Giving experiences doesn’t just mean a fast car ride or a barbecue class. Some experiences have a more global impact and help others who just need a hand up.
At its most elemental, these experiences involve real-life crises like having enough to eat, clean water to drink and medical care. If you want to donate a charitable experience this holiday season, here are some options.
• Heifer International: More than 30% of the world’s population faced food insecurity last year, meaning they didn’t know where their next meal was coming from. Heifer International facilitates a seed investment of livestock or agriculture in developing countries and then mentors the recipients to help them build businesses and become self-sufficient. The Gift Catalog at www.heifer.org provides a wealth of opportunities.
• Reading Is Fundamental: Give a child a book through the Books for Ownership program. Your gift will allow a child to pick their own age-appropriate books to take home and own based on the principle that if children are allowed choice and access, they’ll become better readers and learners. Find out more at www.rif.org.
• Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library: The Imagination Library was inspired by Parton’s father, who couldn’t read or write. It gives more than a million books without charge each month to children from birth to age 5 in the U.S. and four foreign countries. Give a book at www.imaginationlibrary.com.
• A Living Tribute: Honor a loved one, celebrate a milestone or remember a pet by buying a tree to be planted in a national forest. The recipient will get a personalized card notifying them of your gift and their tree. The program helps conservation organizations like the National Forest Foundation restore forests and parks representing more than 100 million acres of protected land. Order your tree gift at www.alivingtribute.org.
• Charity.Water: Give the gift of clean water to some of the hardest-to-reach places in the world. Charity.Water helps 15.5 million people in 22 countries around the world gain access to clean water by working through a global network of 55 local partners. Read the stories of some of the recipients and donate at www.charitywater.org.
• Doctors Without Borders: Give the gift of lifesaving medical care to those in more than 70 of the most challenging countries in the world. Doctors Without Borders provides medical care to victims of conflict, natural disasters, epidemics and health care exclusion. Read about the various programs and donate at www.doctorswithoutborders.org.
• World Vision: Buy mosquito netting and malaria medications for families in sub-Saharan Africa. Up to 100,000 people, most of them children, died from Malaria in 2020, the pandemic making it harder for families to get the bed netting. Your gift provides super-sturdy bed nets made of specially designed insecticidal fibers. Send a net or two along the way at www.worldvision.org.
• World Central Kitchen: Donate meals to areas that have been impacted by natural disasters and conflicts, including food that is currently going to previously unreachable areas in Ukraine that are without food, water and heat. World Central Kitchen partners with local restaurants to source ingredients and prepare nutritious hot meals that help jump-start economic recovery through food. Give a hot meal this holiday season at www.wck.org.