Charitable Gift Giving

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

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Jewelry from the Silk Road in Afghanistan

March 25th, 2009 · Arts, National Geographic

Afghan Heart Necklace with PearlImagine you’re living two thousand years ago and travelling the Silk Road from Afghanistan to China. You come across a merchant selling the most exquisite and beautiful jewels you’ve ever seen, made of gold, carnelian, turquoise, and other materials.

The jewelry you see on this page is literally what you would have seen. And it carries a story much more fascinating than the jewelry you pick up at Walmart or Target.

In 1979, archaeologists in Afghanistian had a major excavation at Tillya-tepe (also known as the “Golden Mound”) near Shibargan, Afghanistan. They discovered more than 20,000 gold pieces from the Bactria period. The 18-inch Afghan Heart Necklace with Pearl necklace (and separate earrings) you see above is based on one of the designs, made of gold-finished pewter hearts with 4mm freshwater pearls.

Bactrian Rimmed Spangle Bracelet with Turquoise DiscsSimilarly, the Bactrian Rimmed Spangle Bracelet with Turquoise Discs you see to the right was based on a design discovered at Tillya-Tepe.

Proceeds from sales of this jewelry benefit the Afghan Museum, as well as the National Geographic Society’s ongoing cultural work.

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Compact Brush and Mirror from Sephora

March 19th, 2009 · Breast Cancer, Sephora

Know someone who is always on the go? Sephora sells this affordable Pop-Up Travel Compact which contains both a mirror and a pop-up brush. It’s great when travelling or at work to do quick touch-up makeup projects.

The brush ingeniously pops up when you press your thumb against the bottom of the compact.

$1 from the sale of each brush will be donated to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

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Carrie Underwood "Home Sweet Home" (American Idol Farewell Song) that helps Animals

March 16th, 2009 · Amazon, Animal Causes

carrie underwood american idol farewell song home sweet homeThis past week on American Idol, Carrie Underwood released her new single Home Sweet Home, a cover of Motley Crue’s hit song. This is the farewell song that performers voted off the show will hear this season as they say goodbye.

The song was just released as a single, available on iTunes, with some of the proceeds going to benefit Ms. Underwood’s favorite charity, the Humane Society of the United States.

In Ms. Underwood’s own words “I’ve always loved this song, and besides being very fitting for `Idol,’ to me, the title is also very fitting with animal rescue and finding animals their own homes.”

Download a great song and help a great cause.

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Get 30% off at the Gap and 5% go to great charities – March 12-15 2009 Only

March 13th, 2009 · Gap

Here’s a great deal if you’ll be shopping at the Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic and their outlet stores. (This is good in stores only, not online).

During this Friends and Family Event, if you present this coupon at the counter, you’ll get a whopping 30% off your total purchase. Just click on this link, print out the page and you can use this as often as you like at as many stores as you like.

http://www.gapgiveandget.com/

A bonus is that in addition to you saving 30%, 5% of the proceeds will go to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Teach For America, or Feeding America. But hurry! You have until Sunday March 15th to print and use the coupon!

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Lip Balm that Helps Pug Rescue

March 10th, 2009 · Animal Causes, Sephora

Sephora sells this  theBalm to the Rescue 0.25 oz lip balm, from TheBalm.

It’s a lip balm made from all natural ingredients of jojoba and shea butter that’s infused with vitamins and great for your lips. There are no animal bi-products, no synthetic dies or fragrances or parabens, sulfates, or phtalates (whatever those are).

What’s also special about this is that all net proceeds are donated to Pug Rescue.

Everyone can recognize the distinctive look of a pug. Unfortunately, many people buy this breed of dog, and then realize that as cute as it is, it’s a dog that often needs a lot of veterinary care and often can’t deal with the rough treatment of a family with young kids. Too often, those dogs are abandoned or kept in horrible conditions. Pug Rescue is a wonderful organization that helps find loving homes for pugs.

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Delicious Cookies that benefit Make-a-Wish Foundation

March 7th, 2009 · Cheryl&Co., Make-A-Wish Foundation


iconiconHave you ever had a Cheryl&Co. cookie? Cheryl&Co. is a company based in Ohio which makes the most amazingly delicious cookies you can get outside of home-made. They come individually wrapped, and they really do taste and feel just like little birthday cakes, especially the frosted ones (the orange, lemon, and lime frosted ones in this gift are worth breaking any diet for). They’re head and shoulders better than what you’d find in your local supermarket, or even companies like Mrs. Fields. The company was really founded by someone named Cheryl, using a recipe from her grandmother.

These cookies, the Make-A-Wish Springtime Favorites
icon would make a great gift even if some of the proceeds didn’t go to help charity. But in this case, around 20% goes to the Make-a-Wish Foundation. Their gifts come impeccably packaged in a sturdy gift box, a beautiful bow, and a gift card that tells the recipient that you were thinking of them and of kids in need of a smile.

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Coffee from the Movie Watchmen

March 4th, 2009 · Uncategorized


This is an interesting product, in that it doesn’t exist. It’s actually a part of the universe of the movie “Watchmen”, set to open two days from now on (as you see in the billboards) 03.06.09.

The film will be a stylized adaptation of the graphic novel of the same name, and since director Zach Snyder (of “300” fame) directed it, you can be sure it’ll be stylized. This is no run-of-the-mill product placement, it’s a special prop designed especially for the film.

Specifically, there’s a moment in the movie where two people save a group from a tenement fire. Once the survivors are brought to safety, they’re served coffee from an airplane-style coffee maker. The coffee they brew is Veidt Enterprise’s Nite Owl Dark Roast in the distinctive tin you see, one side which is designed to belong right in the movie universe.

In actuality, the coffee is courtesy of the Organic Coffee Cartel, which happens to be the company of Clay Enos, a unit photographer on the movie. It is 100% organic specialty coffee which tastes much better and fresher than coffee you find in the supermarket. And with only 10,000 tins being produced, this is bound to be a unique and sought-after collectiable by movie and coffee fans alike. As with all coffee sold by the Organic Coffee Cartel, most of the profits go back to benefitting the non-profit Let’s Talk Coffee event for improving supply chain education and sustainable coffee production practices.

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Coins from Iraq that help families of wounded soldiers

March 1st, 2009 · Veterans and Military

Whatever your view of the war in Iraq, there are two things that everyone can agree on. First, that there are those in the world whose sworn purpose is to put an end to America and the freedom and way of life we take for granted. And second, the bravery and sacrifice of the men and women who defend us against them.

Products for Good produces a coin set with a very interesting history. The coins are brilliant uncirculated Iraqi Fils that Sadaam Hussein decommissioned in the 1990s. They were discovered by US and British coalition soldiers in 2003.

The soldiers came up with a pretty neat plan. While most Iraqi currency was being destroyed, they requested and were granted permission to sell these coins, with all proceeds going to rebuild an orphanage in Basra which had been destroyed during the Sadaam Hussein regime.

Products For Good eventually came into possession of these coins and decided to sell the coins in collectible shadowboxes, with 20% of proceeds going to help charities which support wounded soldiers and their families.

One other way this company “gives back” is that rather than using foreign labor to assemble the shadowboxes, it uses the Cleveland Vocational Industries, a facility which provides work opportunities for mentally and physically challenged individuals with barriers to entry into the traditional workforce.

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2009 Doral Golf Championship Tickets that Help Charity

February 26th, 2009 · Children's Charities

tickets fore charityIf you know a fan of golf, treat them to a trip to the 2009 World Golf Championships-CA Championship and you’ll be helping a great cause.  

The TICKETS Fore CHARITY program is a way to buy tickets to the Golf Championships in Miami, while at the same time helping needy causes. 75 percent of your ticket cost will benefit a non-profit you choose, with the remaining 25 percent earmarked for The First Tee, which provides young people of all backgrounds an opportunity to develop life-enhancing values such as confidence, perseverance and judgment through golf and character education.

The 2009 Championships are from March 9 to March 15 at the famous “Blue Monster” golf course at the Doral Golf Resort & Spa. The top 75 golfers in the world, including Camilo Villegas, Sergio Garcia, Phil Mickelson and Anthony Kim (as of this post, Tiger Woods is still deciding).

Read more about it at wgcca.com/tfc

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National Pancake Day

February 23rd, 2009 · Children's Charities, Children's Miracle Network

pancake dayMardi Gras is tomorrow (February 24). The name Mardi Gras, of course, is French and translates to “Fat Tuesday”. It’s the day before Ash Wednesday when Lent begins.

In Ireland and the UK, the day was known as “Pancake Day”. Why? It’s because rules prohibited the eating of dairy products and rich foods during Lent, so people would make pancakes to use up all the eggs, milk, butter, and sugar they had in the house.

If you stop into an IHOP on February 24th, 2009 from 7 AM to 10 PM, they’ll treat you to a free short stack of buttermilk pancakes in celebration of Pancake Day. During this day, they collect donations that go to children’s hospitals. They’ve been doing this since 2006 and has raised nearly two million dollars. Their goal for 2009 is to raise $1 million for the Children’s Miracle Network.

 Take someone to an IHOP and enjoy a centuries-old tradition while helping kids who need your help.

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