Alternative Gifts: Kiva

I hope the recent endorsements of Oprah, and the Today Show, and yes, even Bill Clinton will spur lots of gift certificates to Kiva.org this year. Here's a little blurb from Oprah's site about how the organization works:

"A revolutionary idea has made it possible for anyone to help people in Third World countries via the Internet—and it can be addictive! Visitors to Kiva.org can read the story of someone who needs help starting a small business. For as little as $25, they can choose a loan to partially finance—and help lift someone out of poverty in the process. Kiva's thousands of success stories include a peanut butter stand in Uganda, carpet weavers in Afghanistan and a fruit vendor in Vietnam."

And here are the details from the Kiva website. If you're looking for a last minute gift idea, this is a great one.

Kiva.org was born of the following beliefs:

• People are by nature generous, and will help others if given the opportunity to do so in a transparent, accountable way.
• The poor are highly motivated and can be very successful when given an opportunity.
• By connecting people we can create relationships which exceed beyond financial transactions, and build a global community expressing support and encouragement of one another.

Kiva.org promotes:

• Dignity: Person-to person lending encourages partnership relationships as opposed to benefactor relationships. Partnership relationships are characterized by mutual dignity and respect.
• Accountability: Loans encourage more accountability than donations where repayment is not expected.
• Transparency: The Kiva.org website is an open platform where communication can flow freely between the developing and developed worlds.

Step 1: Choose a business

The businesses on our site are always changing. They are being uploaded by our microfinance partners around the world. You can find a new business on the home page or on the Businesses 'In Need' page.

Step 2: Make a loan

When you have selected a business, you can make a loan using your credit card (via PayPal). You can loan as little as $25 at a time. Checking out is easy and safe because of PayPal.

Step 3: Receive journals and payments

Periodically, you will hear back from the business you sponsor. Partner representatives (often loan officers) write directly to the website to keep you informed on the progress of the business. If you choose, you can receive these via email.

Step 4: Withdraw or re-loan

When your Kiva loan is repaid, you can choose to withdraw your funds or re-loan to a new business.

Alternative Gifts: Gifts that Give Back

This is a very short list of places where you can buy gifts that help someone else. There are many more. If you have a particular favorite, please feel free to post it here. Happy shopping!

Nothing But Nets: $10 of every hat & t-shirt purchase will send a mosquito net to Africa to help fight malaria.

UNICEF: Proceeds from sweet gifts like "My Little Monkey" support "child survival, protection, and development worldwide through education, advocacy, and fund raising." I'm a big fan of the I Never Forget a Face! Matching Game ($13.00).

DonorsChoose.org: This is like a grown-up, education-oriented version of MarkMakers. Teachers from underfunded public schools submit proposals for things they need (everything from a rug for a reading corner and wet erase markers to projectors and entire science labs). You can buy gift certificates for your friends, and they can choose which project(s) they want to fund. Proposals are searchable by total cost, the school's level of poverty, subject matter, and state. You may choose to fund all or part of a project.

Good Magazine: 100% of every subscription purchased goes to one of 12 organizations (like Room to Read, NRDC, and Teach for America)...you choose where your money goes.

Fair Trade goods: Fair Trade helps provide fair pay and regular work to artisans from around the world. Beyond that, buying Fair Trade is a great way to find unique, handcrafted gifts for your friends and family.

There are so many ways to find gifts that give back in personal, innovative ways. Check local arts organizations in your area. My friend Kate's modern dance collective Live Animals, for instance, just sent out an email to their subscribers offering a gift pack of homemade chocolate turtles (made lovingly by the grandmother of one of the dancers!) for a $25 donation. I will definitely be picking up a box or two of those for some chocolate lovers I know!

Alternative Gifts: MarkMakers

We spent last Christmas with some friends, and when their 8 year old son opened a card from an aunt and exclaimed, "Cool!" I expected there to be cash or some kind of toy store gift certificate inside.

Well, there was a gift certificate, but it was not your run-of-the-mill gift, and it was very, very cool. So cool that I've been waiting an entire year for the Alternative Gifts series to come around again so I could blog about it.

Markmakers.org is "A Place for Young People Making a Difference." Here's how it works:

1. You buy a Markmakers card (for any amount, $10 minimum) for the young person of your choice.

2. That young person can then go to the Markmakers online store and spend the cash on any number of things inside.

The store is visually appealing and fun to explore. You can browse different sections of the store to learn about the items you are about to purchase. Here is just a tiny sampling of the things your Markmakers card can do:

• Purchase Vaccines to Immunize Children Against the Six Major Childhood Diseases
• Provide Meals To Elderly, Disabled & Homebound Americans
• Help Purchase a Cow or Goat To Provide Sustenance for a Nomadic Kenyan Family
• Help Build Playrooms for Hospitalized Children
• Help Fund the Cost of Organ Transplants For Young People
• Help Rescue and Rehabilitate Seals, Dolphins, Sea Otters & Whales
• Provide Shelter & Care For Homeless and Abandoned Animals
• Help Protect Threatened Coral Reefs
• Help Repair and Provide Refurbished Musical Instruments to Kids in Need
• Help Encourage a Worldwide Ban on Land Mines
  

This is such a great stocking stuffer or gift for an important young person in your life. What I love most about this is that it puts the power in the hands of the child. *They* get to decide what is important to them, and how *they* want to make a difference in the world. And they can begin to believe what J. R. R. Tolkien wrote in The Lord of the Rings:

"Even the smallest person can change the course of the future."

100% of your donation will go to the organizations the child chooses. Here is the complete list from the Markmakers site:

The name of the organization providing the relevant goods or services is indicated in each product description. The mix of organizations is designed to appeal to the broad range of interests and concerns on the minds of young people today. The organizations that receive funding do not pay to be here. They are as follows:

Doctors Without Borders

Earth Force
First Book
Grameen Foundation
Heifer Project International
Human Rights Watch
Institute for Transportation & Development Policy
International Campaign To Ban Landmines
International Rescue Committee
Jumpstart
Marine Mammal Rescue Center
Meals on Wheels
Miracle Flights for Kids
Mr. Hollands Opus Foundation
Nomadic Kenyan Children's Educational Fund
Operation Smile
One Laptop Per Child
Performing Animals Welfare Society
Playpumps International
Save the Children
Seeds of Peace
Seva Foundation
Solar Cookers International
Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation
Surfrider Foundation USA
The Hole In The Wall Gang Camp
The Hunger Project
The Nature Conservancy
The Wilderness Society
Trees For Life
United States Fund for UNICEF
Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (North America)
World Learning
World Wildlife Federation

Alternative Gifts: Last Minute Ideas

Looking for some last-minute ideas on socially concious gifts?

Check out:

Seth Godin's review of Fair Trade Sports

My November Heifer Project review: Chickens are a real value!

Nothing But Nets Blog (You may need to scroll down a bit to see the page)

Alternative Gifts: A Night Out + Tip for Business Owners

Two alternative giving tips today!

A Night Out
In this fast paced, mile a minute world, and especially during the holiday season when we're running around even faster than usual, I figure there is one thing in common on lots of grown-up lists to Santa: free babysitting!

This is a simple, inexpensive, effective way to brighten someone's holiday season. Offer a night of free babysitting to the single mom next door, or to your brother with 5 kids, or your friend who always overbooks herself to the nth degree. Offer a night off...you'll take the kids so your friend can go to dinner & a movie, or catch up on holiday shopping, go to that swanky adults-only party she's been dying to go to, or just stay at home on the couch and watch a football game in peace and quiet. Don't understimate the power of a few hours of down time...it can make a huge difference in a hectic week!

For Small Business Owners
The holiday season is a great opportunity to use some of your business's time and resources to give a gift to your community this season. Here's a great example of how Body Symmetry, a pilates studio here in Maine, is giving back to the community (both in donating a charity & offering public classes):

Salvation Army Benefit Week December 18 - 22. Click on Class Schedule for more information. 100% of proceeds from all classes will benefit this wonderful charity. Last year we raised over $1000, and this year we wish to exceed that- Come one come all for this festive week of classes! Our second annual! Last year we made history with raising over $1000 for the Salvation Army...can we exceed that this year??! We ask for a minimum donation of $10 per mat class, 100% of which goes to the Salvation Army. Each class has a minimum and maximum number of participants, so pre-registration is strongly recommended. More info...

Alternative Giving: Fair Trade

One of the ways we can give gifts that make a difference this year is by buying Fair Trade goods. Fair Trade organizations work with artisans from disadvantaged and underdeveloped countries to sell their goods with the goal of providing regular work and fair pay. The Ten Thousand Villages website describes their work this way:

Many artisans tell us that fair trade brings them much more than regular work and fair pay. They begin to see hope for the future, earn dignity and respect in their community and experience joy in being able to provide for their families.

Ten Thousand Villages is one of the world's largest Fair Trade organizations, working since 1946 with tens of thousands of artisans all over the world who would otherwise be unemployed or underemployed. On their website, they sell a huge selection of handicrafts from all over the world, including:

• alpaca blankets from Peru

• beaded bracelets from Guatemala

• leather drums from Kenya

• gorgeous Indonesian kites!

Other fair trade organizations:

A Greater Gift is a program of SERRV International, a nonprofit alternative trade and development organization. SERRV has been working to assist artisans and farmers for more than 55 years.

Equal Exchange is a worker-owned co-op with a new approach to trade that offers consumers fairly traded gourmet coffee direct from small-scale farmer co-ops in Latin America, Africa and Asia.

Marketplace: Handwork of India is a non-profit organization working to empower Indian Women artisans through employment opportunities and social change.

You can find more Fair Trade organizations on Ten Thousand Village's Fair Trade Friends page.

You can read the 10 principles of the International Fair Trade Association here.

Alternative Giving: UNICEF

If you're looking for a place to find gifts that aren't just your run-of-the mill store-bought items, and that make an impact on the world, you can't go wrong with UNICEF. In their online catalog, you can find gorgeous artisan-inspired tea-lights, jewelry, journals, and cool educational games and puzzles for kids. The proceeds support UNICEF's efforts to advocate for children all over the world. Happy shopping!

UNICEF believes that every child deserves a childhood, a time of hope and opportunity, a time to learn and grow and play. For 60 years, UNICEF has been the world’s leading advocate for children – working for child survival and development in more than 150 countries. UNICEF has brought vital medicine, clean water, education, nutritious food and emergency relief to children around the world, saving millions of young lives.

Learn more about UNICEF
Shop online at UNICEF