Excerpted from:
Thanks, it's just what I needed! ; Holiday givers finding charity-as-gift great way to share holiday spirit
By Paul Asay, The Gazette
27 November 2004

America is stuffed with stuff. It fills closets, clutters mantels and buries household pets, some claim.

With Christmas less than a month away, Americans are bracing to get more stuff. Oodles more.

But it doesn't have to be that way. Many holiday gift givers are curtailing their December treks to the mall and are instead donating to charities on behalf of their loved ones.

One of the most creative charity options comes from cartoonist Patrick McDonnell, creator of the comic strip "Mutts" (carried by The Gazette). McDonnell is marketing the Gift of Nothing.
The "gift," available at www.Mutts Comics.com, consists of a $12 box festooned with a Mutts cartoon, empty except for an explanatory card. Givers wrap the box and give it to their friend or family member of choice. Proceeds go to the Toys for Tots program, run by the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve.

"Even though recipients of the box are getting 'nothing,' there is a child who in return is getting something," McDonnell said.

Granted, an empty box doesn't have the same Christmas-morning oomph as an XBox. But gifts that help charities have a charm all their own, and most are gifts that keep on giving throughout the year.

Kendall Webb, founder and CEO of JustGive.org, said more Americans are donating for the holidays. She thinks the increase is, in part, a rejection of materialism. Sweaters and CDs are almost meaningless gifts in our wealth-soaked society, she said.

"We're trying to get back to the basics. We're trying to give something more meaningful and valuable."

JustGive.org is the nonprofit world's version of Amazon.com -- an online do-good mall where people can find and donate to more than 1 million U.S. charities. The site shuffles through $10 million worth of donations a year, $3 million of which rolls in during December.

JustGive.org has several options for people who want to give the gift of charity.

The simplest is donating to a cause under another person's name - - an option that can be selected with any online donation. The organization will send the person an e-mail informing him of the donation.

But, like that plaid fuchsia sweater you got from Great Aunt Ruth, not every charity fits. A donation to the Farm Sanctuary, where rescued cows and chickens live out their natural lives, might not jive with the sirloin lover on your holiday list.

That's why JustGive.org instituted a gift certificate program about a month ago. Givers fill out the dollar amount and recipients give it to the charity of their choice.

JustGive.org also offers gift baskets -- like-minded causes bundled together. There are 12 packages that target issues such as the environment, education and homelessness. Someone who donates to the gift basket donates to all the charities therein.

According to Webb, most individual charities don't push this kind of holiday giving. Most nonprofits don't have the time or manpower to set up systems to deal with donations gifted in someone else's name. "Very few have it as an ongoing, involved process for people," she said.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0367 or pasay@gazette.com