Looking for easy last minute gift ideas?
What about a charitable donation?
Fear not fellow Non-Consumers, most charitable organizations have websites set up to make giving as easy as the click of the mouse.
One of my personal favorite is Heifer International which puts out a Christmas catalog of different animals you can buy for people all over the world who are living in poverty.
Heifer’s website describes its mission as such:
Heifer’s mission is to end hunger and poverty while caring for the earth. For more than 60 years, Heifer International has provided livestock and environmentally sound agricultural training to improve the lives of those who struggle daily for reliable sources of food and income. And since 1944, we have helped 48 million people through training in livestock development and livestock gifts that multiply.
Every gift of an animal provides direct benefits such as milk, eggs, wool, fertilizer, as well as indirect benefits that increase family incomes for better housing, nutrition, health care and school fees for children. Recipients “pass on the gift” of offspring of their cows, goats and other livestock to others in an ever-widening circle of hope.
Do you have a favorite charity that you support as part of your holiday giving? Please tell us about it in the comments section below.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Heifer International is one of my favourites too. I especially like the fact that the first off-spring of an animal gets passed on to another family, so thegift just keeps on giving and giving.
I also support Seeds of Diversity, which is a Canadian non-profit group devoted to preserving heritage stains of fruits and vegetables. It was through Seeds of Diversity that I tracked down a heritage type of potato that my dad grew but that has since all but disappeared.
Love your blog by the way – I find it very inspirational.
Nice idea, Katy! Does it count if we give some old clothes, maybe pots and pans, to Goodwill, then tell someone we did it in their name? Please answer asap!
Sue Madre,
Normally I would say that de-cluttering is a gift only to yourself. But I am going to change my attitude on this and say yes, for you only, donating stuff to Goodwill can be my Xmas gift.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
Sue Hija
My favorite this holiday season is Kiva.org a micro finance organiztion. I have given gift certificates to my neices and nephews for $25. They will then go to the Kiva website where they read profiles of entrepreneurs in the developing world, and chose one to lend the money to. They will receive e-mail updates about the persons buisness and in six months will be paid back. They can then cash out the $25 gift or lend it again.
I give to Heifer, and make loans through Kiva already – thanks for the information on seeds!!
We give to a small church-run school in the mountains of Pakistan, which provides education and job skills to girls and disadvantaged children. We ask others if they want to give, as well. Last Christmas we raised enough money to buy wheelchairs for two disabled teenaged girls so that they could go to school.
I buy trees from the Arbor Day Foundation. You can purchase 10 trees for $20 or $25 & they send you a certificate. I may be off on my figures, but I think it is a great way to re-grow burned out forests!