Simple Pound

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Triggered by a recent post over at No Credit Needed I wanted to introduce you to Goodgifts, a firm working together closely with a number of charities to promote donations instead of “ordinary” presents. This is obviously a rather hot topic around Christmas time where hundreds of thousands of people are left wondering what to give to their loved ones this year.

For weeks (if not months) I have been trying to find a nice present to give to my parents for Christmas. Unfortunately there’s only so much you could give that they don’t already have, not mentioning gifts they would actually want and find useful.

I came across the goodgifts.org website after staring at one of their ads in the tube on my way home from work one evening. They offer a range of presents to replace the ordinary Christmas gift by contributing to a selected number of charities instead and hence helping people who are in real need. Instead of unwrapping another boring and uninspiring present that they will probably not ever look at again, you could be giving your parents, partner or friends the warm and content feeling of having helped and probably changed someone’s life.

They currently have 180 gifts ranging from as little as £10 to as much as £5,000 which should provide a good selection of potential presents for every budget. Let me mention a few examples to give you a better idea of what sort of gifts you would be buying:

• 4 ducks or chickens including initial supply of feed for women in Sierra Leone for £15
• One lamb for Indian villagers for £15
• Clean water for a Bangladeshi family through a simple filtration system for £20
• Health checks for 20 people in India for £20
• A year’s schooling for one African child for £25
• Half an acre of rain forest for £25
• A trio of food trees for £30
• A bike for a mid-wife for £35
• A cow for an Indian family for £95
• A mobile library for African schools for £100
• A water tank for an African school for £500

What I like most about the gifts on the Goodgifts website is that they help children and families towards becoming self-sustaining rather than simply providing them with e.g. a supply of food for a week after which they will have to starve again. Giving some chickens will not only enable them to produce their own food, but they could also potentially sell any surplus they might have. In the longer run, they can breed chickens and hence not only sustain this source of food but also share the chickens with their neighbours and the village.

For every gift you choose, you receive a card as well as a cracker bearing a description of the gift. In order to ensure that every single penny of your donation is used towards the chosen gift(s), Goodgifts levy an administrative charge of £4.95 per order (an order can comprise multiple gifts…). Gift cards can also be sent overseas for a charge of £9.95 which would potentially enable people from the US to use this service as well.

I haven’t decided which particular gift I am going to give my parents (probably one each…), but I am pretty certain that it will be ordered through this website. Oxfam is running a similar scheme at the moment, so if you find that none of the gifts on Goodgifts.org are really for you, check out Oxfam Unwrapped for more ideas with a similar purpose.

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