What if I want to donate to a charity that is not listed on the ECHOage website?
Please contact ECHOage directly and let us know which charity you'd like to see on our website. We are now taking your requests for charities you'd love to see listed. Please contact us at: info@echoage.com
- How do I receive the funds that my guests have contributed online?When you are ready to “CLOSE” your party, simply click the CLOSE PARTY button on your ECHOage Tracker. The ECHOage Tracker is the place where you will see all the information relating to your guests and their RSVP responses. Very soon after closing your party you will receive your funds in the mail from ECHOage for half of the money that was contributed to your party. The other half of the funds are yours to donate to charity should you wish to do so, and ECHOage makes this donation for you.
- Do the guests of my party get tax receipts from the charity I have chosen?No. Your guests do not get tax receipts when they give an online contribution toward your child’s ECHOage birthday party. Only you, the parent hosting an ECHOage birthday party, may receive a tax receipt for the amount that you have elected to donate.
- How does ECHOage use the 15% administration fee?
To provide ease and convenience for parents and maximum financial impact for charities, ECHOage charges a service fee of 15% per party. ECHOage incurs all costs for the transaction of funds for each of our charity partners as well as all costs associated with running the ECHOage infrastructure and service.
ECHOage has also chosen not to accept any advertising to ensure that you will have an uninterrupted and safe environment for you and your kids to use our website together.
Without the ECHOage service fee, the giving would simply not be possible.
We thank you for the significant impact you have had on countless children and charities through your support and generosity.
- What if my child is too young to learn about charities and the environment but I would still like to have an ECHOage party?No child is too young for ECHOage. ECHOage teaches a child of any age that giving to others is a rewarding and positive experience. Even a very young child can absorb this message and understand that he/she has helped other children and the planet just by hosting an ECHOage party. Many parents across North America are choosing to ECHOage their child's 1st birthday party in order to start celebrating in this way and to make it easy for guests to RSVP and contribute.
- How do I as a parent benefit from having an ECHOage party?ECHOage benefits parents:
- By creating invitations for your party online, and eliminating the time and money wasted by purchasing invitations and filling them out by hand.
- By providing the online RSVP management system, called the ECHOage Tracker, so you can know who is coming to the party.
- By providing relevant information on each child coming to your party: whether or not they have allergies or special needs and an emergency contact number so you can reach the parent if necessary.
- By providing online thank you notes.
These are some of the tangible benefits of ECHOage. In addition to all the convenience ECHOage brings, you the parent get to impart your values to your child in a meaningful way and you give your child an opportunity to do something to improve the world and feel good about giving.