Sustainable Corporate Gift: The Guide to Impact-Driven Gifting
Which certifications really matter? How do you set up a sustainable gifting policy? And why is a choice gift with impact brands more sustainable than a green voucher?
Choice gifts are inherently more sustainable than fixed packages: the recipient chooses something they genuinely want, which makes waste virtually zero. Combine that with certified impact brands such as Marie-Stella-Maris, Food for Skin and Brabantia, and your gift budget creates measurable impact. Discover the choice platform →
Sustainable Corporate Gift: How to Create Real Impact with Your Gift Budget
A complete guide to certifications that matter, setting up a sustainable gifting policy, and why choice is the key to impact without waste.
A "green" gift voucher is not automatically sustainable. Real impact-driven gifting comes down to three things: certified brands (B Corp, Fairtrade, TIM), choice for the recipient (less waste) and transparency about impact. Choice gifts achieve ~95% redemption versus ~80% for traditional vouchers. Cadeo is TIM-certified and offers a donation option with every gift.
Why a Green Voucher Isn't Enough
A National Green Gift Voucher sounds sustainable, but its impact is limited. The recipient gets a generic voucher without context about which brands are truly certified. The result: many vouchers go unused (redemption rate ~80%) and the actual impact on sustainable producers is unclear. Read our comparison of choice gift vs. gift voucher to see why a voucher is not always the best choice.
Sustainable gifting requires a different approach. Not just a green intention, but measurable impact: what certifications do the brands have? How high is the redemption rate? And what happens to unused gift value?
The Certifications That Matter
Not every "eco label" is equally reliable. These four certifications are independently verified and reviewed annually.
B Corp
Verified social and environmental performance of the company
Fairtrade
Fair trade and fair prices for producers
Circular
Designed for reuse and minimal raw material waste
TIM
Trade Impact Marking: verified network of impact brands
Cadeo is TIM-certified. This means the selection of brands in the collection of 1.200+ products has been independently verified for sustainability and impact. The certification is reviewed annually.
Sustainable Brands in Practice
What does "impact brand" mean in concrete terms? Here are examples of brands you can include in a sustainable gift collection, each with its own sustainability story:
Natural personal care
Marie-Stella-Maris donates a portion of its revenue to clean drinking water projects. Their home fragrances and care products combine luxury with social impact. Food for Skin makes skincare from 100% natural ingredients, packaged in recycled materials. The Gift Label produces its range locally in the Netherlands.
Sustainable home products
Brabantia has been known for decades for products that last for generations, designed with cradle-to-cradle principles. Le Creuset makes cast-iron cookware that lasts for decades and is the opposite of disposable products. BOSKA makes durable cheese and kitchen tools from responsible materials.
Conscious lifestyle
Rituals invests in refill concepts and sustainable packaging. Dille & Kamille deliberately chooses natural materials and local production. Bever offers outdoor products from brands with strong sustainability certifications. View the full assortment on the Cadeo choice platform.
5 Steps to a Sustainable Gifting Policy
Choose Choice Gifts Instead of Fixed Packages
With a fixed Christmas hamper, you decide what the recipient gets. Not everyone wants the same thing. The result: products that end up unused in a cupboard. With choice gifts, the recipient chooses for themselves, which increases redemption to ~95% and virtually eliminates waste. Read more in How does a choice platform work?
Choose Certifications, Not Marketing
A pretty green label on the packaging says very little. Look for independent certifications: B Corp, Fairtrade, Circular or TIM. These are verified by external parties and reviewed annually. That way, you know your gift budget goes to brands that genuinely make an impact.
Offer a Donation Option
Not everyone wants a physical gift. By adding a donation option, you give recipients the choice to donate the gift value to a charity. This strengthens the impact of your gift budget and gives recipients autonomy. At Cadeo, this option is available as standard with every gift.
Make Impact Visible with Data
Measure and share the results of your gift campaign. What percentage was redeemed? Which brands were most popular? How much was donated? By sharing this data with your team, you make sustainability tangible. Read more about how Cadeo does this in Cadeo Unwrapped: Gifting Data.
Add a Personal Touch
A handwritten card with a QR code to the choice portal makes the moment personal. This combination of attention and choice scores highest on employee satisfaction. The card itself? Made from sustainable paper. You can also send it without an address via a digital link.
Choice Gift vs. Traditional Package: Sustainability Comparison
| Aspect | Choice gift | Traditional package |
|---|---|---|
| Waste | Minimal (recipient chooses themselves) | 20–40% unused products |
| Redemption | ~95% | ~80% |
| Packaging | Minimal (digital option possible) | Lots (boxes, plastic, filler) |
| Transport | Per individual order | Bulk shipping (including unwanted items) |
| Certified brands | Yes (TIM-verified) | Varies |
| Donation option | Yes | No |
The core question is simple: do you want your gift budget to end up with products people actually use and appreciate, or with packages of which part ends up in the trash?
Sustainability in gifting is not about green packaging, but about eliminating waste. When recipients choose what they really want, that is the most sustainable choice.
Cadeo Team – Sustainable GiftingHow Cadeo Makes Sustainable Gifting Possible
Cadeo combines three elements that together form a sustainable gifting platform:
TIM-certified collection of 1.200+ products. Every brand is verified for sustainability and impact. From Marie-Stella-Maris to Brabantia, from Rituals to Food for Skin. The selection is continuously updated based on certifications and customer ratings.
Donation option with every gift. Recipients can donate the gift value to a charity of their choice. This is completely optional and increases the impact of your gift budget.
Handwritten cards with QR code. No plastic packaging, no disposable products. A personal card that leads directly to the choice portal in your own house style. Sending can be digital (via link or email), by post or physically, without needing any addresses when you choose the digital option.
Want to know how other companies use Cadeo? Check out the employee experience or read how customers use Cadeo for their gifting moments throughout the year, from the corporate gift calendar 2026 to Christmas gift ideas.
Frequently Asked Questions
With a choice gift, the recipient chooses a product they genuinely want. As a result, almost everything is actually used (redemption ~95%), while with traditional packages 20 to 40% of the products remain unused. Less waste means less resource consumption and less trash.
Cadeo is TIM-certified, which means the collection of 1.200+ products has been verified for sustainability and impact. Brands such as Marie-Stella-Maris, Food for Skin and Brabantia are selected based on their certifications and social contribution. The selection is reviewed annually.
When recipients open their gift link, they can choose: select a product from the collection or donate the full gift value to a charity. Cadeo works with established charities. The donation option is available by default and is fully optional for the recipient. Read more in How does the choice platform work?
TIM stands for Trade Impact Marking. It is an independent verification framework for impact brands and platforms. TIM assesses a company's actual sustainability performance, not just its claims. Cadeo is TIM-certified, which means the brand selection is externally verified.
Yes. After your gift campaign, Cadeo provides insight into redemption rates, popular brands, donation amounts and more. You can use this data for internal communication to make the impact of your sustainable gifting policy visible. Read more about it in Cadeo Unwrapped: Gifting Data.
Yes. Sustainable choice gifts via Cadeo fall under the same WKR rules as other employee gifts. The tax-free allowance is 2% on the first €400,000 of your total taxable payroll and 1.18% on the remainder. As long as you stay within the allowance, there are no additional tax costs. Read the full tax explanation in our WKR Tax Guide.
Absolutely. Cadeo is used not only for employees, but also for customer relationships. Think of a relationship gift for the holidays, a thank-you after a project, or a gift for an anniversary. The recipient chooses from the TIM-certified collection, making the gift both personal én sustainable.
