I love giving gifts, and at holiday time each year I buy many small presents for clients and business associates. It occurred to me this year that I could use this practice to do some good for the world at the same time. I decided to buy all my business gifts from companies and organizations that give back to the global community. Here are some of the sources for world-friendly gifts I chose:
Southwest Indian Foundation - This nonprofit group provides food, housing, and education to Native Americans of the Navajo, Zuni, and other tribes in the Four Corners area of the U.S. Their catalog offers a wide variety of gift choices, many handmade, including jewelry, pottery, dolls, music, and tea.
Xiao Ping Silk Collection - These beautiful silk brocade cosmetic bags, jewelry cases, purses, and tote bags are a
fair trade product handmade in Shanghai.
Gecko Traders - Their hand-dyed hand-woven silk change purses, key cases, handbags, and accessories are made by a group of Cambodian women, many of them victims of land mines or polio, who are typically their families’ sole breadwinners.
Pharmaca - You can buy Xiao Ping and Gecko products at Pharmaca holistic pharmacies, along with Acholi Beads jewelry, handmade from recycled magazines by Ugandan women displaced from their homes by civil war.
Green & Black’s Chocolate - Delicious organic chocolate bars are made in several yummy flavors by this company that supports fair trade, organic farming, and biodiversity.
Heifer International - When you’re not sure what to buy, just send money. Only in this case, the money goes directly to this self-sustaining charity that feeds hungry people throughout the world by providing livestock so they can raise their own food. Make a gift in someone else’s name, and you can get a color fold-out "honor card" to send the recipient. Or for last-minute shoppers, print one online.
If you’d like to be a holiday hero this year, consider choosing some gifts like these that help to make the world a better place.
Labels: social action, social entrepreneurs
