Starfish Impact supports social enterprise and companies with strong corporate social responsibility programs throughout the year, but we know that there is no better time to remind our friends about how easy it is to ‘do good’ than during the holiday gift giving season. This year’s three part Holiday Gift Guide list has a few great experiences, products, and online purchases that will make you feel good about gift giving this year! If you missed part one and two of the Holiday Gift Guide which featured Los Angeles local favorites and DC local favorites, be sure to review those ideas and for more inspiration, there’s last year’s gift guide, which includes a number of great options worth checking out.
Online and Nationwide
Need a one stop shop to purchase a variety of goods for the holidays? Check out Ten Thousand Villages, an online marketplace featuring everything from homemade housewares to home décor. They even have a gift section, organized by theme such as ‘gifts for newlyweds’ to ‘gifts for foodies’ that makes sustainable gift giving (and shopping for yourself) even easier!
Modern day slavery continues to exist around the world and helping victims transition to survivors can be wrought with challenges. In an effort to provide healthy workplaces, safe and loving environments, and provide the young women with a meaningful skill, International Sanctuary (a nonprofit) launched Purpose Jewelry – hand made jewelry that is both beautiful and on trend. Running behind on the gift selection? You can also purchase a gift card through their site with no additional fees and email it directly to your recipient.
Believe it or not, Toms is not the only way to purchase a shoe that gives back. In fact, Nisolo revitalizes the shoe industry in Peru by investing in local designers and helping them access the global market. They also provide skills based training, safe working conditions, and on average increase the income of designers by 300%.
You can purchase hand sewn designer bags from The Global Bag Project, which are created primarily by HIV/AIDS widows living in slums in Africa. The company helps to provide sustainable income, fair wages, and dignity to individuals who are often times orphaned children themselves, now raising orphaned children due to the epidemic. They’ve also expanded to include laptop bags, aprons, and wine bottle bags!
Sevenly creates ‘cause campaigns’ and encourages customers to purchase products that give back to nonprofits. You can search by cause area, like cancer or veterans’ causes, and purchase items such as tote bags or shirts, or you can gift a CauseBox, which is a quarterly selection of socially conscious items.
Are you in a pinch? Starbucks is now selling This Bar Saves Lives that you can pick up in addition to a Starbucks gift card. While they are a large corporation, they are well known for investing in their employees, including providing college tuition assistance, and taking a stand on social issues such as gun violence and racism in America.
Starfish Impact doesn’t receive anything in return for highlighting these companies and social enterprises. If you know of other great ideas for the holidays, or other social enterprises we should know about, let us know today!
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