22 Days and Counting!

Heifer International's mission statement is: Ending Hunger, Caring for the Earth. Their programs are unique and interesting and take place around the world in places like: Tanzania, China, Nepal, Honduras, Uganda, Zambia, Romania, Poland, Ukraine, and Kenya. Their progarms aim to help people become self-sustainaning and improve economies on a larger scale. They do this by providing families and groups of people with ways to make a living in livestock, agrofarming, green tourism, etc. Once a group starts producing enough to sell, that group can then better their lives by purchasing nutritious food, medicines, more raw materials to grow their business, or other items. This cycle of buying can eventually lift communities out of poverty. This might be a great present for a nature lover because during some of the
Heifer International projects the organization provides speciailized (natural) resource management training.

If you would like something to slip into a box or envelope to give as a tangible gift, the organization offers printable gift inserts which can really give the cause a "face."

23 Days and Counting!

Photo Credit: GoodShop Logo

Ok so let’s face it- not everyone on your list would be excited about receiving a donation in their name to a worthy charity…So how can you still incorporate a way to give back while buying gifts for those people? I can’t believe I hadn’t heard about this until now! If you are going to shop online, it couldn’t be easier (or cheaper!) to make a donation to charity. All you have to do is go to the GoodShop by GoodSearch website, find your favorite retailer, and click through to their website. A percentage donation rate is listed under each vendor's name which GoodShop will donate as a percentage of your purchase to charity. You simply select a charity from the list of over 700,000 participating organizations, make a purchase at the retailer of your choice, and GoodShop does the rest! The donation percentages seem to range from 0.5% up to 30% - and it doesn’t cost you anything extra! Happy shopping!

24 Days and Counting!

Justgive.org helps you find the perfect gift for the person who is always difficult to buy for. It is so easy, you can do it in five minutes from your desk chair! Just go to the website and select the GiveNow card and choose the amount you would like to add. There are several holiday themed gift cards that would make the perfect gift! The gift recipient can log on to redeem their gift card at over 1.5 MILLION different charities and can even decide how the money on their gift card is used.

The Christmas Countdown!

It’s hard to believe, but Christmas is officially 24 days away! I haven’t started shopping, but I have decided what I am going to buy for almost everyone on my list. Although the economy is terrible this year and people are going so crazy over sales that a crowd of deal-hungry shoppers actually ripped the doors off the hinges and trampled a man to death at one store, Christmas is still coming. Instead of getting worried about Christmas this year, I am still excited and a even more compassionate. That’s why this year, instead of the traditional gifts that I usually give, I am giving to charities in the name of some of my family and friends. Not everyone will appreciate a gift like this, but I know that a lot of my family will. Year after year we all say that familiar phrase “I really don’t need anything…” but then list things that we would like to have. While that is nice and I love to give and get just like the next person, I think this economic downturn has forced some reality on us as to what excesses we really do have and caused us to realize that even in hard times we still have SO much more that others. Why not help those less fortunate get to the “I really don’t need anything” standard that we have achieved? Let’s try to stop the endless cycle of buying knick knacks and trinkets that often end up in the bottom of a toy box or covered in dust on the back of the shelf by the time the holidays roll around next year. For all these reasons, December will be a count-down of 25 ways to give back while giving to others this Christmas. *The countdown will go until Christmas, but if you celebrate another holiday, please check back daily to see to see the gift ideas as most will not be religious-based organizations.