Choose Gifts that Give Back and Make Your Gift Count Twice

By on December 9, 2009 in Uncategorized

Mostly we give out of love, sometimes from a place of obligation. Giving liberates the soul of the giver, believes Maya Angelou, and it is true; there is delight in giving. This holiday season your gifts can make a double impact by directly benefitting an individual or cause. With an eye to buy less and an awareness of the ills and circumstances that individuals face at home and afar, our choices carry more thought and more care.

iGiveTwice is an online campaign that encourages people to choose gifts that have a social or environmental benefit, and shows recommended products. Powered by Twitter, iGiveTwice aims to penetrate the crowded psyches of holiday shoppers to inspire purchasing with a purpose. Ethically sourced, naturally grown, fair-wage and fair-trade, and portions of sales donated, are all practices that benefit an individual, cause or environment.

As you meander through stores and e-commerce sites this December, remember the dual powers your purchases have—to please and to make an impact. Collectively, our choices can provide clean drinking water to whole villages, rehabilitate the Amazon rainforest, provide dinner and clothing to a family in Toledo and eradicate malaria.

It feels good to do good and it’s becoming easier than ever to do it routinely through the yogurt, paper, baking flour and holiday gifts that we buy.

Take the commitment and encourage others to have an impact by visiting iGiveTwice.com and tweeting your decision to give twice this year. 

Recently recommended products on iGiveTwice:

  • Naumes Fruit Gifts donates 1 pound of fresh fruit to a food bank for every pound you purchase.  Now your gifts of Bosc or Comice pears can be enjoyed twice.
     

  • Timbuk2’s (PRODUCT) RED special edition optic print messenger bag. 5% of sales from the product are donated to the Global Fund to fight AIDS.
     

  • ONEHOPE wine donates 50% of profits to AIDS, Autism, Breast Cancer, Troops or the Planet based on the varietal purchased. $250,000 has been given to more than 150 charities.
     

  • Kate Spade Colorblock Mittens are handmade by Bosnia war survivors through a partnership with Women for Women International.
     

  • Kiehl’s KAWS Crème de Corps Ltd. Edt.
    Designed by graffiti artist KAWS, 100% of net profits from the product line benefit pediatric arts non-profit RxART.
     

 

Resources for Gifts that give back:

 

 

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About olivia

Olivia Kuhn-Lloyd believes in the reach of business to effect real social change. She works with companies who are forging a new paradigm of cause capitalism and writes about the power of consumer choice at Cause+Capitalism. She managed international trade advocacy with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C., working with both foreign ambassadors and national business owners to tell their stories. She left the Chamber to spend a year in the Marshall Islands as a volunteer teacher and journalist. When she returned to the States, she worked with nonprofits and grantmakers in Los Angeles on program development, capital campaigns and executive coaching. Olivia now works with businesses to integrate social cause at a fundamental level and build community around the product or service. She lives in Santa Monica, CA.
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One Response to Choose Gifts that Give Back and Make Your Gift Count Twice

  1. yumi December 9, 2009 at 10:41 am #

    This is a great list of gifts that give twice. Thanks for giving inspiration to my yet-to-be-written Christmas shopping list!