Charitable Gift Giving

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

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Make a Kiva Microloan with a Groupon discount!

December 19th, 2010 · Developing Areas

For a limited time, Groupon is partnering with Kiva to offer Groupon-like discounts for microloans you give to entrepreneurs around the world. Specifically, for every $15 you donate, Groupon will add on another $10 to give you a total credit of $25, which you can donate to Kiva projects yourself or give to someone as a gift.

If you haven’t heard of Groupon, where have you been? 🙂 It’s the most popular local-deal site in the world. If you don’t have an account with them yet, you can sign up here (after you sign up, you’ll see links to the Kiva deal on the top and the lower right of the page).

If you haven’t heard of Kiva, it’s a great non-profit organization which helps you help people in poverty-striken areas around the world.

It’s not just a handout, though. Kiva takes money which you loan and works with microfinance institutions around the world, who in turn lend it to entrepreneurs in the poor areas who wish to start a business. Just a little money from you can help them change their lives and the lives of the people around them.

On Kiva’s site, you can read about the projects around the world that need funding. You can choose projects by gender, type of project, and whether it’s a group or an individual requesting funding. Each project has a very detailed description from the entrepreneur and statistics of what the entrepreneur does with the money.

The entrepreneurs are very carefully screened by Kiva and the microfinance institutions, so in the vast majority of cases (over 98%), the entrepreneur is able to pay the money back, and then it goes back to your account (which you can loan to another business, withdraw, or donate to Kiva). You don’t earn interest on the money, but the knowledge that your pocket change can change someone’s life is worth much more than that.

Your loans to entrepreneurs are not tax-deductible, although direct donations to Kiva are.

Here’s the link to the deal: http://www.groupon.com/deals/kiva-national-1

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Hurry! $200 of Software for $19 at AppSumo today!

December 17th, 2010 · Charity:Water, Developing Areas

groupon for softwareI had the pleasure of chatting with Noah at AppSumo today. If you haven’t heard of it, the best way to describe it is it’s like “Groupon for Software”. Each day, they offer a bundle of great software at an incredible price.

Today, they have an extra-special deal. For $19, you not only get $200 of software (and people really do pay that much for this caliber of software every day), 40% of the price also goes to Charity:Water, a fantastic organization which builds wells and provides fresh water to developing areas around the world. In today’s world, people die every day of water-borne diseases and illnesses, so what AppSumo (and you and I) do for them is critical.

Here’s the software you get in this bundle. Hurry, it’s only available for a few more hours, so get yours now!

PlayOn: This is a pretty cool program that lets you watch streaming Internet video on your TV (or even on your iPhone or iPad). Just install the software on a PC connected to the Internet, and you’ll be able to watch shows on your TV via a Wii, Xbox, PS3 which is also  connected to the Internet (or even an iPhone or iPad). I’ll be using it to watch new episodes of Conan on TBS 🙂 It’s a $20 value, which I believe gives you a full year of service.

Plants vs. Zombies: A ridiculously fun game from PopCap games that’s received huge accolades from critics. Retail value $20.

Dial2Do: a cool program for your phone that recognizes your voice and lets you do things like check email, send text messages, and post to Twitter all with your voice. The way it works, you dial a local phone number, say what you want to do, and hang up. Dial2Do will figure out what you want to do and do it! You gotta try it to believe it. Retail value of $25 for one year of service.

BatteryBar Pro: If you’re like me, you’re sick and tired of the Windows battery bar being so danged inaccurate. BatteryBar Pro touts itself as “the most accurate battery meter” giving you much more and much more reliable information about your battery. Retail value $10.

WinXDVD Ripper: This is software that lets you rip the contents of a DVD to video files on your hard drive. Retail value $40.

Defense Grid: The Awakening: A tower defense game that has had rave reviews. Retail value $10.

The Complete Android Guide: This is an “everything you wanted to know about Android” PDF guide. After skimming through it, most of the information is pretty basic. But still, a good read for the Android newbie. Retail value $10.

Boomerang: Here’s an interesting service which they describe as a “Snooze button for Outlook”. It lets you designate messages in your Outlook inbox to be moved out of your box (onto their service) and then “boomeranged” back to you at the right time. Not for everyone, but if your Inbox is filled with hundreds of items, you might want to consider it. Retail value $15.

Panda Cloud Antivirus Pro: If you don’t have virus protection on your PC, you absolutely need this. Much more economical that higher priced companies like McAfee. Retail value $30.

Emsisoft Online Armor Firewall: I consider myself a computer expert, and even MY computer was attacked by spyware last year without me realizing. This software will help you prevent that. Retail value $40.

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Christmas Music from Annie Lennox

December 16th, 2010 · Uncategorized

A Christmas Cornucopia is a beautiful album of Christmas music featuring the eight-time Brit Award winner. It features 11 traditional Christmas carols, along with a new original composition, Universal Child.

All of the income that Lennox earns from Universal Child will be paid to the Annie Lennox Foundation, the star’s own charity which raises money for charitable projects supporting and educating women and children in Africa with HIV/AIDS.

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Things Remembered Collectibles for Christmas 2010

December 13th, 2010 · Make-A-Wish Foundation, Things Remembered

It’s that time of year again! Things Remember has their collection of 2010 Make-A-Wish Gifts. Their collection includes a wonderful assortment of limited edition ornaments, snow globes, jewelry, and much more.

As always, you can get engraving on all these gifts, and feel good that Things Remembered will donate $2 of every purchase to the Make a Wish Foundation.

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Give a National Wildlife Foundation Christmas Gift

December 10th, 2010 · Animal Causes, Conservation, National Wildlife Federation

plush animals that donate to charityOn December 12, the National Wildlife Federation is offering a 30% off a Wild Animal Baby Bundle (1 year subscription, Plush & DVD). This is a great way to benefit a great cause, while teaching your kids about the importance of appreciating and taking care of God’s most vulnerable creatures.

The one-year subscription will keep on giving though the year, while the DVD and the plush is something that can be enjoyed right away. Plus, you’ll be teaching your kids a valuable lesson about giving.

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War Songs from the 1920s and 1930s.

December 7th, 2010 · Amazon


Most of us are familiar with war songs composed  during World War II and Vietnam. But Bloody War: Songs 1924-1939 is a fascinating collection that looks into war songs that were popular after the Civil War, Spanish-American War, and World War I.

A portion of all proceeds from the sale of this album will be donated to Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA.org). On this, the 69th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, it’s fascinating to see how that “day that will live in infamy” ended up affecting the whole world, including the songs that are sung during war.

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Charity Jewelry that Helps a Great Cause

November 29th, 2010 · Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation

Helzberg Diamonds has been kind enough to offer to give one complete set of the three pieces shown below to one lucky reader! To be eligible for the drawing, just click the Facebook “Like” button on the right side of this page and then post a comment here saying how you’ll be incorporating charitable giving in your Christmas and holiday gift giving this year. I’ll announce the winner shortly, along with the winner of the charity wine giveaway! (Sorry, no diamonds, but still a value of over $200 nonetheless!)

Some of my earliest and fondest memories are of Dorothy Hamill in the mid-1970’s skating perfect routine after perfect routine. I remember watching with my family as she accepted the gold medal for women’s singles in Innsbruck in 1976. Looking back, she was perhaps the last figure skater from a simpler time–before tire irons to the knees, tabloid headlines, and multi-million dollar contracts. She was just “American’s Sweetheart”.

In the years following her success as World Champion and Olympic Champion, Dorothy Hamill went on to skate professionally in shows and serve as a skating commentator and mentor to up-and-coming skaters. She’s achieved every plateau a figure skater can reach, having been inducted into the United States and the World Figure Skating Halls of Fame.

In 2008, she announced she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Happily, she has since made a full recovery.

Recently, a representative from Helzberg Diamonds contacted me to tell me about a new product line. It’s called the “Love, Help, & Hope” collection. It’s a collection of beautiful jewelry created by Dorothy Hamill herself after her own personal experience with the disease, and intended to bring awareness to breast cancer, which millions of woman still battle every day nationwide.

The collection is beautiful, and ranges in price from $79.99 for some elegant sterling silver pieces (pictured below) to $1999.99 for a stunning 1 carat total weight piece shaped like a heart with a ribbon inside. A portion of the proceeds from the “Love, Help & Hope” collection will be donated to Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

Helzberg sent me a few samples of their $79.99 sterling silver and rhodium pieces. There’s a necklace shaped like a charity ribbon with a rhodium band that’s a pinkish, golden color on a delicate 18 inch box chain:

charity ribbon necklace

There’s also a beautiful pair of sterling silver earrings with the same charity ribbon pattern:

charity ribbon earrings

And finally, a beautiful ring with the charity ribbon.

charity jewelry ring

The pieces were beautiful, brilliant, and solid. The designs were simple and elegant enough to complement just about any outfit. And of course, they serve as a powerful statement–that while breast cancer is still a scourge that affects 1 in 8 women nationwide, with early detection, regular mammograms, and the newest methods of treatment and support more and more women are beating it. But awareness and donations are critically needed more than ever.

You can view all the pieces (including the exquisite heart and diamond pendants) athttp://helzberg.com/dorothy. If you prefer, you can purchase any other item from Helzberg Diamonds, and add a $5 donation to your shopping cart from this page.

As Christmas shopping season gets underway, consider these pieces of jewelry. Not only are they stunningly beautiful, if they can remind one woman to get checked early, or remind one person of the importance of supporting charities looking for a cure for cancer, there aren’t many more meaningful gifts you can give.

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Oprah's Favorite Things 2010 that gives to Charity: DonorsChoose Card

November 23rd, 2010 · Drugstore.com

Oprah's Favorite Things in 2010Disclosure: We participate in the eBay Partner Network (EPN) meaning we may earn a commission when users click on links to eBay and make purchases. 

On her recent (and final) “Favorite Things” show, Oprah highlighted the 2010 list of her “favorite things”.

There was one item on the list where the proceeds went to charity. It’s the DonorsChoose.org Giving Card – This is a gift card to DonorsChoose, a fantastic charity where teachers post things they desperately need in their classroom to help educate kids, and anyone can donate towards the purchase of those items. I donated last year to help a classroom in Boston buy a computer. The teacher was so grateful for the donation, and I was thrilled a few weeks later to receive an envelope full of wonderful hand-written thank-you notes from the kids.

While the rest of the items don’t donate to charity, I figured I’d include them for the curious. If you find this gift list helpful for your gift giving, consider a generous donation to one of Oprah’s favorite causes, which can be found here.

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Authentic replica of John Lennon’s Guitar

November 20th, 2010 · Amazon, Education

This vintage cherry Epiphone EJ-160E Acoustic-Electric Guitar is a faithful reproduction of John’s famous J160E guitar, originally produced by Gibson.

Its Advanced Jumbo acoustic design has a great balanced tone and which will improve with age and play. As with the original, you can play it acoustically or as an electric guitar with a unique EJ-160E Mini-Humbucker.

A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the BMI Foundation for the John Lennon Music Scholarship fund, which supports music education.

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Cool Diaper Changing Bag

November 14th, 2010 · Amazon, Cancer

cool diaper bagLet’s face it–“diaper changing bags” and “cool” don’t usually go in the same sentence together. The company 2 Red Hens changes all that.

The pictured 2 Red Hens Rooster Diaper Bag is a stylish and versatile bag which holds a laptop, files, or books and has plenty of interior and exterior pockets for your keys and cell phone, not to mention room for sippy cups, snacks, toys, and included make-up bag included.

This model is for babies over 12 months, but you can find great bags for babies under 12 months when you browse the entire collection of cool diaper changing bags

Started by cervical cancer survivor Lori Burley, this Denver-based company will donate a portion of sales from each bag’s sales to cervical cancer research.

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