Gift Guide 2010: Gifts that keep on giving

images and descriptions from Oxfam

1. Art Supplies for Kids, $15
When you give the gift of art supplies to kids living in makeshift camps, you are feeding their creativity and improving their community. Working with displaced artists, trash around camps can be recycled to create—for example—paint pots from discarded plastic bottles. In other words, with your support, children can transform today’s refuse into a new vision for their future.

2. Blankets, $18
Nothing takes the chill off like a cozy blanket—especially for those who are driven from their homes because of a natural disaster. This gift of blankets for an entire family provides both warmth and comfort.

3. Support indigenous craftswomen, $90
This gift supports indigenous women who produce craftwork like baskets and pottery to earn their living. Your donation will help these artisans sell their crafts for an equitable price in a fair market.

4. Start a small business, $100
Help a farmer, a fisherman, a basket weaver, or other enterprising people start their own small businesses. Your support will provide the important resources that a small business owner needs to get started.

5. Train a midwife, $150
Help train a midwife working in rural communities to provide prenatal care and birthing support to pregnant women. It’s this simple: when you educate a woman, your gift grows. She’ll help keep women healthy and enable mothers to give their children the best possible start in life.

6. A school meal program for one child, $25
It’s hard to nourish the mind if the belly’s empty. This gift ensures that children in poor communities get a nutritious meal at school. And with proper fuel, there’s no stopping the potential of young minds.

7. Honey bees, $18
Your gift will help small-scale, rural farmers sell their Fair Trade honey. With your support, these farmers will learn how to make a decent living from the products they produce — honey, as well as coffee, grains, and cheese. What could be sweeter?

8. A couple of goats, $100
Many herders depend on their cattle, but cows need lots of water and grass. When drought kills cows, Oxfam restocks with more durable animals like goats—drought resistant and notorious for eating anything. With your help, this couple can play a starring role in tough times, producing milk and offspring.

9. A pack of seeds, $12
This gift is a unique investment in rural communities. Each pack is a reserve of native seeds that ensure that there are plenty for the next planting season and that traditional seed varieties are not lost. Protect native crops and feed the hungry with this fruitful gift.

Also see World Vision and Holiday Gifts That Give Back from the NY Times.

Have a favorite charity to share? Leave a comment & tell us all about it! And for those of you thinking about giving charitable gifts this year, don’t forget to check in with local non-profits, too.