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Site of the Week: Shift My Gift

Posted by Editor in Christmas News, Christmas Products

So what does a person do who suffers an epiphany on Black Friday as the holiday gifting madness begins and they suddenly realize that Christmas gift giving doesn’t have to be like this? Where can a person go to give back during a season of abundant blessing? How can you be sure that non-profit is actually a non-profit and that what you give actually goes to where you intend?

Those are all questions a new site hopes to answer: ShiftMyGift.com operates on the premise that givers might just want to skip all the shopping hype, all the wrapping hassles, all the gifting duplicity and all the usual rigmarole associated with giving and just push all that money to something useful. By shifting the money you would spend on a gift to a non-profit donation you just might get more satisfaction from your holiday giving. That’s the idea behind ShiftMyGift.com, which doesn’t actually do anything more than connect a giver with a reputable charity.

ShiftMyGift.com launched in August 2011 offering people a way to celebrate any occasion – birthday, baby shower, wedding, Christmas, graduation, new home, the sun rising – by rerouting money that would have been spent on gifts to needy causes. So, for instance, instead of buying your husband an iPad, you visit his registry page on ShiftMyGift.com and make a donation in his name to any of the nonprofit groups he has listed there as his preferences.

The non-profits listed at ShiftMyGift.com come from the 1.2 million registered charities in the Guidestar database — so just about any legitimate charity will be available. ShiftMyGift.com tacks at #1.49 fee on top of every donation as a way of recovering their operating costs.

What would stop a person from going to a non-profit website and making a donation? Nothing at all. And that’s not the point. Most people don’t know how or where, especially during the frenzy of a holiday season, to find reputable connections with charities. ShiftMyGift.com will provide quick options to a wide variety that will make charitable giving faster and easier.

More importantly, for that stubborn spouse who claims they want “nothing” for Christmas you can give expressly what they want while donating to their favorite charities in their name. Now that’s a unique gift in and of itself!

It is unusual for us at Christmas Finest to tell you to buy nothing for Christmas — that’s far removed from what we are. But in this case we agree — you’re still giving, after all, and that is what Christmas is all about.