Megin’s post reminded me that every year I think, “This year I’ll finally make a donation to (organization name here) in So-and-so’s name.” Because a donation can be any amount that fits in your budget AND it’s going to do good in the world, unlike that $25 thingamabob that sits in somebody’s house until they sell it on eBay, put it on FreeCycle, or regift to somebody a few years from now. 
But then I think, “I don’t think So-and-so would appreciate that at all. Ahhh (hanging my head in sadness), maybe next year.”
For example, I would greatly enjoy making donations to Heifer International in honor of my sisters. I think this is a great organization that does wonderful things for the people of this planet. But I don’t know that either of my sisters really cares for what they do. So I end up getting them something that doesn’t really matter, or nothing at all.
Why am I writing this here? Because I am looking for your suggestions on making “donation made in your name” gifts that are appreciated by the recipients. Maybe you have an idea that I can actually use to do this this holiday season. 
Please, please, PLEASE tell me how you make gifts of donations that are actually appreciated by leaving a comment below. Can it be done? Would YOU appreciate this gift?
And to learn more about Heifer International, watch this video by Dan Zanes, who is a great musical performer for people of all ages. I love to dance with my kids around the house with his “zany” music playing.
[tags]Donation gifting, gift donations, Heifer International,Dan Zanes, FreeCycle, [/tags]
Photo courtesy of Toby Bradbury.
10 responses so far ↓
Megin Hatch // Nov 28, 2006 at 6:03 pm
(I’m still giggling about this title).
I think a safe approach is to spread the word that you would like to get a donation gift instead of exchanging tangible gifts. This starts the conversation (you know I’m all about the conversation) and you can get a feel for how others feel. Several times I have had the “this is crazy, lets not celebrate by exchanging gifts” conversation with friends. I am overwhelmed by “stuff” and I feel myself on the verge of the great purging abyss.
In my opinion, a donation to the right organization is just lovely.
Barb // Nov 28, 2006 at 8:09 pm
Okay, this gives me an idea. I spread the word that I’d like us all (my sisters and I) to make donations in each others’ names. They choose an organization that they particularly like, as well as an amount that fits in their budget.
This way, we all feel that we’re doing something good, that we’re not filling up each others’ homes with more “stuff”, and we learn more about each other by learning what’s important to them (from the organization they chose).
Any other ideas?
And I’m still giggling at the title, too. I hope somebody actually comes up with a way to regift a cow!
Megin Hatch // Nov 28, 2006 at 8:48 pm
You hit on another way to sweeten the deal on the zucchini post, too. I might extend that (depending on everyone’s location) to include a meal delivered to their door, or baked treats like the one Amy found.
Mr. Fabulous // Nov 28, 2006 at 10:41 pm
For the past ten years or so Mrs. Fab and I have not exchanged Christmas gifts, nor do we buy them for family members. Here is our reasoning:
1. As we don’t have any children, we can pretty much spend our money on things we want during the year, and as such what we used to end up doing was buying each other a bunch of stuff that we didn’t need and wouldn’t use, just to have stuff under the tree.
2. Our family members don’t need anything either.
So what we do is make donations in everyone’s name to the Ronald McDonald House here in Gainesville.
Now I don’t know if they appreciate it. No one has said they don’t. But we’re gonna keep doing it anyway. There are a lot of people out there going through very hard times and if anyone of them DID have something negative to say about, they better not let me hear them
Dave // Nov 29, 2006 at 8:22 pm
Thanks for sharing Heifer International with your readers. I’ve been working at Heifer for about a year and a half and really appreciate all the kindness we get from people like you.
We’ve just launched a BlogRaising program to let bloggers like you help us raise money by carrying the message to your readers. Just go to http://www.heifer.org/onlinecommunityfundraising to take a look.
Hope you are able to join in, and thanks again for what you have already said.
Beth // Nov 30, 2006 at 1:49 pm
I am on the board of the Sharing Foundation which supports children in Cambodia. I launched a blog raising campaign using a widget to support a young cambodian woman’s education.
http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2006/11/fundraising_wid_2.html
We’re over goal - but there are many other kids that the money will support.
Every year, I tell everyone to give the Sharing Foundation versus sending us a gift. We have too much stuff and I’d much rather support TSF.
We also make donations to Sharing Foundation in the name of family or friends. TSF sends a beautiful cambodian card to the recipient.
Since our children were adopted from Cambodia, it is appropriate for us to do this.
Beth // Nov 30, 2006 at 1:49 pm
P.S. You can also launch a blograising campaign use the widget over at chipin.com
That’s what I used. Very easy.
Dave // Nov 30, 2006 at 1:59 pm
Beth,
We looked at Chipin. They were unable to guaranty us functionality by the time we needed to be up and running. Also they wanted to take a percentage of the money raised, and we have an internal policy against paying anyone a percentage of funds raised. We were looking for a solution run by our organization so that we could assure our supporters that all funds were going directly to us. We probably could have bargained our way around their asking for a percentage though.
Chipin wanted to work with us on this, and I have no reason to think we couldn’t have worked something out if timing had been right. The real problem is that back in October they closed their site/business down for a period of time and they told us they couldn’t be sure to have their solution back up and running by the time we needed it.
Beth // Nov 30, 2006 at 3:57 pm
Dave,
Actually, according to ChipIn’s fee pages
http://blog.chipin.com/fees
“Currently, ChipIn does not charge any fees for organizers and contributors of events which raise less than $10,000. However, those with PayPal Premier or Business accounts may be subject to fees from PayPal upon withdrawing funds from ChipIn”
Seems like the only fees are the credit cardfees via PayPal. We’ve raised money online and the cost of credit card transactions is something we’ve never been able to get donated and it is minimal.
The Sharing Foundation is not a big institution. It’s small nonprofit and volunteer-run in the US which is mostly focused on fundraising activities. We raised about $300,000per year by volunteers who are all adoptive parents of Cambodian children (TSF does pay Cambodians to run programs in Cambodia, but not anyone in the US or a professional development office.)
So for us, a small nonprofit that does not have a development staffing, or the resources for an internal IT system - something like ChipIn is a great option.
I also agree with you re: your concerns about running a solution internally — we don’t have the resources to afford to run our internal solution - our budget is not large. But for parent -driven, grassroots fundraisers that don’t have money to puchase internal systems or hire fundraising staff - I think ChipIn and similiar services are a great tool.
Karen // Nov 29, 2007 at 12:11 pm
I agree with Megin Hatch–the only civilized way to get money donated as a gift is to ask for that as *your* gift. I’ll be doing that for my mom this year, for the third year I think. I give her a book or something else small but enjoyable, and a donation to Heifer International. It makes shopping for her more fun, b/c I can get her something I know she’ll like, and then stop. There’s no feeling like, “I only got one thing for Mom and I know she’s going to get me lots of things so I should get her at least three….” So you might be doing your sisters a favor if you asked for donations to Heifer as your gift.
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