Gifts that give back

By Jon Ann Steinmetz, Yahoo! Shopping Editor

There's more than one approach to meaningful gift-giving, and they don't all involve fighting crowds and overspending. Many gifters and giftees alike find that charitable contributions are a satisfying alternative. Charity Navigator, which evaluates the financial health of more than 5,000 charities, expects individual donors to contribute at least $100 billion this holiday season. At Network for Good, an online resource for bringing together donors, volunteers and charities, 40 percent of donations during the holidays are given as gifts, up from 20 percent the rest of the year.

So where do you start if you're new to charitable gifting? Here are some ideas:

• A gift of $250 to Heifer International can buy a water buffalo and training for a needy farmer in Asia.
• At GlobalGiving, you can choose from several grassroots projects around the world and send a beautiful card (including project details) via email or post. Or, gift certificates allow recipients to support whatever projects they choose.
• DonorsChoose provides students in need with resources that public schools often lack. A gift certificate enables your recipient to fund projects of his or her choice and receive thank-you letters from the children.
• Network for Good helps you “think out of the gift box” with specific actions such as delivering medicines or improving playgrounds.

Green Gifts

• Undo your friend's contribution to global warming by buying a TerraPass, which funds renewable energy projects such as wind farms. Or buy a gift certificate to let your friend choose how to balance carbon emissions.
• Adopt an animal from the World Wildlife Fund and help your friends save their favorite animals. Plus, they get a card, stuffed animal, or other gifts as acknowledgement.
• No child could possibly resist a horse tire swing, and you'll feel good knowing it's made of recycled tires. That's just one clever find from Joe Lazarus of the Yahoo! Shopping team.
• Old fabrics look good as new when they're remade into sweaters, totes and hats. And cosmetics made from fragrant herbs and other organic botanicals will leave your friends looking, feeling and smelling great.

Global gifts

• Find warm hats, scarves, and more from World of Good and help eliminate poverty in low-income craft-producing communities around the world.
• Send a one-of-a-kind handwoven basket made by the women of Rwanda.
• Check out traditional handicrafts from Pangea Market made by artisans in developing countries.

More ways to give

• Create holiday cards with your favorite photo and a background designed by a child at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
• Raise money for your favorite cause – and your cause could receive a matching gift up to $50,000.