While this time of year is focused on gifting, and celebrating it’s also the time of year when many people think about others, and give back. In an effort to help focus on giving GivingTuesday was created.
It’s the exact opposite of Black Friday and Cyber Monday-the goal is to get people thinking about ways they can give back to others at a time of year when so many people are so desperately in need.
There are so many ways to give back and while budgets are always tight there are ways you can give back without spending a dime, as well as great gifts you can choose that give back to others.
Ways to Give Back without Spending:
If your budget is tight you can find plenty of ways to give back without having to spend money.
Volunteer: Time is often as valuable if not moreso to many organizations. Whether it’s answering phone calls, stuffing envelopes, or serving meals you can find a plethora of organizations that would welcome more hands to help.
Donate Stuff: Whether it’s purging toys, gently used clothing, or cleaning out your pantry you can donate things to organizations to give back to others in a way that can ave a have impact.
Like It/Retweet It: Many companies have social good initiatives where you can ‘like’ their Facebook page or RT a tweet to help donate funds to a variety of organizations.
Use your Skills: Have a special set of skills? There is bound to be an organization that needs your help whether it’s knitting hats or designing a website to help a charity build an online presence.
Gifts that Give Back:
It’s the time of year when many of us are doing some serious holiday and gift shopping. Why not find ways to give back when you buy? Consider these gifts and companies that give back in a variety of ways when you buy.
Warby Parker: Warby Parker sells glasses and sunglasses (with a RX or not), for every pair purchased they will give a pair to someone in need.
Ten Thousand Villages: Great selection of jewelry, toys, home decor and more. Fair trade gifts from artisans around the world that offer the artisans a fair wage.
Toms: Toms shoes are not only fashionable they give back. When you buy shoes (or any of their other products) Toms will give a pair to a child who needs shoes.
Blanket America: Buy a blanket, give a blanket. Blanket donations are given both domestically and internationally and Blanket America started an organization to help Haiti.
Heart of Haiti: These gorgeous products are made by Haiti artisans and funds are used to help Haiti rebuild.
Give a Goat (or Garden): Oxfam makes it easy to directly help others by gifting a goat, garden, books, and more.
NiceGirlNotes notebooks: My super awesome blogging buddy Roo designed these notebooks with Denik. Each notebook purchase sends $1 of each sale to building schools in Africa through Mali Rising.
Buy or Sell on eBay Giving: Yes, that eBay! You can bid or buy on all kinds of great auction items like a Red Carpet experience at the Grammys. You can also donate or sell items to help a variety of nonprofits.
Adopt a Family
You can also consider adopting a family either locally or through my friends’ effort you can adopt a Staten Island family. Families in Staten Island suffered devastating losses in Hurricane Sandy and are still struggling, many without their homes or any belongings. You can adopt a family for the holidays through this amazing effort by Corine and Melissa.
Centsible Good
It’s always been my aim to use the Centsible Life as a platform to share good causes, and I’m happy to share that I’m launching a Centsible Goes Good page dedicated to sharing ways you can give back and organizations the Centsible Life supports.
As I learn about new organizations or charitable efforts I’ll update the Centsible Goes Good page, so stay tuned.
How do you give back at the holidays?
Kelly
Complicated Mama says
Thank you so much for including us in this, Kelly!