Everyone has that person on their holiday list who has everything and is impossible to shop for. This year go for the anti-gift and never fear that the gift you worked so hard to select will end up in the garage sale pile. Charitable giving on one's behalf may seem boring, but charities have had to work hard to keep donations up in these hard economic times and here are just a few charitable gifts that are anything but ordinary.
1. Oxfam's gift giving site, Oxfam Unwrapped, has a fun selection of gifts for those on your list who are very hard to surprise. How about a dozen chicks for $45 or a goat for $50? If you need the perfect white elephant gift, Oxfam offers the gift of manure for just $12.
2. The World Wildlife Federation helps protect wildlife and you can gift the adoption of a mammal of your choice starting at $25. Whether your recipient is a fan or Meerkat Manor or favors Shark Week there will be an animal suitable for their interest.
3. For the person in your life who has a large carbon footprint, you can donate to offset their use and gift it to them from Carbon.org
4. For the green thumb on your list, gift a tree dedication through Tree People starting at only $25.
5. Just like every other commercial retail industry, there is now even a gift card for the charity industry. The gift card allows the recipient to choose from hundreds of charities. This would be the ideal gift for the pickiest person on your list. Visit Charity Gift Certificates for a gift card.
Image: Shutterstock and Oxfam
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Here is another great one: http://www.friendsofanton.org/
In April freelance photographer Anton Hammerl was shot by Gaddafi loyalists in Libya. For 44 days his family and the world were told he was alive and in detention. The truth is he was left to die in the Libyan desert.
Some of the world's top photographers have banded together to help Anton's 3 children by donating images purchasable as prints.
These beautiful and affordable prints make wonderfully original gifts and directly help a family that has suffered a lot.
How about a Kiva Card? (http://www.kiva.org/) Basically, you buy a $25 gift card and the recipient can choose someone (a group or individual in the developing world) to lend it to. The entire amount goes to the lendee. Once it's repaid, the money goes back into an account and the recipient can choose another lendee. It's a gift that keeps on giving, and, I must say, the website is pretty addicting. It's hard to choose who to lend to first.
From their website: We are a non-profit organization with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. Leveraging the internet and a worldwide network of microfinance institutions, Kiva lets individuals lend as little as $25 to help create opportunity around the world.
I wish more people would do alternative gifts like this.
Thanks for posting the list above.
My family is getting gifts this year from:
www.greatergood.org
I'm giving my nieces Shel Silverstein books and a flock of geese from Heifer International. You can print out cards with children on them.
This post reminded me to get my rear in gear and make my donation for the season! We chose CASA this year, www.casaforchildren.org!
the best Holiday gift for people that feel guilty receiving any holiday gifts when so much need around the corner from where we all live I'm sure..and around the world..I'd love it...NOT one gift but the knowledge that other people were helped by what would of been spent on ME>..
The best part is if the recipient of the gift complains about you donating to charity, well that's one less person on your list next year!
Please check out Charity Navigator (www.charitynavigator.org) before giving. The personal reviews can be very enlightening.
I love the idea of charitable giving but a few of these suggestions should not be on that list.
Animal-donation programs like those run by Heifer International and Oxfam do not provide a sustainable solution for global hunger. Grazing animals often cause topsoil runoff and land degradation, which can contribute to drought, leading the environmental group World Land Trust to call these programs "environmentally unsound and economically disastrous."
In addition, German producer Wilfried Huismann's film, Silence of the Pandas, exposes what he dubs "the dark side" of the WWF. This organization has become so large, says Huismann, by partnering with wealthy corporations that plaster its famous logo on their products as an endorsement in exchange for sizeable donations. Even while WWF purports to protect the environment, it promotes companies that are destroying it.
Some programs I would recommend instead are The Fruit Tree Planting Foundation, Food for Life Global, VEGFAM, Animal Rahat and Feed My Starving Children.
Another great organization is World Concern, www.worldconcern.org
They have several animal options like were listed above, but they also have a lot of other options. With items like a soccer ball for children or you can donate towards a water well. They have all of the items listed in a pamphlet called the Global Gift Guide and you can view it on their website.
Another one to add to the list: http://www.smiletrain.com/
"one of the most productive charities -dollar for deed - in the world". NYT
bookmarking this post. so many good ideas!
https://give.rarbayarea.org/
This is a fantastic one too! I'm giving this gift (along with books) to some young people in my life this year.
Raising a Reader will donate a book for $16, you can sponsor a reader for $100, or a whole classroom for $2500. This nonprofit rotates book bags through low income schools and preschools AND teaches the parents and teachers how to read to kids to ensure that they love learning.
I LOVE this! Great idea to give to Raising A Reader. Kids get books all year long and people who already have lots of books can feel good about building the universe of people who love them! https://give.rarbayarea.org