The host playbook · Bloom Swap
Sixty days, start to finish. Nothing lands on your front desk the week of.
This is the playbook every Bloom Swap host works from: the sixty-day calendar, the room, the signage, accessibility, safety, and the few things Bloom will never ask of you. It is written for the person who says yes on behalf of a hall, and for the contact who answers the email after. Read it before you commit to anything; nothing is booked until you have said yes to it.
Before you read
What the playbook is for.
A swap works when everyone knows their column. This page sets out Bloom’s, yours, and the rules both keep.
Hosting a Bloom Swap asks for a room, a weekend, dates set together at least sixty days ahead, and one contact who answers email. Bloom brings everything else: the clothing, sorted and laundered; the racks; the signage and intake sheets; volunteers for sort days and swap days; the van. Bloom delivers the day before and takes everything away the day after. Your building is yours again the morning after the swap.
The playbook is long because the day is short. Everything that could surprise a host is written down here, so it can be decided weeks ahead rather than on the morning. Print this page from your browser and it prints as a checklist, with the calendar first.
The sixty days
A clothing swap planning checklist, in the order it happens. T-60 to +30.
Every date counts back from the swap weekend. Scroll, and the line fills as the weekend comes closer.
- T−60
Dates set together
At least sixty days out. Once a date is on the calendar it does not move.
Together - T−45
The kit ships
Signage, table tents, intake sheets and the access card arrive at your door.
Bloom - T−30
Volunteers confirmed
Your two or more, trained with the playbook; Bloom volunteers fill gaps.
Host - T−14
The announcement
To the Bloom list and the region. Share the template text in your own channels.
Bloom - T−7
The room plan
Racks, the changing corner, the quiet corner, the greeter’s table: agreed on one page.
Together - T−1
Delivery and set-up
Racks arrive sorted by size and style. Bloom sets the room.
Bloom - Day
The swap
Greet, re-hang, point to the quiet corner. No photos, no questions, no one at the door.
Host - T+1
Pickup
Everything leaves. What was not taken returns to storage for the next swap or a drive.
Bloom - +30
The impact note
What went out, counted from the ledger, in writing, within thirty days.
Bloom
Bloom does it · Host does it · Together we agree it
Your part between the first date and the last is small. You agree the weekend, confirm your volunteers, send the announcement to your own people with the text Bloom supplies, and agree the room plan. Bloom does the rest and tells you what it has done.
Room plan
The room. Racks by size, never by gender.
Bloom plans the room with you from photos or a visit, and agrees the plan a week out. These are the pieces every plan has.
- A greeter inside the entrance. One volunteer with bags and the rack map. The greeter welcomes; the greeter never checks, counts or asks.
- Racks by size and style. Tops, trousers, dresses and skirts, outerwear, shoes and accessories, each running from smaller sizes to larger. Never a women’s side and a men’s side.
- A space to change. A corner or side room that can be curtained. If the room has none, guests take things home to try, and the swap’s listing says so in advance.
- A quiet corner, where the room allows. A few chairs away from the racks for anyone who needs a minute.
- Seating and clear aisles. Chairs along the way, and room between racks for a wheelchair, a walker or a stroller.
- A place for donations. People bring bags to give. A volunteer takes them to one side, so nothing reaches a rack before it is sorted.
Every room is different, and the plan is drawn for yours. If a room will not work, Bloom will say so plainly, and say why, before any date is set. Racks arrive the day before and are set by size and style; on the day, your volunteers and Bloom’s keep the rails tidy and re-hang what has been tried.
What the signs say
Signage and the acknowledgment line. The wording never changes.
Your kit arrives at T-45 with the banner, table tents, intake sheets and the accessibility card. The signs carry one line that nobody edits.
Bloom Swap is funded in part by partners, businesses whose names appear on every banner, table tent and page in a single fixed line: the program, the partner’s name, their locations and their web address. That line is an acknowledgment, not an advertisement, and the difference is a matter of tax law. A message that mixes acknowledgment with praise, prices or an invitation to buy is treated as advertising, and the partner’s payment stops being a clean sponsorship.
So the line is printed exactly as it comes. Please do not add to it, reword it, or place other sponsors beside it. Your own welcome signs, your building’s notices and your name on the door are yours; the acknowledgment line is Bloom’s, and it stays as printed.
The pattern, until a partner signs
Bloom Swap · a program of Bloom Ministries · Founding Partner: Partner name · City, State · partner-domain.org
What recognition is, and is not sets out the rule in plain English, with its source.
Access
Accessibility at your venue. Step-free, or not a host venue.
Step-free access is required of every host venue. It is the one feature of a room that is a rule rather than a preference.
Beyond the entrance, Bloom asks each host about the rest before a date is set: an accessible restroom, parking or transit nearby, somewhere to sit, and a space that can be curtained for changing. What your room has is printed in one plain line on the swap’s listing and in the announcement, so a guest can decide before they travel rather than find out on arrival.
On the day, the accessibility card from the kit sits with the greeter. Rack labels are in large print. Volunteers will fetch, carry and reach for anyone who asks, and they are asked to come unscented. None of this depends on the building.
Accessibility at a swap is the page guests read. It is worth reading as a host, because it is what Bloom has promised them on your behalf.
The rules that protect guests
Safety. They bind everyone in the room.
For the two days of a swap, the host agrees to the playbook’s conduct rules. They are short, and they are not negotiable.
- No photographs of guests, ever, by anyone. Not for a newsletter, not from the back of the room, not with faces turned away.
- No intake that identifies anyone. The intake sheet records clothing by category. It never records a person.
- Nobody asks a guest why they are here, what the clothes are for, or anything about their body.
- Volunteers wear name tags with their pronouns. Guests are never asked for theirs.
- One named volunteer is the person to speak to if something is wrong, and every volunteer knows who it is.
- Anyone may leave at any time, by any exit.
If something is wrong, the designated volunteer deals with it first, and Bloom follows up with you afterwards. The Oregon Child Abuse Hotline, 855-503-SAFE (855-503-7233), is printed in the footer of every page on this site.
Safety at a swap is what guests read before they come. The rules there and the rules here are the same rules.
Words you may use
What to say to your congregation. Borrow them, change them.
A bulletin, a newsletter or the notices will need a paragraph. This one is yours to use as it stands or to change.
A paragraph for your bulletin
Our hall will hold a Bloom Swap, a free clothing swap run by Bloom Ministries, a registered 501(c)(3) in Salem. Anyone who needs clothes that fit who they are may come in, browse racks sorted by size and style, and take what fits. It is built with trans and nonbinary people first in mind, and anyone who needs clothes is welcome. Nothing is for sale, nobody is asked for ID or a name, and nobody has to bring anything to take something. Bloom brings the clothing and the racks and takes everything away afterwards. If you have clothes to give, Bloom Swap takes clean, whole clothing in every size. There will be no photographs, and nobody will be asked why they came.
Change the voice to suit your pulpit or your page. Please keep three things as they are: that it is free, that nobody is asked anything, and that there are no photographs. The dates and the room’s access line come from Bloom at T-14, so the paragraph never promises what the room does not have.
The other column
What Bloom never asks a host to do. Short on purpose.
However the day goes, a host is never asked for any of these.
- Collect names. No sign-in sheet, no list at the entrance, no raffle ticket with a phone number on the back.
- Take photographs. Not of guests, not of the line outside, not for Bloom’s own use.
- Turn anyone away. Everyone who walks in during a swap is a guest. There is no test to pass.
- Charge anything. No entry fee and no suggested donation at the exit. Nothing at a Bloom Swap has a price.
- Store the clothing. Everything arrives the day before and leaves the day after. Nothing is left in a closet.
And one thing Bloom does ask: that for the two days of the swap, everyone in the room keeps the conduct rules above. For a host, that is the whole test.
FAQ
Questions hosts ask
Still asking? Write to swap@bloomministries.org and a person answers.
How much of this do we actually do?
Your column is a room and a weekend, dates agreed at least sixty days ahead, one contact who answers email, and two volunteers from your community on the day. Bloom does the rest, including the clothing, the racks, the kit, delivery the day before and removal the day after.
What if our room has nowhere to change?
Tell us. Guests can always take clothes home to try, and the swap’s listing will say plainly that the room has no changing space, so nobody is surprised.
Can we announce the swap to our own people?
Yes, and please do. At T-14 Bloom announces the swap to its list and sends you template text for your bulletin, newsletter or pages. The paragraph above works too.
Who is at the door?
Nobody checks anyone. A greeter inside the entrance hands out bags and the rack map, and that is all. There is no sign-in, no ID and no question about why someone came.
What happens to the clothes nobody takes?
Bloom takes everything away the day after and returns it to storage for the next swap or a clothing drive. Where the clothes go follows the whole path.
Who carries insurance?
Can our members give clothes at the swap?
Yes. Donations are taken at every swap and sorted before they reach a rack. What we take is worth sharing with them first.
What is the impact note?
Within thirty days of your swap, Bloom sends you a short note on what it moved, counted from the program’s ledger. It counts clothing, never people.
Host a Bloom Swap
Tell us about your space.
One form: your room, your city, when you could host. The Chancery replies within two business days, and nothing is booked until you have said yes to this playbook.
In danger right now? Bloom’s crisis support is free, and a person answers