Charitable Gift Giving

We surf the Web to find good products that help out a great cause.

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World of Children Award Key-Shaped Jewelry

November 4th, 2013 · Children's Charities

The World of Children Award is sometimes referred to as the “Nobel Prize for child advocates”. It recognizes and provides funding for some of those who make a big difference for children worldwide. This year’s Advocacy Award Recipient is someone we’re talked about in the past on this blog: Lauren Bush Lauren, the originator and founder of the FEED Bag that has helped so many children around the world. Past honorees have included amazing people around the world who have improved childrens’ medicine around the world; helped comfort and support children faced with illnesses, poverty, or violence; and otherwise helped the neediest and most innocent people in the world.

Their annual award event is this coming Thursday in New York City. In commemoration, they’re selling two beautiful pieces of jewelry.

The first is a sterling silver horseshoe key chain:

horseshoe keychain

 

This will sell for $250. It’s made of sterling silver and features the signature World of Children Award logo. It’s available for purchase here.

The second is a Sterling Silver Necklance, also inspired by the World of Children Award logo and created by jewelry designers Adam Shulman and Heidi Nahser Fink of James Banks Design.

 

key shaped necklace

It sells for $1000 and is available for purchase here.

100% of all contributions of both items will help World of Children Award to fund projects that exclusively support vulnerable children all around the world. For instance – purchasing silver horseshoe key ring could provide a full month of rice for 25 children in Cambodia, or self-defense training for more than 1,000 vulnerable young girls worldwide,  or go to help someone like honoree Triveni Acharya, who rescues victims of child trafficking, or honoree Mead Welles, who gives essential prosthetic devices to children in third-world countries with limb deformities.  In its 16-year history, World of Children Award has invested more than $5 million in programs led by 100 Honorees serving vulnerable children in 150 countries.

 

 

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Get reward points for things you do every day

October 22nd, 2013 · American Red Cross, Ronald McDonald House

If you list out things that you do every day, there are bound to be a couple things on the list:

  1. Watch TV
  2. Use a search engine

What would you say if I told you that you could earn actual money by doing these things, and that this money could be donated to great charities?

All you have to do is sign up for these rewards programs. I’ll dedicate a separate post each week talking about each one.

There are tons of other programs out there that reward you for doing everyday things, but these are the ones I use every day. Here’s why:

viggle iconViggle is an app along the same lines as Shopkick, except instead of walking into stores you’re sitting on a couch watching TV. You can “check in” to any TV program you’re watching. and the Viggle App will use your phone microphone to listen to your TV and figure out what you’re watching. You’ll earn one point per minute.

For certain programs, you can earn bonus points (these are listed on the welcome screen each day). These are usually 100-2oo points.  There’s also cool “second screen” technology where for certain programs you can play a quiz and earn even more Viggle Points for correct answers. These can range from 100-200 points to the thousands of points. You can also earn bonus points for doing tasks such as watching commercials on their app or purchasing products and services.

As you might imagine, it takes a LOT of points to save up for a prize. It takes 25,000 points to earn a $10 Starbucks gift card, for example. and 62,500 points for a $25 CVS gift card. You can also use fewer points to enter sweepstakes.

From a charity perspective, you can spend 7,500 points to make a $5 donation to charities. The charities change from time to time, but this month they’re the American Red Cross and Rebuilding Together.

bing iconFinally, there’s Bing Rewards. In admittedly a little bit of desperation on their part to break the hegemony of Google, Bing launched a program where you can earn 1 point for every 2 searches you do on the Bing search engine.

You can redeem points for things like gift cards. For example, you can get a $5 Starbucks gift card for about 500 points, or about 1000 searches. If that seems like a lot to you, go into your browser history and see how many Google searches you’ve done in the past week.

Among their redemption options are some great options to help charities. Every 100 points will give a $1 donation to charities like Boys and Gifts Clubs of America, Kids in Need, and Teach for America. I would have liked to see Microsoft discount the charitable redemptions the same way that Shopkick and Viggle did, but just having them there as an option is a really good thing.

As for Bing’s quality, I have to say that while it used to be awful, over the years they’ve done a lot of good work and the quality is almost as good as Google in some areas, and even better than Google in other areas. Give them a try; while getting paid a half penny every time you search doesn’t seem like a lot, it does add up over time. And of course, Google isn’t giving you squat for all the times you use it!

And so, there’s my advice on rewards programs that reward you for doing everyday things and let you donate that “free money” to charity.

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Agraria Supports Breast Cancer Awareness Month

October 19th, 2013 · Breast Cancer

Agraria started life in 1970 as a boutique on Nob Hill in San Francisco, selling a mix of antiques, books, unique gifts, potpourri, candles, incense, sachets, and bath and body products. They specialized in home fragrance, launching with two signature aromas: Bitter Orange Potpourri and Balsam Perfume Candle, which together made an amazing combination.

Four years later, New York fashion landmark Henri Bendel put these Agraria scents at the front door of its flagship store, which got the attention of everyone from The New York Times to Vogue. Fast forward to today, and you’ll find Agraria scents everywhere from Bergdorf Goodman to InterContinental Hotels and Resorts to department stores and gift shops everywhere.

On their site, you’ll find bath, body, and candle products in eight signature aromas, including the original balsam and bitter orange, plus cedar rose, golden cassis, lavender and rosemary, lemon verbena, lime and orange blossoms, and Mediterranean jasmine.

I got a chance to try out a Cedar Rose crystal cane candle. It came packaged in a beautiful box, perfect for gifting.

IMG_0619

The candle itself is stunningly beautiful. It comes with a shiny silver plated lid. The candle holder is a beautiful crystal glass that you can use to hold tea lights once the candle is burned out; as the candle burns down, the candlelight twinkles through the crystal. Here’s a picture, but I’m afraid this picture doesn’t do it justice.

agraria candle burning

As the candle burns, the color of the premium soft wax (which is vegetable based) is a remarkable, shimmering dark pool of deep pink.

The cedar rose scent is also very unique exquisite, as all their different scents are. According to their Web site, a cedar rose is the top of a mature cedar pine cone that’s create when the cone dries out and the lower “petals” push off or disintegrate. So despite the pink color of their products and candles, they don’t smell strong and artificial like other rose-scented candles out there. Instead, they have a subtle scent that combines a deep cedar wood aroma with the Damask rose, a flower renowned for its fine fragrance, and commonly used to make rose oil or rose water.

While you can certainly get candles at lower prices, this is an example of a candle done right–that burns cleanly, has a fragrance that’s not artificial nor overpowering, looks as beautiful as it smells, and is made in the USA. If you’re in the market for the perfect present for someone who’s discerning about the highest quality, look here first before looking at your run of the mill Yankee candle.

During the month of October, 35% of all sales of Cedar Rose products from their Web site, fittingly enough due to its pink color, is being donated to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. In addition to this candle, they have bath bars and diffusers so that you and your home can smell nice too.

 

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Christmas Gifts at Kohl's, this year starring Snoopy!

October 13th, 2013 · Children's Charities, Kohls

Disclosure: We participate in the eBay Partner Network (EPN) meaning we may earn a commission when users click on links to eBay and make purchases. 

It’s that time of year again! Every year, I look forward to when Kohl’s releases its Kohl’s Cares line of gifts. As we’ve featured on this blog in past years, they’ve sold everything from Dr. Seuss books to Nancy Tillman books to Winnie the Pooh stuffed animals. I never fail to be impressed by the quality of gifts that they sell in this collection.

But even more remarkable is that the gifts sell for $5. If you look on Amazon and eBay, you’ll see that the very same merchandise usually retails for far more than this, but somehow they’ve managed to keep the $5 price point for years. And even more remarkable, 100% (that’s 100%) of the net profits go directly to kids’ health and education initiatives. Since 2000, over $231 million has been raised for the cause.

This year’s line of gifts feature my all-time favorite cartoon characters (and likely yours or a loved one’s)–Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus, Woodstock, and the whole Peanuts gang. Once again, they have a great assortment of high quality gifts, all at $5 (when’s the last time you bought anything for $5?). These aren’t watered down versions of the retail product–these are well produced products that match or even exceed the quality of what you’d find in any other store.

There’s a line of stuffed animals featuring Lucy, Snoopy, Linus, Charlie Brown, and Woodstock. And then there are books. There’s a picture book of the all-time classic A Charlie Brown Christmas. There are books to inspire kids, including “You Can Be Anything” and “Be Yourself”.

But my favorite gift (and grab it while it lasts) is a two-book set that features two Charles Schulz classics: Happiness is a Warm Puppy, and Christmas is Together Time. Both books come together shrink-wrapped at only $5.

kohl's peanuts classic gift set for $5

happiness is a warm puppy and christmas is together time at kohl's

Back in 1962, Happiness is a Warm Puppy landed on the New York Times bestseller list and sold millions of copies over the years. This is a brand new, hardcover version of the book that maintains the original book’s design, form factor, and even page colors.

While this would be a great gift for kids, I think it’s an even better gift for grown-ups, not only for nostalgic reasons, but because as with all of Charles Schulz’s comic strips, the pithy sayings in these books can be enjoyed from both a child’s perspective, but even more from a grown-up’s perspective. I’ve often said that Charles Schulz was one of the 20th century’s greatest philosophers. Check out some of the pages.

christmas is suggesting we decorate the tree with strings of popcorn and cranberries

happiness is a pile of leaves
christmas is a box of tree ornaments that have become part of the family
happiness is a good old fashioned game of hide and seek

This gift, along with the rest of the great selection, is available today at Kohl’s. I usually don’t start posting Christmas stuff until November, but because these gifts tend to sell out VERY fast, I’d suggest you stock up while you can!

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Heaven's Styles Boutique – Trendy Fashion that Fights Cancer #fightwithfashion

October 11th, 2013 · Cancer

stylish dressIf you look through the online catalog of Heaven Styles Boutique (www.heavenstyles.com) or their Facebook page, , you’ll see the spectacular creations of fashion designer Nathan Carl Garvin. His designs are unique and elegant, and yet approachable and affordable.

The ensemble you see to the right, believe it or not, is from their Spring and Summer collection, and costs $35 for the color block top and $30 for the elongated skirt. From their Facebook page, a Fall collection is currently available in the Heaven Styles Boutique location in the Boston area, and will be coming soon.

Heaven Styles Boutique uses the “fast fashion” technique, meaning that designs go quickly from the catwalk to retail sales, ensuring that you’re  always wearing this season’s latest fashions.

heaven styles t-shirts

What’s even more amazing about Nathan Garvin is that he has decided to “give back” with every purchase made from Heaven Styles Boutique. It started when he was asked to support a fashion show for Beat Liver Tumors. Garvin designed for a cancer survivor who ended up becoming a dear friend. From there, he decided to devote proceeds from all sales of his fashion designs to different cancer organizations.

In their boutiques, Heaven Styles also sells its own “Heaven Styles” branded T-Shirts, where $4 of each sale will go to a variety of great organizations. These aren’t your typical promotional logo T-shirts–they themselves come in a variety of colors and sizes.

Look through their site and their Facebook page, and spread the word. With great designs, truly personalized service, and a heart of gold, this is a small business that really deserves your attention.

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Great Wine that Supports a Great Cause #wine

October 9th, 2013 · Veterans and Military

wine-that-helps-charityOperation Homefront is a non-profit organization that helps the families of active-duty military and veterans in need with emergency financial assistance. Since it began in 1982, Operation Homefront has provided more than $170 million dollars in funding to programs that benefit military families. Last year alone, Operation Homefront met 151,150 needs for military families, including assistance with everyday needs like food, auto repair, medical assistance, housing, essential items, and raising morale. As a charity, it has been given the highest rating of four stars by Charity Navigator, which means that it’s one of the best run charities there are. Nationally, 95% of total revenue donated to the charity goes directly to programs that provide support to military families.

You can view more of the specific types of needs that Operation Homefront assists with here. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been tough on our country, and toughest on our soldiers. Many families have lost loved ones who died in service to our country, and survivors often suffer from financial hardship or physical or mental challenges upon returning home. The least we can do for these men and women who have given up so much of their lives to defend our country and our lives, is to help them. You can read more about Operation Homefront here.

Murphy-Goode is a wine seller in California. They’ve introduced a wonderful new red wine called “Homefront Red”. It’s a California red wine that’s a blend of Syrah, Merlot, Petite Sirah, and Zinfandel grapes. According to the wine tasting notes it is “food friendly and fruit forward”, full of flavors like juicy black cherry and raspberry, with toasty vanilla notes and a long, nice finish. I got a chance to sample the wine, and it is definitely a high quality wine that’s complex and lives up to other fine wines. At $15 a bottle, available direct from the winery, it’s also a fantastic value for gift giving or just for enjoying at tailgating or holiday parties.

Aside from being an excellent wine, Murphy-Goode will donate 50 cents from each bottle to Operation Homefront, with a goal of raising at least $300,000 for Operation Homefront. As the holidays approach, the need is greater than ever for food assistance, vision care, community events, moving assistance, and the Wounded Warrior Wives program.

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NOMOS Glashutte Watches that help Doctors Without Borders

October 4th, 2013 · Developing Areas, Doctors Without Borders

This stunning watch is one of two special edition watches released by NOMOS Glashütte to support Doctors Without Borders. The watch comes in two sizes with a diameter of either 33mm or 38mmm, and both watches are limited to a production of only 1,000 watches.

watch for charity

NOMOS Glashütte first released a limited edition watch in March 2012 in Germany. Now, they’re repeating the charitable initiative by producing the NOMOS Tangente 38 and Tangente 33 in the United States.

What makes these hand-wound watches extra-special is  the name “Doctors Without Borders” on the white silver-plated dial, as well as a red “12” and an engraving on the back referring to the international medical humanitarian organization. In addition, these special models have black oxidized hands instead of the Tangente’s usual tempered blue ones.

The back is special as well. You can watch the intricate movement of the gears through the sapphire crystal glass back.

These watches do come at a premium price ($1,840 for the 33mm and $2,140 for the 38mm), but if you know someone who is an aficionado of the finest timepieces in the world, this is an amazing opportunity to get an amazing watch.

$100 of the sale of each watch will go to Doctors Without Borders, helping this amazing organization support people in countries around the world that are affected by armed conflicts, epidemics, malnutrition, or natural disasters. $100 is enough to supply one of the following:

  • 1,000+ refugees ensured clean water supplies for a week, thanks to chlorination equipment
  • 17 wool blankets to protect displaced people from the cold,
  • 5 emergency shelters for families uprooted during a crisis,
  • 450 emergency food rations,
  • 20 life-saving treatments for malaria,
  • 250 Meningitis A vaccine doses,
  • 90 rapid diagnostic tests for HIV,
  • 25 full sets of emergency wound dressing supplies for treatment in the field.

For more information on this amazing timepiece, or to buy one, visit http://www.nomos-store.com/en/MSF-US.

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Pink Shopping Bags for $2.99 at Safeway That Helps Breast Cancer Research

September 30th, 2013 · Breast Cancer

From now until November 3, when you visit a Safeway, Vons, Pavillions, Tom Thumb, Randalls, Dominick’s, or Carrs store, you’ll be able to purchase a reusable shopping bag for $2.99. A full $2.00 of that will go to benefit breast cancer research.

You can also purchase $30 of participating products with pink price tags, and $5 will be donated, up to $1,000,000. Here’s a video that talks about it, with a message from Stand Up to Cancer ambassador Marg Helgenberger of CSI fame.

The bag is reusable and engraved with the words “Creating a brighter tomorrow”. With 2.5 million women in the US (that’s one out of every 8) still affected by breast cancer, it’s a cause that still desperately needs all the attention we give it every October.

creating a brighter tomorrow

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Shop at Kohls for Breast Cancer Awareness 2013

September 25th, 2013 · Breast Cancer, Kohls

Each year, I take a little extra time as October approaches to talk about pink breast cancer related products. That’s mainly because Breast Cancer Awareness and the pink ribbon campaign is what really spawned the concept of retailers and consumer product manufacturers tying in their products with charities. This accomplishes two things–of course, the portion of proceeds that gets donated to charities helps the cause right off the bat, but perhaps more importantly, the product becomes a walking, living advertisement that draws attention and spawns conversation about the cause, bringing it more awareness and more donations down the road. Today, pink products are still the most visible and most recognizable of these charitable products.

Over the years, the products have gone from simply slapping a pink ribbon on an existing product to having products designed from the ground up specially for the month. One of my favorite retailers each year to watch, both during Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October as well as their “Kohl’s Cares” product line during Christmas, is Kohl’s.

This year, they’ve introduced an entire pink product line called the Tek Gear collection. It includes T-Shirts, caps, leggings, tank tops, fleece, and accessories that are designed exclusively by Kohl’s. And amazingy, all items only cost $5, $10, or $15. That’s not a typo–that’s $5, $10, and $15.

In addition, 100% of the net profit (that’s right, 100%) goes directly to breast cancer causes, including the American Cancer Society and the Susan G. Komen Foundation’s Southeast Wisconsin Affiliate, where Kohl’s is headquartered.

You can find the entire collection online at their site here. In addition, merchandise will be available at all 40 Kohl’s stores in Wisconsin.

breast cancer awareness at kohls

The collection is available until November 3. Jump on it quick, because as we’ve seen with past Kohl’s collections like this, once they’re gone, theyre gone.

We had the opportunity to try out the microfleece top.

pink microfleece

It comes in pink, magenta (actually, more like a darker pink), and quiet shade (actually, a medium grey). As you can see, the magenta version is even more vibrant in person than what you see on the Web site. The material may as well be called “I can’t believe it’s not wool”, as the microfleece is incredibly warm and soft on both sides.

Here’s a photo of my lovely wife modeling it (don’t worry, she has a head and hands in real life–it’s just that she’s a bit bashful, and she normally wears an “XS”, so the “S” was a bit big on her).

kohl's pink fleece shirt

For more information on the Kohl’s Cares Breast Cancer Cause Merchandise program, visit Kohls.com/Cares. And be sure to keep that page bookmarked, as I’m sure there will be something cool happening as the holidays approach.

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Getting an iPhone 5s? Give a little more to (PRODUCT) RED

September 20th, 2013 · (PRODUCT) Red, Apple

If you’re an Apple fan, you probably know by now that the new iPhone 5s launches today! I’ve been stuck with my 4s for years, so I’m one of those who jumped at the chance to upgrade.

The iPhone 5s comes in three gorgeous colors: “Space Grey” (their fancy word for “black”), Silver, and Gold.

In order to protect the beautiful metallic finish from the inevitable dings and scratches, they’ve also introduced form-fitting cases with leather exteriors and microfiber interiors. The irony, of course, is that the case itself completely covers the very thing that it’s trying to protect.

Happily, the cases themselves are pretty attractive as well, and come in six colors: yellow, tan, blue, brown, black…

iphone 5 leather case covers

…and my personal favorite, PRODUCT (RED).

red iphone 5 cover

As with all PRODUCT (RED) products, a portion of proceeds of sales of this cover will go to help the Global Fund to fight AIDS in Africa. You can read more about Apple’s different PRODUCT (RED) products here: http://www.apple.com/product-red/

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