Making a difference is on everyone's mind, particularly amidst the COVID-19 crisis. Sprinkle festive cheer this holiday with gifts that give back.
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It's that time of year to give and receive gifts. Isn't it lovely when you can find a holiday gift that goes above and beyond? Go the extra mile this holiday season to choose a gift that will benefit more than the person you’re gifting. Pass your love beyond the receiver to support a worthy cause! We've picked some of our absolute favorites that give back this holiday season, from donating meals to empowering females in developing nations.
Read on to discover the ethical gifts that contribute meaningfully to social causes.
The Future is Female Pin
What better gift for your friends and families than this stunning and empowering pin. Every item of Bird+Stone is made primarily from recycled materials. The brand contributes a 10% share of the proceeds to NYC Planned Parenthood, a non-profit organization supporting reproductive and sexual health services across the United States.
Handmade Sisal Baskets
These lovely baskets are handcrafted by Zimbabwean women who look after orphans battling HIV/AIDS in rural Zimbabwe. 100% profit of every purchase goes toward paying the school bills for these children.
100% Human collection
Everlane’s 100% Human collection brings buyers together to support a good cause. The brand contributes 100% of sales revenues from the collection to Feeding America and its COVID-19 Response Fund to help people affected by the pandemic.
Pride Ankle & Quarter Sock 4-Pack
Bombas donates a pair of socks for every purchase to homeless shelters in the United States. When you buy this 4-pack sock, you'll also be contributing four pairs of creatively crafted socks to an organization that assists the homeless from the LGBTQ+ community.
The Peace Doll
This cute doll is one of the many giving back gifts from Kind Culture Co., and the perfect gift for the little ones that add color into your life. The gift kit includes bright wooden tokens with distinctive messages encouraging kindness, compassion, and thankfulness to encourage kids to do and be good. It also comes with a name certificate tag so the youngster can personalize their doll while simultaneously committing to the aim of kindness. For every kit purchased, the brand supports children in need through educational charity.
What Makes You Happy Scarf
Obakki uses the proceeds of ‘what makes you happy’ scarf to provide food, education, shelter, and medical care to the children of St. Valentines Orphanage in Cameroon.
Solidarity Candle
L’Occitane helps UNICEF fight childhood blindness in impoverished nations by donating 100% of the revenues from this candle. Every candle sold delivers Vitamin A to four youngsters for an entire year. You won't just be gifting a candle scented with dreamy vanilla fragrance to a loved one, but a child somewhere around the world will also get that vital vitamin for the next year (which makes it more the reason to buy the candle).
UNICEF Dreams Of The Future Crayon Pendant Necklace Set
The lovely trinket contains the slogan "supporting young voices," which symbolizes the passion, ambition, innocence, and dreams of the youngsters. Every purchase of this necklace donates a $20 donation to UNICEF's worldwide programs.
Executive Work Tote Bag
This highly functional tote from Terra Thread will lift anyone’s spirit any day of the week. The tote provides plenty of room for all your belongings, has classic minimalist charm, and is simple to clean. Ethically crafted with certified organic cotton, every purchase supports Feeding America in ending hunger poverty by providing meals to the needy.
The Citizenry Tizu Pillow
This decorative accent pillow is made of 100% cotton and contains gorgeous detailed stitching, which is handwoven by talented women from Nagaland, India. Each pillow is handcrafted in a fair trade atmosphere. Citizenry supports the artisan partners by donating 10% of every product purchased.
How Do You Know What You're Buying Is Making A Difference?
If a company uses ambiguous language, a plain statement like “we donate to charity” without naming specific organizations or donation amounts, it may be possible your money is not going to a cause that matters. So, do your research about the item, find out which charity it supports and how much of the money or other donation is going to the charity. A legit donation by a brand should have the organization’s names and share of donation listed on their official website.
Let Your Holiday Shopping Make A Positive Impact This Year
Holiday shopping is a large part of our lives. According to statistics, Americans are expected to spend between $843.4 and $859 billion for 2021 holiday shopping.
Whether you're buying a gift for your significant other, children, relatives, friends, or even colleagues, investing your time and money for buying gifts shows you care, love, and value them. What truly signifies is the message it conveys, the emotions it evokes, and the relationship it strengthens. While the gift acts as the medium, in the end, it is the message the fight carries— you love them. So, it’s not hard to see why holiday shopping is important to many people. But what if you can also impact someone else’s life through the same gift? Wouldn’t it be an amazing and truly loving act to shop for a cause?
Shopping For A Cause
Shopping for a cause is the act of buying the product to help a nonprofit or charity organization. It gives people the chance to help make a difference through the products they are already buying. Proceeds from shopping fundraisers come from the shops where supporters purchase, allowing nonprofits to support social causes.
Quick Guide On How To Shop For A Cause This Holiday Season:
Things are rapidly changing and shopping for a good cause is also constantly evolving. You want to look out for new and upcoming purchasing programs at your favorite brands and NGOs. The internet is also a great place to start— many blogs and articles have a compilation of ethical gifts (like we did above) to help save your ‘research time’. That said, here are some quick pointers to how you can make an impact this holiday through the gifts you buy.
Shop From Brands That Give Back To The Community
Purchasing from brands that give back is one approach to shop for a good cause. Reach out to the brands and find out if they’re participating in a philanthropic mission. If they are not— leave your feedback. As a consumer, you must utilize your purchasing power to hold brands accountable for their corporate social responsibility.
Find out the organizations that give back to causes you care about practice transparency— are they truly fulfilling their donation commitments? For example, if you were to buy Terra Thread’s ethical cosmetic bags, you'd look into our philanthropic initiatives to determine what our principles are and whether your purchase would help a good cause. You will learn about our support towards Feeding America’s end hunger program— we help provide meal donations for every product purchased from Terra Thread. The same applies to other bands and their philanthropic mission you’d like to support. In case you are unfamiliar with the local charity, research and decide if it’s the cause you’d like to stand for.
Contributing to humanitarian organizations is always a wonderful idea. The only challenge (slight) you may face is the ‘research’ part and not being able to choose the exact charity you wish for your transactions to help. Even yet, buying from brands that give back is a conscientious way to spend your money. Plus, buying gifts that give back needs no extra work from your end if it already has a donating program.
Buy Directly From Charity or Nonprofit Organizations
Aside from brands, certain charities and nonprofits themselves have online stores where they sell products linked to their mission. You can purchase them online, showing your support directly to the organization instead of paying it forward. The revenues from these transactions go directly to the charitable organization. Meaning, if you buy from them, your money will go to the cause you're interested in supporting. You may, however, face item limitations given that nonprofit and charity gift shops are not your mainstream gift stores. If you're looking for a certain item, it's doubtful that you'll find it. This implies that while you can rely on these stores for high-quality items, you'll have to break from your regular shopping pattern to shop there. And why not? It’s not every day we get to give back to the world—the holiday season should be the exception, plus it is the season of giving!
Final Thoughts
Brands, now and then, team up with a nonprofit to create a collection of items designed particularly to support the latter. When you purchase one of these items, a portion of your purchase is donated to the associated cause. However, before you buy the items, verify if the brand is truly giving a percentage of the proceeds to the nonprofit organization. You can also click here to learn how to avoid charity fraud. Scam donations are not a new thing, and you want to be as informed as possible to avoid fraudulent organizations who use a nonprofit's name to get publicity without making significant donations.
Shop for gifts that give back— make your 2021 holidays count!
