Charitable Gift Giving

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

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Sell Electronics on eBay, Get $5 and Give $5 to a Great Cause

April 24th, 2011 · Conservation, eBay

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

Do you have some old electronics lying around? eBay is going green by encouraging you to sell selected old electronics.

Until April 30, check out their special site at green.ebay.com. You can search their online tool to see if the electronics item you want to sell is on their list. If it is, enter the condition of the electronics, as well as any accessories you plan to include with it. You’ll be given an instant quote for how much you’ll get paid.

The offer price is probably a little less than what you’d get on eBay, but making up for it is the fact that you don’t have to pay any eBay nor PayPal fees. In addition, you’ll be able to print a shipping label to ship your item for free. Also, the recycler will remove any personal information stored in cell phones, PDAs, and laptops. Finally, you’ll get a $5 eBay gift card, and a $5 donation will be made to Global Green USA, a national environmental non-profit headquartered in Southern California.

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Charity Nail Polish to help Premature Babies

April 17th, 2011 · Children's Charities

nail polish for preemies A few weeks ago, I got a touching email. Here’s an excerpt:

I am Jennifer Cohen from South Florida and I will always consider myself to be the luckiest person in the world. In 2003, my twin daughters were born at just 31 weeks of my pregnancy. They spent five weeks in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Memorial Hospital West in Pembroke Pines.

Today, Sydney and Alexandria are healthy 8-year-olds. In an effort to show our gratitude and help “pay it forward” my husband and I created a Foundation in celebration of the girls so that we may raise the needed money to buy and donate state-of-the-art incubators to Memorial Hospital West.

We have done the big glitzy gala thing, but found we needed an ongoing revenue stream so that the opportunity to support our efforts did not end at Midnight on any one evening. We also wanted something fun and affordable. So, we have come out with adorable twin nail polish sets as a way of raising funds. I came across your wonderful site and I was wondering if you would consider giving our nail polish gift sets a mention.

Of course, this is exactly the kind of cause which I started this site to bring attention to. Jennifer’s web site is now up and can be found at http://www.sacohenfoundation.org/.

The site contains a special page about her charity nail polish. The set contains one glow-in-the-dark light pink polish with sparkles named “Sydney” and one bottle of light purple nail polish named “Alexandria” after her two daughters who were both born at 3 pounds, 3 ounces and 2 pounds, 14 ounces respectively. Happily, both are wonderful, healthy little girls today. You can see a picture of them on the Web site smiling and holding their namesake nail polishes, which they helped create by picking the colors. The polish is made in the United States, and their manufacturing does not harm any animals.

Proceeds from the nail polish will go directly to support the Cohen’s pledge to provide state-of-the-art GE Omnibed Giraffe incubators for the hospital which the girls were born in. These incubators will in turn help thousands of babies year after year.

It’s not every day that you can find beautiful nail polish that supports such a great cause. Each boxed set is $14.00 plus $3.60 shipping.

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Gwen Stefani eBay Auction

April 14th, 2011 · Disaster Relief, eBay

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

From April 11 to April 25, Gwen Stefani is holding a special Charity Auction auctioning off a huge number of personal items, from a chance to meet her for tea at a special event in LA, to L.A.M.B. outfits from her closet, to T-shirts she personally signed.

All proceeds from this auction will benefit Save The Children’s work in continuing to help Japan recover from the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami.

If you’re a fan, this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to win a one-of-a-kind piece of memorabilia, while supporting an important cause.

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Sphynx Cat Book that Helps fight HCM

April 11th, 2011 · Animal Causes, Uncategorized

The Nudes – A Pictorial Celebration of the Sphynx is a great book that celebrates the rare Sphynx cat (also known as the Canadian Hairless). This is an amazing breed of cat with a truly unique look, and this book captures its uniqueness in a variety of pictures, ranging from beautiful, to funny, to adorably cute.

The author is donating some of the proceeds from the book to researching HCM (hypertrophic cardiomyopathy), a disease that affects many Sphynx cats.

A great and unique gift for the cat lover in your life.

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Find a Bake Sale in Your Area

April 4th, 2011 · Share Our Strength

bake-saleSeems that baked goods are making a comeback. Maybe it’s because we need more comfort food during uncertain economic times, but it seems that everywhere you turn there’s a cupcake or a huge cookie there to make you smile.

Some of the best baked cupcakes, brownies, cookies, muffins, and cakes I’ve had in my life weren’t out of a slick professional bakery. They were from a little neighborhood bake sale. As delicious as those slick new boutique bakeries in the big City are, sometimes they’re missing a little ingredient that those little fingers baking for their softball team or band or local charity: TLC.

Share Our Strength is an organization based out of Washington whose goal is to eradicate childhood hunger in the U.S. They’ve done something clever. They’ve reached out to volunteers around the country, but instead of going door to door and asking for money, they’re telling them to open a bake sale in their community. It’s called the Great American Bake Sale.

If you to go their Bake Sale Finder, chances are you’ll find one near you. And if you don’t, just go to their Bake Sale Home Page and you’ll find all kinds of information on how you can start your own.

They’ve recruited professional chef Sandra Lee (no relation to Sara Lee…or Duncan Hines for that matter) to be their spokesperson. Sandra even wrote a cookbook called the Bake Sale Cookbook where 25% of proceeds will support Great American Bake Sale.

During good times, it’s easy to give to those who are less fortunate. But it’s during tough times that it’s not so easy–and when those less fortunate people need help most of all. Start this tax year off right by making a generous donation to help Share our Strength feed hungry children in our own backyard, and support those who are giving of their time and ovens to help.

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Music to Benefit Japan

April 1st, 2011 · Disaster Relief

songs to benefit JapanSongs for Japan is a benefit album featuring the biggest hits from some of the world’s top music stars, available for immediate download on iTunes.

All proceeds will go to benefit the Red Cross in Japan.

Here’s a track list:

1) Imagine (remastered) – John Lennon
2) Walk On (radio edit) – U2
3) Shelter from the Storm – Bob Dylan
4) Around the World (live) – Red Hot Chili Peppers
5) Born This Way (Starsmith remix) – Lady GaGa
6) Irrelplaceable – Beyonce
7) Talking to the Moon (acoustic piano) – Bruno Mars
8) Firework – Katy Perry
9) Only Girl (In the World) – Rihanna
10) Like I Love You – Justin Timberlake
11) Miles Away (live) – Madonna
12) When Love Takes Over (feat. Kelly Rowland) – David Guetta
13) Love the Way You Lie (feat. Rihanna) – Eminem
14) Human Touch – Bruce Springsteen
15) Awake (live) – Josh Groban
16) Better Life – Keith Urban
17) One Tribe – The Black Eyed Peas
18) Sober – Pink
19) It’s OK – Cee Lo Green
20) I Run to You – Lady Antebellum
21) What Do You Got? – Bon Jovi
22) My Hero – Foo Fighters
23) Man on the Moon – R.E.M.
24) Save Me (clean version) – Nicki Minaj
25) By Your Side – Sade
26) Hold On (radio mix) – Michael Buble
27) Pray (acoustic) – Justin Bieber
28) Make You Feel My Love – ADELE
29) If I Could Be Where You Are – Enya
30) Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me – Elton John
31) Waiting On the World to Change – John Mayer
32) Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together) – Queen
33) Use Somebody – Kings of Leon
34) Fragile (live in Berlin) – Sting, Steven Mercurio, and the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra
35) Better in Time – Leona Lewis
36) One in a Million – Ne-Yo
37) Whenever, Wherever – Shakira
38) Sunrise – Norah Jones

At about 25 cents a song for some of the top hits available today, it’s a great deal, and supports those who could really use help right now.

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Hello Kitty and other Sanrio Purchases to Help Japan Victims

March 31st, 2011 · Disaster Relief

For today only (Thursday, March 21, 2011), Sanrio stores throughout the United States will be donating 100% of their proceeds to the American Red Cross to support their work in helping victims of the Japanese earthquake and the tsunami in the Pacific.

To find a Sanrio store, go to http://www.sanrio.com/store_locator/. Online purchases at http://shop.sanrio.com/ will also be donated.

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"A Celebration to Service" Monday night on NBC

March 28th, 2011 · Points of Light Foundation

On Monday night (March 28) from 8-9 PM, NBC is going to air “All Together Now – A Celebration of Service”. This was an event that took place on March 21 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. The TV broadcast will feature performances by Garth Brooks, Sheryl Crow, Cee Lo Green, Reba McEntire, Sam Moore, Brad Paisley, Kid Rock, Darius Rucker and Carrie Underwood.

The evening honors President George H. W. Bush for his commitment to promoting volunteerism and service in the United States. In attendance was all four living ex-presidents: President and Mrs. George W. Bush, President and Mrs. Jimmy Carter and President Bill Clinton. President Obama is scheduled to appear via a pre-recorded video.

It’s a fitting tribute for President H.W. Bush, to whom President Obama awarded the Medal of Freedom back in February. After volunteering for service days after the attack on Pearl Harbor (becoming the youngest Naval aviator ever as of that date), his plane was shot down, killing his two fellow crew members. Even after this horrific experience, he went back and flew combat missions and trained soliders until the end of the war. After a successful business career, he went back to public service, serving in Congress, the CIA, the State Department, and of course as vice-president and president.

The history books will judge the job he ultimately did as president. He certainly went through his highs and his lows in foreign policy and domestic policy, like all Presidents before him and after him. But in my mind, one of the most important things (and sadly, one of the least mentioned) was his call on others in the country to volunteer service. Today is a different world than it used to be. It seems that we as a people are becoming more and more selfish. “Community Service” is something which high school kids do to get colleges to look favorably upon their applications. Or it’s something that people convicted of crimes do when they don’t want to go to jail. Whatever happened to just doing good because it’s the right thing to do? Whatever happened to The Golden Rule (and no, I don’t mean “he who has all the gold makes all the rules”!)

President Bush wasn’t unique in his generation. So many of the members of “the Greatest Generation” gave so much of themselves so that we can enjoy the freedom and blessings of their sacrifice.  Hopefully this program will serve not just as a quaint reminder of a time that is long past, but as a reminder to all of us that we are at our strongest only when we help those who are weak.

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Empowering Women Entrepreneurs

March 25th, 2011 · Developing Areas

Catherine at Dermalogica reached out to me a few weeks ago to tell me about a new 2011 charitable initiative started by the founder of Dermalogica, Jane Wurwand.
The initiative, called FITE (Financial Independence Through Entrepreneurship), is one that aims to fund the businesses of 25,000 women entrepreneurs worldwide in the next two years. According to the World Bank, empowering women to achieve financial independence is one of the best ways to fight poverty in developing areas. It makes sense–women tend to be the ones who hold families together. They shape their families, and in doing so they also shape theirs communities and the future.
Dermalogica is making available five of their most popular products (precleanse, daily microfoliant, skin hydrating booster, total eye care, intensive eye care) in special FITE packaging. Within this packaging is a code which you can redeem at joinFITE.org. There, you can choose the entrepreneur you’d like to support.
Want to learn more? Watch this video.

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Flight 93 Roses

March 22nd, 2011 · Flight 93 National Memorial Campaign

In the last post, we highlighted the Flight 93 Memorial Campaign.

Another new item is a one-of-a-kind rose bush which you can purchase and grow in your yard. This is a rose variety that has been bred uniquely for this purpose, even registered at the American Rose Society as “Wilflt93″ / The 9/11 Flight 93 Rose”.

This is a genetic one of a kind rose with a dark red color and a white stripe on the inside of the petals.  The parents of the rose are “Mister Lincoln & Chrysler Imperial.”

Several nurseries offer the rose for sale, and $5 from every sale will go to the Flight 93 Memorial.

Wherever in the country you grow it, it can serve as a living memorial to those brave men and women who lost their live ten years ago.

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