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.

Make Sure Everyone Agrees

You need to make sure everyone is on board or someone might get her feelings hurt. If some people want to exchange gifts, even small ones, put a limit on what can be bought and let them know upfront if you don’t want any gifts. Some people have a hard time accepting that you want the money they would spend on your gift donated to charity.

Purchase Gifts for Children

The holidays are best enjoyed by children and they aren’t going to understand when you hand them a piece of paper about a charitable donation in their honor. Kids need gifts. If you still want to donate to a charity in their honor, shop at charitable thrift stores for new toys or clothing or adopt a puppy from a local shelter rather than heading to the pet store.

Have Something to Show for the Donation

A lot of charities give certificates or a small gift in exchange for a charitable donation. For example, it may be a stuffed polar bear for donating to a wildlife fund or a t-shirt for donating to a humane society. Regardless of what the gift is, be sure to give this to the person you made the donation in honor of.

Donating to charities is a wonderful way to spread the cheer, but you need to make sure everyone agrees. More importantly, you need to understand that children don’t understand charitable donations and will feel disappointed if they don’t have presents to open. If done properly though, charitable donations will leave the entire family feeling good about doing something for those in need.

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 Ł32m, 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

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?

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.

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.

Source

As far as the various institutions are concerned, the best they can do is say “Thank You”. It is apparent that most of the cash donations comprise the majority of their operations expenses such as light and water expenses but as far as this season of giving is concerned, it certainly doesn’t look bright. People are having a hard time and the next best thing is to try and help out the people in need with alternative basic necessities which are sure to be appreciated.

Big companies are doing the same thing. Although some of them have still pledged giving various contribution based on their actual sales made from operations, the hard times that they are also experiencing is expected to take its toll. The collections they may get from pledged donations to the needy may not be as large as before but for sure, there will still be inflows as far as cash needs are concerned.

This is only temporary. Who knows if next year will tell a different story? All of us just have to bear with the hard times we are facing and no one is spared, not even the charitable organizations in need today.

There are also some groups that produce seasonal cards to which each card sold would be given to charity. Other than a good cause, one may be surprised at the quality of these cards or the messages that come with them. Christmas is all about giving but it is also about remembering. Certainly, a Christmas card may seem to be cheaper to give but like everything else in acts of generosity, it is really the thought that counts.

Word of this spread and some parents decided that they would do the same. Instead of spending a fortune on cards that would end up in the bin, we sent an email with Christmas greetings and news to friends and family and gave the cash to the same charity.

This year staff have suggested that the children do not give their friends individual Christmas cards, but that each class makes a large card that they all agree on a message for, sign and read out in assembly. Parents are then asked to donate the money they have saved by not buying the cards.

Source

So if you are thinking of a good gift to give this holiday season, consider these products for a good cause. They may not seem much as far as cost is concerned, but it is really about making a person happy and the cause to which it was meant to help.

Much of these kids are street children who have been abandoned or left for granted by their supposed parents. Most of them aren’t left with much choice as they are living in orphanages with the hope that one good Samaritan would come their way and perhaps give them a home. While many are wondering how to runaway from home, there are children looking for one. If only it was that simple to trade places then perhaps kids of today will realize the value of having a family and a home.

Anyway, for Christmas, you have to wonder what good deed to do. Some are constrained in the orphanages while others are wandering in the streets. For sure, it is not wise to give money as they may not even know how to spend and use it wisely. Why not food or even hold charitable events such as feeding and gift giving? For sure this would make the kids happy since all they are really looking for is to belong and live like a normal child. Have you ever given it any thought?

Upon reaching the retiring age, it has been common practice for such people to seek shelter from government run homes for relief. Some may not even have anyone to lean on, hence the reason why programs to show just appreciation through comfort and gifts for chosen periods in a year are given. Attention and company alone are big factors to help the psychological needs of such people, supposedly heroes who have risked lives in protecting the honor of their nation and families.

Technorati Tags: war veterans, war heroes, elderly

For people who happen to live in the shabby places such as dumps and lesser presentable places of the world, sharing something in the form of clothes, goods or throwing a small pot luck type of party for them more than fattens the human heart.

Valentines Day is indeed the day of the hearts. But people should note that hearts day is not limited to couples who love one another. Love can be approached in different aspects but it is more on giving attention on what a person is able to share that is important in most cases.