Give Good Gifts, For Goodness Sake

December 16, 2008

You'll have to forgive me for not using this blog post to point you in the direction of the best holiday web deals on plasma screen televisions, cell phones, digital cameras and notebook computers. Instead, let me point out two of the many ways the web is enabling you to make a difference in the lives of others at this time of year. A listener (props to Jon Loewus-Deitch) to the weekly Technology Podcast left a message on the Facebook Page about a website called Changing the Present. On the site, you can some 1500 worthy projects that you can give money too, either in your name, or as a gift to friends and family. At left, for example, is one of the projects listed for an non-profit called Global Deaf Connection. For a gift, or donation, of 50 dollars, you can provide three months of support for Deaf Community Workers, who "provide families with an educated Deaf role-model who visit the homes of Deaf children. They help the family understand deafness, teach sign language and counsel the Deaf child." Other options include using your gift to adopt a beach, buy livestock for a farmer in the developing world, or...yes...buy studio time for needy public broadcasting programs. Changing the Present has many great usability bells and whistles, including the "shopping cart," and even a function that will allow you to give one dollar gifts via Facebook. You've also got to love this funny, effective YouTube "advertisement," a great play off the hideous ads suggesting you should buy a luxury car for your significant other at Christmas.

Changing the Present is not unlike other groups that are using the web to enable a more personal connection between giver and receiver. San Francisco based Kiva focuses, not on donations, but on small loans that can be made to projects in the developing world. You can make those loans (as little as 5 dollars) via PayPal, then follow the progress of the project via the website. I did a television piece for on Kiva for Frontline/WORLD a couple of years ago. You can find that video here.

Leave other great examples in the comments, and I'll add them to the post! Happy shopping!