In a bad economy it almost seems wrong to buy frivolous gifts. This is why many families are turning to charities. Instead of buying a useless present, many have decided to donate to a charity of their choice. However, there can be a few bumps in the road when using this gifting method. Here are a few tips to remember when making charitable donations in lieu of holiday gifts.

Discuss the Option

Chances are other members of your family feel the same way, but are unsure of how to approach the situation. Thanksgiving is a wonderful time to talk about it because the entire family is usually in one place. This gives you the chance to decide which charities you want to donate to, if any gifts will be purchased and how you’ll celebrate the holiday instead of opening gifts.
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Categories: Holidays

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In the UK, a new way to give to charity has been buzzing in the headlines, giving dangerously, that is.

We’re talking about “The Charity Challenge“, which is like a travel/tour operator with a unique twist – it gives people the chance to have a large-scale adventure holiday and at the same time, organizes it so that your holiday raises money for charity. Think of climbing Mount Everest or following an Inca trail in deepest Peru – terribly exciting and death-defying stuff, and you get to help others too along the way.

Actually, the unusual concept has been around for the past 15 years, established in 1991 by Erich Reich, who used to be a Director at Thomas Cook. He first got the idea when he was asked by a friend to help raise funds for a Children‘s Home in London. Reich rode for 400 kilometers in the Middle Easters desert and was inspired ever since.

His company, Classic Tours, has been booming ever since and leads as the world’s largest “Challenge Operator”. Just this year, the company will be taking over 3,000 participants on high-adrenalin challenges all over the world – from Brazil to Mongolia.

“Since 1991 we have helped approximately 120 charities raise something in the order of �32m, and that’s net, not gross.” Reich explains.

So how does it work?

Reich explains further:

“We then organise everything, from flights and accommodation to logistical support on the ground. On charity bike rides, for example, we have our own teams of mechanics. In the developing world, we even supply our own medics.

The nature of the challenge is very individual, some people have never camped before so for them it can be a challenge just to go to the loo behind a rock.”

Even though we’re a tour operator, no money comes directly to us from clients. We give the charity a cost per individual for the services on the ground and they pay us in turn,” says Reich.

Technorati Tags: charity challenge, charity event, charity tour, charity travel, charity trek

Categories: Campaigns, Charities, Fundraising, Holidays, Ideas | Tags: charity-challenge, charity-event, charity-tour, charity-travel, charity-trek

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While charity is certainly not only for the rich and famous, they do tend to focus on charitable activities, especially later on in life, don’t they? Take Bob Dylan, for example. He is an icon in the music world and despite the fact that his career has not been that productive in the recent years, he is still widely regarded as one of the best musicians in the world. And of course, his acts of charity are not to be disregarded as well.

His most recently publicized “do good” campaign is the Christmas album that he will be releasing, well, in the Christmas season. Some may scoff at this – we all know how Christmas albums tend to be so so. Then again, this is Bob Dylan we are talking about. More than that, this is the first ever Christmas album for the legendary songwriter.

The album is titled “Christmas in Your Heart,” and according to reports, it will include Christmas classics such as Here Comes Santa Claus, Winter Wonderland, and Little Drummer Boy. To make things a little more interesting, rumors have been going around that there might be a couple of original Christmas songs written by Dylan himself in the album.

All the sales from Christmas in Your Heart will go to charity. Proceeds from the US version of the album will all go to Feeding America. For the international version, Dylan is still holding talks with a charitable organization that also feeds the needy in the UK and another group that operates in developing countries.

So let’s buy a new Christmas album?

Categories: Charities, Holidays, News

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In exchange for not being able to donate much cash, expect feeding programs for the children in particular to be rampant. A lot of people would prefer to give food over money since as we all know that it is perhaps one, if not, the most important necessity that humans would need today.

Surprisingly, a lot of these people who embark on feeding programs are newly graduated students. For some schools, performing community service seems to rub off on them and is something that they bring even when they start their careers. It doesn’t really take much to organize a feeding program and with the help of some sponsors to whom they solicit in kind, feeding programs for kids can really be something worthwhile.

We all know that today, most charities would prefer cash, but given the situation where everyone is going crazy on where to get some funds, charities are lucky that there are still people who go out of their way to arrange such activities by going out of their usual routine and scheduling them near the holidays.

Sending out some help through solicitation letters is not hard to prepare. It is more of how to get these potential sponsors to help out the worthy cause. But seeing that it is really most of goods and not money, perhaps the whole effort would be worth it especially now that the holidays are here.

Categories: Activities, Children, Fundraising, Holidays | Tags: Charities, Children, christmas, feeding

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Talk about the main concern of most people today in the light of the economic catastrophe besetting the world, it is trying to stay alive and fighting hunger. There are a lot of organizations today that are independently trying to do their thing but apparently they cannot do it alone. One can just imagine their setup at the moment, staving off problems by trying to infuse funds as much as they can. But the fact of the matter remains that even the best efforts of these groups cannot really address the problems of hunger this Christmas on their own.

Stater Bros. Charities aims to do just that and give it a go. Stater Bros. Charities has reportedly released checks in the amount of $6,918.31 or more to assist 31 organizations. The move can be seen as minimal but the fact of the matter here is that each penny counts.

“It’s our hope that every person living in our community will be cared for this holiday season,” said Jack H. Brown, Chairman and CEO of Stater Bros. Markets. “Because of this, Stater Bros. Charities is honored to help in a larger way this year by making substantial contributions to the organizations that serve on the frontlines.”

So while people are worried of the outcome of the charity works this Christmas, perhaps it all starts from actual needs. For sure, other charity organization could do well to follow the lead of Stater Bros. Charity groups. It all depends on how they understand and assess the real needs of charities at least for the coming holidays.

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Categories: Activities, Charities, Holidays | Tags: christmas, donations, stater bros charities

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