Last year I featured a Gifts That Give Back Gift Guide on PBF and loved sharing beautiful items from incredible organizations that give back in many different ways with you guys. I wanted to share some more fabulous items from new organizations this year and hope you find something that you think might make a wonderful gift!
Below you will find pictures of some of the items, along with links and brief descriptions about the charities and organizations they support.
Gifts That Give Back
During her internship with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Headbands of Hope founder Jessica Ekstrom saw that girls loved to wear headbands after losing their hair to chemotherapy. Jessica realized that they felt that they were losing a part of their feminine identity and created Headbands of Hope to provide beautiful headbands that would help bring a little bit of joy to these young girls. For every headband purchased, one is given to a girl with cancer and $1 is donated to the St. Baldrick’s Foundation to fund life-saving childhood cancer research. To date, they’ve donated more than 10,000 headbands to girls with cancer. (Use the code lucerohope to save $1 off your purchase!)
“Run for another.” Through each purchase of Janji’s running apparel, a portion of proceeds funds organizations that are alleviating problems related to food and water. By funding solutions and raising awareness through their apparel, Janji strives to create a nation of runners that run for another and eliminate the global food and water crisis.
Hands Producing Hope features beautiful bags, jewelry, stationary, pottery and more created by the Guaymi people of Costa Rica. The company strives to “see women reach economic independence” and provides training and skills needed to make and sell fair trade goods representative of their culture to a global market. To learn more about the Guaymi people click here.
Freeset offers employment to women who have worked in or currently work in Kolkata’s sex trade and don’t see a way out. The company sells quality bags, makeup pouches, organic cotton t-shirts and more and hopes “to see the 10,000 sex workers in our neighborhood empowered with the choice of leaving a profession they never chose in the first place.”
She Does Justice is an advocate for those who need one. It is a space where organizations who are working for the good of others are recognized. Each month She Does Justice spotlights a new organization. At the end of the month, 10 percent of the company’s gross profits are donated to an organization to help further their mission. This month 10 percent of every purchase will benefit Sole Hope. The site features beautiful scarves, jewelry and headbands.
Feeding the Orphans is a non-profit organization that sells clothing, bedding, jewelry and more. Purchases help empower single mothers in Africa and provide food, clean water and medication to children in need.
International Sanctuary (iSanctuary) seeks to end the cycle of human trafficking through providing self-sufficiency options to survivors. When a young woman walks through the door at International Sanctuary, the label of "trafficked victim" is removed and she is immediately treated as an individual. The environment is positive and upbeat, giving her the opportunity to gain dignity and confidence as she learns to make the beautiful items sold through iSanctuary, including jewelry and stationary.
A few of my wonderful blogging friends (Caitlin, Tina, Emily, Meghann, Theodora, Monica, Janae, Gina, Kath and Anne) and I got together to design this Powerful Beautiful Women t-shirt. One hundred percent of profits from our sales will be donated to the Ladies Empowerment and Action Program (LEAP) which works to help incarcerated women make positive life changes through entrepreneurship training, education and mentorship. T-shirts are $18. You may read more about LEAP here.
Phoster Candles are created using 100 percent beeswax, 100 percent cotton wicks and ethically sourced essential oils. The candles have a minimal impact on the environment and are both hypo-allergenic and non-toxic. The essential oils are sourced from global eco-projects around the world, which helps to provide sustainable employment opportunities to individuals who were once trapped in poverty. Phoster Candles donates 50 percent of the profits from each candle line to non-profit(s) organizations working on one of three major global social causes: Ending human trafficking, health education and disease prevention, and bringing electricity to villages.
From blog reader Cookie: “My sisters and I just convinced my mom to open an Etsy shop. She’s currently selling infinity scarves and throw pillow cases, and the scarves are made-to-order so you can request a specific color if you wanted. Most of the proceeds are going toward impoverished people in Vietnam, a cause close to my mom’s heart. Before moving to the U.S., she was a social worker in Vietnam. She fled from Vietnam in 1979 after the war and left her former life behind to raise five girls while our dad went back to school. At the time, our family was poor in American standards, but she knew that we were much more fortunate than those in Vietnam. Now that us girls have left the nest, she found a new interest in sewing and knitting and is finally taking on a venture that is solely her own.”
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I love this so much!! As I’ve gotten older I care a lot less about receiving gifts at Christmas time and more about wanting to give back to others, I love that with these you can still give someone a great gift whilst giving back at the same time 🙂
Great list! It’s wonderful to be able to give someone a gift while simultaneously supporting a great cause!
Love this list! Thanks for featuring the suggestions! FTO just found out one of the main orphanages they support burned down today, so any purchases will probably help them find a new home!
I love the shirt you guys designed! Isn’t it just so cool how many amazing options there are for giving to causes? The creativity is amazing and inspiring for sure!
great ideas! It’s nice to give someone a gift knowing it does even more than make the receiver happy!
Such a great idea, I really love this! Plus, as an added bonus, all of the items are beautiful, useful and look like they would be fun to wear!
This is such an awesome list–I love those headbands at the top too!
And that shirt you all designed? Super cool. Love that you posted about this all<3
What a great list! Love this post, such a good twist on gift giving guides.
I love the LEAP shirt! Thanks for sharing, I think I’ll get one for a friend who would really appreciate the cause it donates to.
LOVE this post!! Thanks for putting it together. 🙂
Thanks so much for sharing – the ultimate Christmas present is not only a great match for your loved-one, but also gives back to your local community or those in need. Great list of options!
Love headbands of hope! Such a great cause!
I love this! You should check out Punjammies! They are so cute and have such an amazing purpose. http://shop.intlprincess.org/
Another great gift that gives 50% of purchase to Multiple Sclerosis! It’s a winter hat with a ponytail hole, great for winter running!!
http://www.peekaboos-hats.com/Shop-Peekaboos-Ponytail-Hats-Hats-For-Hope.html
Great ideas!!!
I love seeing posts like this, it is the best way to give! I am the founder of a company called EduKate and we also follow this model of buy to give. Check out the EduKate website (www.edukate.co) to purchase quality tote bags that help provide scholarships and mentorships for girls in Guatemala, Cambodia and Tanzania. Happy Holidays!
these are all such wonderful ideas!
I love this take on the gift guide! I also love that infinity necklace 🙂
Very cool! It would be great to give gifts that are also giving to other people and organizations that are seeking to help others!
So glad you did this again! Just bought a BUNCH of the headbands as Christmas gifts!
I really like those Janji running shorts. Might need to get myself an early Christmas present! Thanks for sharing!
I love this list!! I love Headbands of Hope and think it is such a great cause!!
Thanks so much for this list! I love Christmas, but often feel guilty about how much “stuff” my loved ones and I have. This is a nice way to give gifts and still give back to others.
This is great! I love to see companies that have missions that take into account more than just profits ! The Washington Post also had a “charitable gift guide” that I thought was really good if you are interested: http://www.washingtonian.com/gallery/style/15-charitable-gifts-for-the-do-gooder.php#&panel1-1. Thanks for sharing!
I know the girl who started headbands of hope! She went to my school and is a friend of a friend. Such a great organization. I remember when she launched it! Love the gifts that give back idea too =]
Hey Julie! I LOVE your blog but lately all the pop up ads have made it hard to read on my iPad or iPhone. It’s a lot. Just wanted to pass on the feedback in a helpful way 🙂
I reached out to my ad network and apparently the pop up on tablets is a campaign that lasts through Dec. They should be gone January 1st! I’m so sorry!
Just bought a few of the headbands for my siblings… Thanks for sharing!
LOVE this post! ended up purchasing a couple bracelets last year from your gift guide!!
Ahhhhh I just love how so many of these organizations focus on the victims of human trafficking. It’s just mind-boggling that there is so much slavery going on all over the world, but so encouraging that people show that care and love the more it becomes unveiled.
Enjoy reading your blog, but I totally agree with a previous comment – the pop-ups are very frustrating and distracting. Jennifer Aniston interrupts all of the time. Hopefully, you can fix this problem.
Thanktjrpugh you for the feedback, Sara! I emailed my network and apparently that Jennifer Aniston/Aveeno ad that pops up on tablets is part of a campaign that lasts through the end of Dec. It should be a gone January 1! I’m so sorry!
That was supposed to say “thank you so much” in the beginning. Apparently the speech to text function on my phone failed me!
how do you punctuate on speech to text? If I knew how, I would use it much more!!
Great gifts for a great cause <3 love it!
This is the best Christmas gift list I have seen. Wonderful really!
I love gifts that give back! The shirt all you bloggers designed is awesome- I might get that for my sister for Christmas! There’s also an Athens, GA-based company called Umano whose motto is “rock a pocket, empower a kid”- for every shirt sold, the company donates a backpack full of school supplies to a child in need in the US and abroad. The shirts are so cute and incredibly soft! http://www.umano.com/
I adore the Tshirts! I’ll also be looking into that running apparel. Great post 🙂
This is awesome! Thanks so much for posting this! I’m especially excited about Janji… what an amazing idea!
OMG I love this!! I have already bookmarked the pages, and will buying from them!!
What an inspiring twist on all the holiday gift idea lists — seriously inspiring Julie 🙂
Julie, this post is wonderful!! You should check out http://www.serengetee.com for gifts that give back this season too. Similar to TOMS shoes, the organization collects various fabrics from worldwide causes ranging from impoverished children, to weather disaster relief, to endangered animals. The fabrics are cut into pockets and sewn onto a variety of t shirts, tanks, sweatshirts, etc and purchase of a certain patterned pocket gives back directly to the cause where the fabric came from! A guy I went to college with started the organization a few years ago, and we can’t get enough of it!!
Happy Holidays! 🙂
I absolutely love the T-shirts you & your fellow bloggers are selling. I have 22 year old twin daughters who don’t always seem to remember how beautiful and special they really are so I ordered a shirt for each of them so they know how incredible I think they are. Thank you so much for putting out such a awesome product!
Love the list you put together this year, especially the bags from Freeset! Thanks again for always inspiring!