Give the Gift of Green (Planet)
December 12, 2009 1:31 PM Subscribe
I am looking for good/effective/interesting environmental charities to donate to as Christmas gifts to family and friends. Working on 2 tracks 1) Charities that do the most actual good 2) charities that would give unique swag or "works-in-their-name". ~$25-$50 per person.
In my family we have made a stated effort to reduce our carbon footprint for X-mas and not give too much "stuff" that people don't really need. Since we are all environmentalists I thought donations to a Green Charity in other people's name would be a good gift.
Still, I'm used to giving something tangible to people, especially something unique. Some thoughts I had were:
-Share of stock (and certificate) in a green energy company
-Certificate that says you have saved 1 acre of rain forest, or saved a baby seal, or planted trees as carbon offsets, etc.
-Something else that is unique, or gives an interesting keepsake, or just doing really really good work.
ON THE OTHER HAND. I realize that many charities that indulge in this type of swag marketing are not as effective. Obviously they have to spend some overhead to design, print, distribute the certificate or whatever. And you run the risk that they may be selling the swag more than they are actually doing good work.
So Hive mind, give me some good recommendations that let me give the gift and save the planet at the same time. I am aiming for 5-7 gifts at $25-$50 a pop, but could maybe do one or two bigger gifts for the whole family.
In my family we have made a stated effort to reduce our carbon footprint for X-mas and not give too much "stuff" that people don't really need. Since we are all environmentalists I thought donations to a Green Charity in other people's name would be a good gift.
Still, I'm used to giving something tangible to people, especially something unique. Some thoughts I had were:
-Share of stock (and certificate) in a green energy company
-Certificate that says you have saved 1 acre of rain forest, or saved a baby seal, or planted trees as carbon offsets, etc.
-Something else that is unique, or gives an interesting keepsake, or just doing really really good work.
ON THE OTHER HAND. I realize that many charities that indulge in this type of swag marketing are not as effective. Obviously they have to spend some overhead to design, print, distribute the certificate or whatever. And you run the risk that they may be selling the swag more than they are actually doing good work.
So Hive mind, give me some good recommendations that let me give the gift and save the planet at the same time. I am aiming for 5-7 gifts at $25-$50 a pop, but could maybe do one or two bigger gifts for the whole family.
World Land Trust (US) saves an acre of rainforest for $100. They send you an email certificate, so you certainly don't have to worry about them wasting your money on swag. Or World Land Trust (non-US? I'm not sure how the two orgs are related) looks like it has some more gifting options (priced in pounds). Even David Attenborough supports them!
posted by gueneverey at 2:19 PM on December 12, 2009
posted by gueneverey at 2:19 PM on December 12, 2009
My brother gave my parents a Kiva gift certificate last year. They're not perfect--a few articles were going around a while ago about how lenders aren't necessarily lending money to the exact people specified on the site, but rather to the field partners disbursing the money--but they're definitely doing good, and they offer PDFs of the certificates you can print out or email or whatever.
posted by tellumo at 2:20 PM on December 12, 2009
posted by tellumo at 2:20 PM on December 12, 2009
I really like Heifer -- you can give a flock of chickens or a goat or a heifer...fun and pretty direct. Wide range of gift levels.
posted by agatha_magatha at 5:23 PM on December 12, 2009
posted by agatha_magatha at 5:23 PM on December 12, 2009
Regarding World Land Trust, the UK site gives you an option of receiving either an email certificate or a printed certificate. However, unless you're in the UK, the printed version will definitely not reach you before Christmas (and even the pdf version may take about a week to be emailed).
posted by Bangaioh at 3:14 AM on December 13, 2009
posted by Bangaioh at 3:14 AM on December 13, 2009
Seconding Kiva - I have a few loans through them and I've found it to be a really rewarding experience - people pay back their loans, usually on time, and then you can help someone else again with the same money, or add a little more and give a bigger loan next time.
Heifer is also really great, I see them a lot in the countries I work in here, when I was in Kigali the last 2 weeks I ran by their Rwanda office each morning. Very direct route.
Another direct route (and a semi-shameless self plug for my employer - not sure if that's against policy so my apologies to the deleting mod if so) is World Vision - you can sponsor a child for a really reasonable rate. Depending on the number of people in your family, given your budget size, you might be able to just sponsor one kid for a whole year and bring the whole family in on it.
Also, I have some friends in a rural village in China who recently started a non-profit that sells aprons, creating jobs for local women in the village - its called Scarlet Threads.
posted by allkindsoftime at 3:49 AM on December 13, 2009 [1 favorite]
Heifer is also really great, I see them a lot in the countries I work in here, when I was in Kigali the last 2 weeks I ran by their Rwanda office each morning. Very direct route.
Another direct route (and a semi-shameless self plug for my employer - not sure if that's against policy so my apologies to the deleting mod if so) is World Vision - you can sponsor a child for a really reasonable rate. Depending on the number of people in your family, given your budget size, you might be able to just sponsor one kid for a whole year and bring the whole family in on it.
Also, I have some friends in a rural village in China who recently started a non-profit that sells aprons, creating jobs for local women in the village - its called Scarlet Threads.
posted by allkindsoftime at 3:49 AM on December 13, 2009 [1 favorite]
Charity:water is supposed to be pretty lean and effective.
posted by lakeroon at 7:51 AM on December 13, 2009
posted by lakeroon at 7:51 AM on December 13, 2009
One year I gave really nice cloth napkins and dishtowels, which, if they are used, reduce paper consumption. Does the giftee have a programmable thermostat? The gift of installing one saves lots of energy. Compact fluorescent light bulbs in a size the giftee is likely to use, even better, go install them in hard to reach places. Ann energy audit. Or, talk to your public radio station, and sponsor a show for a night. You can have the sponsorship announcement say "Tonight's edition of Some Show has been brought to you by the Maniac family, who ask you to join them in reducing their carbon footprint."
posted by theora55 at 11:19 AM on December 13, 2009
posted by theora55 at 11:19 AM on December 13, 2009
You could also do your own "swag". For example, I'm getting a beehive through Heifer for my aunt and uncle, and plan to wrap and give them a nice pot of local gourmet honey to go with the Heifer acknowledgment. That way you have some wrapped token to hand them, but don't have to worry about it coming out of the operating budget.
In general, Charity Navigator, linked above by bearwife, is a good way to tell who's doing well on the fundraising/program expenditures balance and who's not.
posted by clerestory at 4:21 PM on December 13, 2009
In general, Charity Navigator, linked above by bearwife, is a good way to tell who's doing well on the fundraising/program expenditures balance and who's not.
posted by clerestory at 4:21 PM on December 13, 2009
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posted by bearwife at 1:37 PM on December 12, 2009