Feel-good giving: Retailers offer gifts that benefit nonprofits
BY KIM COOK Associated Press
Tuesday, December 04, 2012
12/04/12 at 6:39 AM
Gift giving feels good, and it can feel even better if you know your purchase is helping those less fortunate. Luckily, a number of home-décor retailers partner with charitable organizations; many do so year round, with additional initiatives during the holiday season.
As you're making your list this year or primping your own home for the holidays, you might consider giving something that not only looks good but supports good works.
At pillowdreamsproject.com, a fair-trade business started by Denver-based Renee Rietmeijer and Laura Tilley, you'll find silk, cotton or hemp throw-pillow cases from South Africa and Vietnam. Prices range from $25 to $40 per case; sales from the Vietnamese-made items support KOTO, which provides hospitality work training for homeless teens, and sales from the South African cases benefit the Open Arms orphanage in Malawi.
"Accept and Be" is the sentiment expressed on a limited-edition, graffiti-esque poster printed in pigmented inks and available at CB2 for $16.95, with all sales going to the Trevor Project, a national nonprofit that focuses on suicide prevention among gay youth.
The retailer has been involved for several years with San Francisco's Creativity Explored, a collective of developmentally disabled artists.
Each season presents a different collection of home accessories, and this fall there is an interesting variety of soft goods, plates and prints, including Anne Connelly's vibrant, impressionistic "Color Field" rug and Selene Perez's charming trio of owls printed on white cotton velvet. (Rug, $399; pillow, $39.95; cb2.com)
CB2 also aims to donate 500,000 meals through food banks nationwide this holiday season; each interaction with the retailer, online or in person, with or without a purchase, will count toward the goal.
Rural Peruvian women crafters are supported by Crate & Barrel, which is selling the artisans' winsome holiday ornaments. A trio of plump little penguins or owls ($29.95) and a quartet of woodland creatures ($39.95) are hand-knit from alpaca blend wool. (crateandbarrel.com)
If you'd like to peruse a larger variety of gifts, check out giftsthatgive.com. Hundreds of home décor and design houses, including Jonathan Adler, Simon Pearce, Lily Pulitzer and Michael Aram, are represented on the site, and 1 out of every $5 goes to the cause of your choice.
Original Print Headline: Try giving the gifts that give this holiday season
Associated Images:
CB2 will give 100 percent of the sales from this Accept and Be poster to The Trevor Project. A number of design-savvy gifts this season help support worthy causes. CB2 / Associated Press
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