Seeking your input: non-profit donations as gifts
One of my favorite gifts to give this time of year is a donation to a charity in someone's honor.
It's the perfect present for someone who has everything, for people who are softies about a particular cause or those who are always talking about how they have too much stuff. It can be perfectly personalized, and it's for a good cause to boot.
My favorite places to donate as a gift are the Eastern Illinois Foodbank and the Champaign County Humane Society.
To spread our gifts around, I donate to the food bank in honor of my sister, and she donates to the Humane Society in my honor (and in honor of her beloved dog, whom she adopted there).
I know there are countless other worthy organizations out there, both locally, nationally and internationally.
So I wanted to open up my blog's comments today so you can shout out your favorite non-profits. I'm hoping this will give would-be shoppers some good ideas of what's out there.
Whoa, that is so cool! What a great idea. If anyone is looking for a link, here it is: https://www.tisbest.org
MISSION: Raise money for St. Jude, bring awareness & knowledge to communities. Sponsor families affected by childhood cancer in Central IL.
http://www.CamdenFoundation.ning.com
This is a local organization helping local families!
Locally, I really like the "umbrella organization" Community Shares - it's kind of one stop shopping in that a donation to them is shared out among places like the Humane Society, Habitat, community health care services, and more. Here's a list of their members statewide:
http://www.communitysharesillinois.org/newsite/members_community_shares.php
Nationally/internationally, I really like Heifer International - it's kind of a farm start-up in a box that's meant to be shared. So after receiving a hive/some rabbits/some chickens/a cow and training in how to take care of them, the recipients are asked to turn around and give some of their livestock's offspring to others along with training too. Here's their website: http://www.heifer.org/
If you make a donation to the Champaign County Humane Society this holiday season, we can post your Holiday Message on the Holiday Wishes page of our website. Or you can make a general memorial or honorarium, and we will acknowledge it in our print newsletter, "Paw Prints." Thanks for blogging on this topic, Meg.
There are so many great nonprofits in the area. Public Art League is a new one and has a holiday program where one can buy someone membership. Membership years last April-April so purchasing now would get the receiver an extra couple of months. Membership with PAL, provides for more funding for art for the public. You can purchase membership on the website- http://publicartleague.org/.
Lots of need this year. Our family is buying gifts for 3 angels off of the angel tree at church, donating to food to local food bank, adding to Christmas gift for another needy family. Our kids bought for a local famiy w/their church youth group. We also donated to our town's non-profit group to buy a Christmas decoration in our youngest son's memory. There are lots of ways to donate w/i your community--check your church, school, etc. DSC is a great local agecncy that does so much for others. We will be donating to them and Easter Seals as they have helped us & do so much for others on a very tight budget.
A great gift to help others could be a gift to the Provena United Samaritans Regional Cancer Center Renovation project. The medical center in Danville is needing to raise an additional $250,000 to begin this $1 million project to upgrade services and facilities for our cancer patients. The new plans allow for more privacy and comfort, which is so important when one is being treated for cancer. Read more details at www.provena.org/usmc/cancer and consider a gift. Every donation can make a difference.
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