Adopt one of these sea creatures from Oceana.
Credit: www.oceana.org
With fewer than ten days left until the big Christmas-morning reveal, we'd understand if you've just about reached your limit on making your lists, checking them twice, and then braving the shopping centers to buy it all. We'd also understand if you wanted, this year, to buy gifts that wouldn't be broken, forgotten, or obsolete by Valentine's Day, which is why we pulled together some of our favorite non-profit organizations to help you transition from consumerism to charitable giving. Bonus: you can make these donations online, while wearing your pajamas, and be snuggled up for a holiday movie marathon in no time.
Oceana
Oceana prides itself on being the world's biggest ocean conservation organization, with efforts centered from offices in North America, South America, and Europe and campaigns that target marine life from sharks to sea turtles—and with support from celebrities including Ted Danson, January Jones, Adrian Grenier, Kate Walsh, and many others. Give the waterbug on your list a symbolic sea life adoption kit, which includes a cookie cutter or stuffed animal (depending on the creature you choose). Hoping to inspire your junior environmentalist? For $200, buy the limited edition Casey Kit (which comes with the stuffed animal, cookie cutter, oven mitt, and original sugar cookie recipe) named for North Carolina's Casey Sokolovic, who formed her own sea turtle campaign at the age of 9 and, in the two years since, has raised $3,000. Oceana is also a Planet Green NGO partner, and we're happy to have them on board.
Donors Choose
[url='http://www.treehugger.com/htgg/how-to-go-green-school-teachers.html']Teachers can be notoriously hard to buy for—and trust us, they don't need any more coffee mugs or apple-shaped knick-knacks. Instead, support their fellow educators by giving to Donors Choose. Here how it works: teachers all over the country request funding and supplies for specific projects and you pick the project you'd like to fund. Our quick search found 19 teachers who've asked for resources that support their green initiatives, including Mrs. D. in California, who needs 20 copies of The People of Sparks and an iPod nano to create recycling podcasts, and Mrs. T. in Missouri whose biology students are looking for kits that will let them analyze the toxins in commercial products.
Charity: Water
You could spend $24 on yet another copy of your brother's favorite movie (in Blu-Ray this time!), or you could donate it to Charity: Water and provide one person in an impoverished country with clean water for 20 years. If you're looking to spend a little more, give a personalized gift card (starting at $40) or splurge on the combination pack—which includes a DVD, a Charity: Water t-shirt and five bracelets, and a reusable water bottle. And when you think about how quickly technology changes—and how that Blu Ray disc will be long forgotten by 2029—doesn't a donation seem like the better choice? Learn more about them from Scott Harrison, their founder.
North Shore Animal League
I'll admit a total bias for the North Shore Animal League—that's where I found my two cats—but it's also the largest no-kill pet rescue in the world, placing about 20,000 pets each year in homes all over the United States. In addition to the New York headquarters, which houses 350 cats and dogs at any given time, NSAL works with shelters across the country and through 1-800-Save-A-Pet.com to reach adopters outside the Tri-State area. Of course, donating to your local shelter—either with a financial gift or by adopting a pet—will help keep the animals in your area protected.
The Conservation Fund For the most passionate weekend warriors on your list, donate to The Conservation Fund, a nonprofit that works to protect and preserve land, finance rural businesses, manage sustainable forests, and help people "balance economic and environmental priorities, use limited resources more effectively, and make better places for future generations to live, work, and play." Make your donation online and you can even send your recipient an e-card—which means you know they'll get it, no matter what kind of adventure they're out on now. Reverb While plenty of famous anthems have fueled social and environmental change over the past few decades, sustainability is still not exactly a key word in the music industry—which is why Guster musician Adam Gardner and his wife, Lauren Sullivan, came up with Reverb: an organization that helps musicians green their tours, buses, and concerts while setting up outreach programs for the fans. So far they've worked with artists including Dave Matthews Band, Maroon 5, The Dead, and John Mayer, and on tours that range from Lilith Fair to Phish Festival. Check in with Instrumental, Planet Green's mini-site focused on all the good stuff going on in the music industry. Kiva You don't have to give a lot to get a lot when you're donating to charities—and especially not when you choose a microloan from Kiva (or from one of the other investing companies we like). Your donation supports entrepeneurs in developing countries, which helps them break out of poverty—and once their loan is repaid, you get your funding back to keep or to loan to a different new business owner. It's the kind of gift that keeps giving for years—and isn't that what everyone on your list is really looking for?
