Suggestions on unique charity to donate to as a Christmas gift?

[BadgerGirl84]

Give Kids The World

 

[Ephany]

http://www.heifer.org/what-you-can-do/holidays/index.html

Unusual gifts, a flock of chicks, goats....

If you prefer domestic

4H or Future Farmers of America (FFA)
both are wonderful organizations for kids and teens

I give to Heifer International and honestly, the sheer amount of mailings they send is almost enough to make me change my mind. I donate because I think your cause is worthwhile, NOT to receive more solicitations weekly asking me to donate more. I also give to Days for Girls (http://www.daysforgirls.org/) and so far I've been much happier with their communications.

 

[Tuffcookie]

I give to our local Visiting Nurse Hospice at Christmas time. They provide an invaluable service!

TC

 

[RangerPooh]

What about any local youth groups in your area? Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Boys and Girls Clubs? In our community we have an Alternatives to Violence agency that assists women and children with clothing and housing. They are always in need of donations. The local food banks is another options. Cash or a gift card to purchase items is always appreciated to stock up on items that are not donated.

 

[gwynne]

I give to Heifer International and honestly, the sheer amount of mailings they send is almost enough to make me change my mind. I donate because I think your cause is worthwhile, NOT to receive more solicitations weekly asking me to donate more. I also give to Days for Girls (http://www.daysforgirls.org/) and so far I've been much happier with their communications.

Have you considered emailing or calling them and letting them know this?

 

[clori]

Childrensalopeciaproject.org Its a group which works to provide support to help with self esteem for children who have lost their hair from alopecia. Alopecia is an autoimmune disorder that causes hair loss. Children may have patches of hairloss or total hairloss of their head or even the entire body. Some kids gets teases/bullied/no friends because of it. The Childrensalopeciaproject (CAP) tries to build self esteem, raise awareness, and provide support to kids who have any form of hairloss.

 

[msjprincess]

http://donate.worldvision.org/ways-to-give/gift-catalog?campaign=1136161

 

[AppleDumpling]

A friend told me about TisBest Philanthropy. It is basically a charity gift card, where the recipient chooses the charity they wish to donate to. If this doesn't interest you, you can at least look at their website, tisbest.org, and get some ideas from their list of participating charities from many different categories.

 

[cijay]

That's what we do for gifts - give to charities. We give to something that the person is interested in. When my uncle passed away, we gave a donation to the Railway Museum because he loved trains. Mum was super-involved with inner city missions and the church so a lot of donations when to them. For my dad WOULD have been heart and stroke foundation but he wasn't a nice enough person for anyone to do anything for LOL. For gifts for me, I would choose an animal shelter or MADD. So maybe check with your mum.

 

[bsblady01]

why not see if there is a family at church that is down on there luck and take them shopping with your mom and have them pick out gifts for there kids , and buy the fixings for a holiday meal.

if you donate to something online check it out before you send any money there are a lot of fakes during the holiday season.

 

[bsblady01]

Your local animal shelter is always a great option, many have amazon wish lists too if you don't want to give cash!

love that idea

 

[aristocatz]

http://www.donorschoose.org/

From the website:
How does it work?
DonorsChoose.org is an online charity that makes it easy for anyone to help students in need. Public school teachers from every corner of America post classroom project requests on our site, and you can give any amount to the project that most inspires you.

When a project reaches its funding goal, we ship the materials to the school. You'll get photos of the project taking place, a letter from the teacher, and insight into how every dollar was spent. Give over $50 and you'll also receive hand-written thank-yous from the students.

THIS. Choose an inner city public school-general education or special ed. Their classroom funding is often slim to none & they will be very grateful.