Charities target bigger slice of Christmas spree

Do you know what gifts you received last Christmas? Do you remember what you gave? Christmas shopping can be an ordeal, and so stressful and rushed it's difficult to put thought into the presents you buy. At the end of it all we are left with a forgettable haul of bath goodies, CDs, socks and silly sweaters.

Charities have become more inventive in their efforts to get a slice of the Christmas spending spree. Last year, Tr≤caire came up with a novel idea - a gift certificate with a difference.

The Global Gift Plan has the appeal of involving the giver and receiver in a tangible and targeted donation. You can pay £10 (€12.70) for a clutch of chickens for a family in Columbia, £30 for a goat for a family in Angola or Ethiopia or £75 to provide clean running water for 100 Iraqi people.

A total of eight gifts are on offer from Tr≤caire this Christmas. The largest single gift is £100, which will pay for a hectare of land for a landless family in Honduras.

Last year, Tr≤caire raised £600,000 through this campaign for its long-term development projects in Asia, Africa and Central America. Nearly 10,000 clutches of chicks were purchased for families in Central America, more than 30,000 literacy students in Angola received an education, and 7,000 pigs were bought for Honduran households.

To use the Global Gift scheme, you have to contact Tr≤caire on 1850 408 408 to receive a brochure. Once you decide which gift you wish to buy, you complete the form, returning it and payment to Tr≤caire.

Then you will receive a gift certificate in a Christmas card to be passed on your friend or relative. The actual value of the gift does not appear on the certificate.

Last year, Tr≤caire's director, Mr Justin Kilcullen, found many people felt the plan reflected the true spirit of Christmas. "It's an antidote to the commercialism that surrounds the festive period."

Concern is also offering a range of gifts which it says "will have a life-changing impact on children and families around the world". You can choose a gift in the name of a friend or relative and Concern will send them a card describing the gift that you have selected on their behalf.

The Concern gifts range from £20 for children's immunisations to £500 for a teacher's annual salary in Mozambique. The gifts can be purchased by calling 01-4177777 or through the internet on www.concern.ie.

B≤thar runs a similar livestock purchasing programme all year round. The Limerick-based charity trains families in livestock management and supplies them with one good quality farm animal suitable for their circumstances, culture and climate.

The benefits of all these schemes is that the animals help improve the family's diet and earning power. According to B≤thar, Irish dairy cows in Kosovo are producing up to 10 times more milk every day than the average local cow.

The B≤thar gifts range from £50 for a trio of rabbits to £1,400 for an in-calf dairy heifer. The number to call is 1 800 268 463 in the Republic and 0800 0390267 in Northern Ireland. Alternatively, visit www.bothar.org.

Mobile phones are a popular Christmas present - more than 200,000 were sold by Eircell alone last December. If you get a new mobile phone this year, Oxfam Ireland is interested in your old one.

Oxfam Ireland has teamed up with Digifone to collect old or unused mobile phones and accessories, and convert them into cash. An old Nokia 3110, worth £5, could pay a year's school fees for a child in Bangladesh.

The phones can be handed in at any Oxfam store in Ireland (North and Republic), at the Belfast or Dublin Oxfam offices and at Digifone outlets. Customers are asked to remove the SIM card before they donate the handset.

Companies or schools that would like to donate old or unused mobiles can contact 00 44 870 752 0999 to organise a free courier to collect 30 or more phones. The larger donations need to be marked "bRing bRing Appeal" and should include contact details on the box.

Once collected, the phones will be sent to a company called ISIS Telecommunications in England where they will be repaired and sent overseas. If the handsets cannot be fixed, ISIS will dispose of them in compliance with environmental legislation.

There is one way that almost everyone can help with fundraising in the next week - by emptying their jam jars and taking part in the Pennies from Heaven appeal.

The campaign aims to raise more than £5 million in Irish and foreign coins before and during the euro changeover. The funds will be distributed equally among 11 leading Irish charities.

Special money bags have been delivered to every home in the Republic and collectors, carrying ID cards, will be calling to people's homes over the next week to collect donations. There are 3,000 Pennies from Heaven collection points around the State.