When you’re struggling with that one person on your list — the fellow or lady who has everything he or she could want and is consequently impossible to shop for — there is one typically overlooked option that’s much more thoughtful than a gift care and more useful than a tchotchke, flowers or food: philanthropy.
Giving someone the chance to participate in a charitable donation is a gift you can both feel good about, a gift that will never go to waste. And with the Internet at your fingertips, it’s easier than ever to make a donation on someone else’s behalf and let them know about that gift.
Here are a few gift options that embody the axiom, “It is better to give than to receive.”
DonorsChoose
Perfect for: The person who teared up during a screening of Waiting for Superman.
DonorsChoose is quickly becoming a popular gift choice among the tech crowd. Twitter gave away DonorsChoose gift cards at their Chirp conference earlier this year, and startup investor Fred Wilson is running a DonorsChoose campaign throughout the month of November.
This charity connects potential donors to classrooms in need. Teachers have the opportunity to post projects on the site, such as buying supplies, books or equipment, and donors can choose projects that mean the most to them. Alternatively, donors can choose to donate to the most urgent project.
You can choose the donation amount and let DonorsChoose notify the recipient with an email, or you can let DonorsChoose send the recipient a physical gift card.
Habitat for Humanity
Perfect for: The person who always gives a few dollars to homeless strangers in need.
Habitat for Humanity is a charitable organization well-known for its construction projects that help house homeless and at-risk families currently living in unsafe or unsuitable dwellings. The houses built by Habitat volunteers are decent and affordable for low-income families. This organization operates in the U.S. and all around the world.
When you make a donation as a gift, Habitat will send your recipient a personalized e-card or physical card notifying him or her of your donation.
Heifer.org
Perfect for: The foodie on your list, or the person who loves cooking for a crowd.
Heifer.org is a charity dedicated to ending world hunger. The organization says it gives hungry families “a hand-up, not just a hand-out” by giving them livestock and training in areas like animal husbandry, allowing these families to become self-reliant. Heifer.org also built paying it forward into its system; each family agrees to give one of its animal’s offspring to another family in need.
At first glance, the Heifer.org gift catalog reads like something from FarmVille, but these animals are real. You can give all or a share of animals like cows, goats and camels; for a smaller pricetag, you can give a trio of rabbits or a flock of ducks. After you make your donation, Heifer.org will let you create a printable gift card or e-card to send along to your own gift recipient.
Other Charity Gift Cards
Perfect for:The big-hearted, strong-minded person in your life.
There are a slew of sites online that will let you send generic charitable gift cards to anyone on your holiday list.
TisBest lets you send a gift card to whomever you like; the recipient then goes to the TisBest website and gets to choose up to three organizations to receive the funds. TisBest’s selection of charities includes more than 250 organizations, ranging from the ASPCA to the Wikimedia Foundation.
GiveNow cards from Just Give allow you to choose from more than a dozen e-card designs or send a traditional card to your recipient. The amount you put into the GiveNow card can be spent by the recipient on the charity of his or her choice. You can see the charities supported in the Just Give Guide.
Charity Choice offers you and your recipients a lot of options. If your recipient is new to philanthropy, you can select the American Express Reward card, of which 10% goes to charity and the rest can be spent on other merchandise. You can select plastic gift cards, printed cards or e-cards, good for redemption online at one of Charity Choice’s more than 100 partner organizations. You can also choose a specific charity yourself.
Do you think charitable donations make a great gift for those impossible-to-shop-for people? Let us know what you think — and how you plan to give to others this holiday season — in the comments.
Images courtesy of Flickr, Mubina H (lead image), bucklava (Heifer.org image), dbspringer (Habitat image) and superkimbo (DonorsChoose image).
More About: charity, charity gift cards, donors choose, donorschoose, gift, holiday shopping, philanthropy
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