Alternative giving

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Alternative giving or virtual giving is a form of gift giving where the donor, instead of buying a gift for the recipient, makes a donation to a charitable organization in the recipient’s name and the organization provides a certificate or card for the recipient.

As with other charitable donations, the certificate often contains an example of how the donation will be used (such as one day’s worth of food for a hungry person) or a symbolic denomination, called "ownership" or "adoption" (e.g. of an animal or a tree). Many organizations offer a wide range of denominations.

The certificates themselves can bear various names, including "donation certificate" and "gift certificate". The latter term sometimes causes disappointment since the recipient of the certificate can not redeem it like a commercial gift certificate.

This form of giving is often used as an alternative to consumerism and to mitigate the Effects of Christmas on the environment.

1 Alternative giving fairs
2 Organizations
3 Terminology
4 External links

[edit] Alternative giving fairs

Sometimes several charitable organizations gather in a fair or "holiday fair" to attract donors by providing them a wider selection of choices.

[edit] Organizations

The idea has been promoted by a number of charities such as Heifer Project.

[edit] Terminology

“Virtual giving” is also used for any giving that the donor can do from his or her computer at home. This applies especially to “virtual volunteering”[1], [2])

[edit] External links

Alternative Giving - US based website comparing alternative giving organizations and listing gift fairs
thealternativegiftlist - UK based, contains a variety of gifts to a selection of charities
GlobalGiving - platform for giving directly to grass roots projects world wide
Alternative Gifts International - a non-profit agency working to help other non-profits raise much-needed funds for their life-saving projects.