Give the gift of a heifer, water buffalo, llama, goat, sheep, pig, trees, rabbits, bees, chicks, ducks or geese.  Your donation will give such a gift to a needy family.

Bread for the world

www.bread.org

Through Seeds of Change: Help Famers. End Hunger., Bread for the World members will campaign to improve U.S. farm policy. The farm bill can be made to serve those who need help most: farmers struggling to get by, rural communities, and people at risk of hunger

The One Campaign

http://www.one.org

The One Campaign is an effort to rally Americans to fight the emergency of global AIDS and extreme poverty. Through the One Campaign, each ONE of us can make a difference. Together as ONE we can make a better, safer world.

Amnesty international - Australia

www.amnesty.org

We are part of the global movement defending human rights and dignity. We work with people in Australia and our region to demand respect for human rights and protect people facing abuse. To do this, we mobilise people, campaign, conduct research and raise money for our work. We are promoting a culture where human rights are embraced, valued and protected.

World Land Trust

http://www.worldlandtrust.org/news/2004/11/looking-for-alternative-christmas-gift.htm

The World Land Trust offers an alternative to Christmas gift giving of the traditional kind - an environmentally friendly gift that doesn't cost the Earth - but saves it.

If you are looking for unusual gifts - save an acre of tropical rainforest in Ecuador. Or save coastal steppe in Patagonia, or elephant habitat in India.

Not only is saving an acre a great and unusual gift for friends or loved ones, but your donation will also help safeguard some of the most threatened animals and plants on the planet - so you will literally be giving a gift to the world. £25 saves one acre of wildlife habitat forever

Oxfam Unwrapped

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/shop/oxfam-unwrapped

For giving the gift of buckets, counseling, mango saplings, text books, mosquito nets to those in need. They list items under categories such as School Days, Healthy Living, Gifts that Grow. Four legged Friends. Just the Job, Gift ideas, and a range of prices from $5 - $500.

Blankets, food & literacy

http://www.churchworldservice.org/site/PageServer?pagename=how_donate

Blankets

Provide a warm blanket for a refugee or displaced family somewhere in the world (2 for $10)

Chicks

Give a gift of chicks and provide a source of egg production for families ($25 to $75)

Deep water well

Drill and install a deep water well ($50 to $5,000)

Food package

Provide a food package and help a family recover from an emergency. ($72)

Health care for AIDS orphans

Provide primary health care for child-headed orphan households ($25)

Health Kit

Give a Health Kit and make a difference when disaster strikes ($12)

Jerry cans

Provide families with containers to carry clean water for drinking and cooking. (10 for $15)

Literacy training

Provide a year in a literacy class and change a woman's life ($40)

Microcredit loans

Provide a small start-up loan to enable women to jump-start a business ($10-$100)

Oral re-hydration therapy

Provide oral re-hydration therapy for 11 children for one month ($10)

Ethical Alternatives to Christmas Cards.

According to Friends of the Earth we will send around a billion Christmas cards this year. This represents a huge amount of paper, print resources and delivery costs, just to wind up in the bin after Twelfth Night. Instead, why not save paper and everything else and send a Christmas ecard.

Green Grants

www.greengrants.org

Global Fund for Children

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Global Fund for Women

http://www.globalfundforwomen.org/

Non-violent peace force

http://www.nonviolentpeaceforce.org/

Ten thousand villages

http://www.tenthousandvillages.com/

Adopt a Penguin

 www.lastminute.com/lmn/pso/catalog/Product.jhtml?POSITION=1&PRODID=469045461&CATID=107894

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If you like the idea of buying someone a pet, but don't fancy being responsible for naughty puppies chewing up shoes and untrained kittens leaving little 'surprises' around the house, then you'll love this fantastic opportunity to adopt a penguin. Kids love them, mums adore them and animal lovers everywhere are going crazy for them…

Of course, you wont be able to take your penguin home and let it waddle about the garden. It'll be best off looked after by the wonderful people at Volunteer Point in the Falkland Islands, where research programmes will monitor the diet of Falkland penguins, their population and breeding success to ensure their survival.

Climate Relief gift pack - Help Save the Planet from Global Warming

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A unique and practical way to take action on Climate Change by helping to stop the big businesses from polluting the atmosphere with CO2, the main greenhouse gas.

The Climate Relief gift pack uses the EU Emissions Trading Scheme to remove credits that would otherwise allow companies to pollute the air that we breathe. Find out about how much CO2 you produce: from cooking the Sunday Roast to flying to Florida. Learn about practical ways to make your lifestyle more efficient and save money in the process.  

Amnesty 

http://www.amnesty.org.au

The gift pack includes: · a certificate of carbon credits purchased, Climate saver's card, wallchart, iInfo about carbon credits, the Kyoto Treaty and why credits are helping to clean up the planet, info about the effect of CO2 on our climate, info about what 100Kg of CO2 credits equates to in your everyday life, registration card, The 'Little book of Living Green' with info on how to live a greener life with little or no effort

Adopt a Polar Bear

HTTP://www.lastminute.com/lmn/pso/catalog/Product.jhtml?CATID=96507&PRODID=432932293

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Anyone who could resist this gorgeous lady obviously doesn't have a heart. Or is related to Ebernezer Scrooge - bah, humbug! By adopting Nanuk, you'll be helping Care for the Wild continue the brilliant conservation work they are doing to save the Polar Bear and its habitat. And you'll be giving someone special a gift that shows how much you care. All together now: Ah!

More about Care for the Wild's Polar Bear conservation programme:

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Care for the Wild is collaborating with world-renowned polar bear researchers who are studying the western Hudson Bay population, near Churchill, Manitoba. More is known about this 1,200 strong population of polar bears than any other in the world, having been studied for over 30 years. More than 80% of the individuals are known to the researchers. As part of this programme, researchers are investigating declining body condition and cub production observed over the past 20 years in order to provide long-term solutions to the conservation of the polar bear.

The Gift Pack includes a soft Polar Bear toy, a personalised certificate, window sticker, update 6 months after adoption, Care for the Wild magazine (to be sent within 12 months of adoption)

Online Easy Gifts.

Let's say that you are content to do some Christmas gift giving but you totally do not want to go anywhere near a shopping mall, department store or market. The shopping online could be the thing for you. Here is a list of suggestions:

Magazine subscriptions. If you noticed that on your last visit to the home of a friend or loved one that they had a small stack of a particular magazine on their coffee table then go to the website of that magazine and they are bound to be able to help you give a gift subscription.

Gift Vouchers. These can be purchased on line and over the phone for all types of stores, such as garden centres, book shops, music stores, movie vouchers, membership to organizations such as the National Trust, Ballet Season tickets, art gallery or museums.

Or if you are really stuck...

Recycle what you don't want. There will always be someone who will consider your trash their treasure. Go dig out those unwanted gifts from last year, or that kitchen gadget you have never used. Sell it on eBay and then use that money to donate to purchase your gifts on line or to your favourite charity on behalf of a loved one.