Author: idoliov

Season of Gifts #2: Uncommon Goods

On By idoliovIn Company Profile2 Comments

Company: Uncommon Goods
Products: Gifts, jewelry, home decor, hand-made gifts, art
Causes: Environment, humanitarian, anti-sexual violence, empowerment

This is the second in a series of blog posts highlighting merchants that sell excellent gifts in time for Christmas gift-giving, while meaningfully supporting important causes. I previously highlighted Kiva.org. In this post, I’m going to feature Uncommon Goods.

UncommonGoodsLogo

Uncommon Goods, like its name implies, sells unique items made by independent makers and crafts-people. For every purchase, the company will donate $1 to one of four charity partners: American Forests, International Rescue Committee, RAINN and 826 National.

The company claims to have donated over $2,000,000 to these four groups since the year 2000.

Continue reading “Season of Gifts #2: Uncommon Goods” →

Season of Gifts #1: Kiva.org

On By idoliovIn Company Profile3 Comments

Company: Kiva
Products: Gifts, jewelry, home decor, fashion, hand-made gifts, furniture
Cause: Micro-entrepreneurs and artisans

Kiva_Store_Categories

Now that we’re in December and in the home stretch of the gift-giving season, I’ll be profiling merchants that feature unique gifts. First up: Kiva.org.

I mentioned Kiva in my Giving Tuesday blog post, but this post is about their online store. They have gifts for men and women in a variety of categories and feature stories of the artisans that make the items. Purchases benefit artisans who have borrowed money via Kiva and started or expanded their businesses. You can shop by category, region of the world where the items come from, price range, occasions, or interests.

They have gift sets:
 

Furniture and decor:
 

Jewelry
 

Men’s and Women’s Fashion

Until I started doing research for this blog post, I had no idea of the extent of their collection. I’ll be coming back for birthday, wedding, and housewarming gifts all year long.


Continue reading “Season of Gifts #1: Kiva.org” →

Company Profile: Patagonia

On By idoliovIn Climate Change, Company Profile, Environment, Outdoor clothingLeave a comment

Cause: Environment, Climate Change
Company: Patagonia
Products: Outdoor Clothing

By now you may have seen the news reports that Patagonia, the outdoor apparel firm will give away it’s $10MM in profits as a results of this year’s corporate tax cut to causes working to reverse climate change.

But this wasn’t a one-time stunt. Patagonia has been supporting grass-roots efforts on environmental and social initiatives since it was founded. It donates 1% of sales (not profits!) to support environmental organizations. And in 2016, it donated ALL its Black Friday sales to charity.

The ongoing donations, through membership in 1% For the Planet®, fund small environmental grants to hundreds of charities that fight for the environment in their local communities. The results are impressive – the screen shot below is from their websites and highlights their achievements as of the last fiscal year (2016-2017).

PatagoniaResults.PNG

So as you’re doing your holiday shopping, for outdoor clothing, consider shopping at Patagonia to support the environment.

 

 

The Problem With Charitable Giving By the Wealthy

On By idoliovIn uncategorizedLeave a comment

Interesting Op-Ed in the New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/27/opinion/donation-tax-deduction.html

What do you guys think?

My own thoughts is that the wealthy would give a lot less if they couldn’t save on their taxes and some good causes benefit. And what’s the alternative?