Paige Desmond
With each Christmas season, it can become increasingly difficult to find a gift for that someone who has everything.
This year, to cross those people off your list, it might be time to get them something that will help someone else in their name.
Charitable donations as gifts are becoming increasingly popular in place of material items, especially for the community-conscious teen or mother who has received the same candle, knickknack, or whatever for 40 years.
The idea is pretty simple: take what you normally would spend on someone and donate that amount to a charity.
And while it seems easy, there are some important considerations to keep in mind if charity is the way to go.
First of all, research the person—find out what charities they support to begin with, especially if you plan to attach their name to the donation which might put them on mailing lists for years to come.
Second, do not feel like you can spend less because the gift is not material (you probably wouldn’t spend $5 on a gift for your husband so keep the donation amount realistic to your normal spending habits).
Finally, using the Internet is a great way to seek out a variety of charities geared to your loved one’s interest quickly and easily—without a telemarketing middleman whose company might take a cut of the donation.
Keeping these tips in mind, there also is one easy way to go which avoids the guess work, research, and doubt.
Visit a website called CanadaHelps.org and purchase a gift card. This way, the gift receiver is able to choose their own charity and when they might like to donate.
The site gives access to more than 80,000 charities, which can be searched based on a keyword such as “breast cancer” or “children.”
For those who prefer to keep the money local, Donna Kroocmo at the Atikokan Crisis Centre said donations always are greatly appreciated there. She praised several community groups, including the Lutheran Church in Atikokan, for their annual assistance at Christmas.
“We’re so lucky at the crisis centre. It’s always touching when that stuff happens,” Kroocmo said of the gift and monetary donations.
And while gifts are great, Kroocmo would love to receive monetary donations, too, because of the variety of options they allow.
“It allows flexibility to do things like buy a bus ticket so a woman can go home,” she said, recalling an incident a few years ago when the centre could not afford to send a woman to see her mother at Christmas.
