Every year, children write letters to Santa Claus, asking for toys, clothes and, more often than you might think, help for their families. Normally, these letters should be marked as undeliverable. Because there is no Post Office in the North Pole. But when these letters remain unanswered, so too do children’s hopes.

That’s why, in 2017, the US Postal Service sorted these letters out of the mail stream, sent them to be opened, scanned, encrypted and published online. We hid last names and other personal information, but the handwriting and doodles and heartfelt wishes remained intact. We invited people to read them in their original form and see firsthand just how much heart these kids put into their Christmas wishes made it that much more powerful.

By “adopting” a letter, people could help fulfill kids’ holiday wishes, making Santa a reality for thousands of children in need. Adopters were given a code to place on the package that would allow USPS to find the recipient without revealing identities.

The online experience we created was simple, earnest and easily shareable(1). That’s why, by the third week of the program, every single letter had been adopted. Thousands of gifts were brought to the Post Office to be delivered to families across the city. We were sure we had created a platform people loved. And because this program harnesses the existing infrastructure and operations of USPS, we had created something that would last for years to come (please see appendix document).

In 2018, we expanded the program to seven cities across the country and offered the option to adopt letters as a team so more people could get involved—and more wishes could be granted for kids who wrote to Santa. The program received more than 40,000 letters—80% more than the previous year—and word spread quickly online, reaching 76% more people than the year before(2).

Last year’s efforts were especially important, as we focused on helping those affected by the California wildfires, providing letter-writing kits so that people who lost everything, including a pen and paper, can send letters to the program. We proved that this platform is a new way to help those in need: Just put a letter in the mail, we digitize it, someone great adopts it and sends a gift.

This is a new kind of charity, built for the digital age(3). Allowing kids’ letters to Santa to be easily accessed online, we helped to create meaningful, personal connections, cutting away the middleman and the mystery of big charity donations(4) —all by showcasing the power of a handwritten letter.

(1) mentions: 606 Twitter, 3,527 Instagram

(2) USPS Proprietary Data

(3) “The Next Generation of Giving” https://institute.blackbaud.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/2018-Next-Generation-of-Giving.pdf

(4) “The Next Generation of Giving” https://institute.blackbaud.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/2018-Next-Generation-of-Giving.pdf