The gifts that keep on giving

IRISH HOUSEHOLDS will this year spend more than 30 per cent less on Christmas than they did at the height of the boom as the never-ending economic gloom convinces them to hold on to what they have left after another hairshirt budget.

Aside from presents and socialising, people are also scaling back on the amounts they give to charity and on the charitable presents that became so popular during more prosperous times. Some organisations are likely to raise less than 40 per cent of what they took in at the height of the good times.

Calls for help to the Society for the St Vincent de Paul have almost doubled since 2008 and its members are expected to make about 150,000 visits to homes throughout Ireland between now and Christmas. According to its spokesman, Jim Walsh, there has been a “worrying trend” of falling donations this year.

Donations may be falling but volunteerism is on the rise, Walsh says. People have also been donating toys through the St Vincent de Paul. The organisation is distributing toys dropped off at local Supervalu shops to children in need, with toys staying in the communities in which they are donated.

There are a couple of other ways to give this Christmas that won’t cost anything.

Ireland’s first children’s hospice, LauraLynn House at the Children’s Sunshine Home, wants people to donate their wasted batteries. Weee Ireland (the Irish compliance scheme for electrical and battery recycling) has pledged to donate funds to the charity for every battery recycled before the end of December. The aim is to recycle 4.5 million batteries, which will make a real difference to the charity.

On giveandbuy.ie, a clever new website that allows people to put surplus goods or skills up for sale, 100 per cent of the money generated by sales goes to charity. Among the items on the site recently were a vintage car rental for a day, a new electric scooter with a 30 per cent discount and a signed Leinster rugby jersey.

The money is divided among more than 20 charities, including Shine (supporting people affected by mental ill health), Special Olympics Ireland, Barnardos and the Peter McVerry Trust (which helps young homeless people in Dublin) and the Meningitis Research Foundation.

“When we started giveandbuy.ie it was in response to the fact that charity revenue was down due to the recession,” says Aidan Corless, Give and Buy’s chairman. “People can no longer afford to dig deep in their pockets for charity. However, what they do have is unneeded items as well as a wealth of skills and services that are of real value to others. You don’t need to break the bank to make a difference. Why not pick up a great deal and raise funds for charity at the same time?”

CHARITABLE GIFTS MAY be seen as something of a luxury this year, but for the ultimate recipients it is anything but, providing them with shelter, clean running water and an education or livestock that could keep them alive for the next 12 months.

The children’s charity Plan Ireland (plan.ie) works in 50 countries throughout the developing world and its 2011 appeal features a Life Gifts catalogue, unique Christmas cards designed by sponsors and a range of photographic canvas prints, all of which will help raise funds to make a lasting improvement to the lives of the world’s most disadvantaged children.

The gift range includes “super seeds” to grow an acre of soya beans, costing €20. A numeracy and literacy education programme costs just €30. A school soccer kit made up of a football, a whistle, football gear and a pump costs €50, while the “Gift of Child Sponsorship” costs €264.

Bóthar has been bringing Irish dairy cattle to the developing world since the early 1990s, and its pure-bred beasts are currently grazing in Malawi, Lebanon, Albania and Kosovo, among other countries.

An in-calf dairy heifer can produce up to 20 times more milk than a Ugandan-born one, and it costs €1,800 on the Bóthar website. Such a price tag would deter all but the most wealthy (and perhaps businesses) but shares in the cows cost as little as €40.

Irish cows might provide massive quantities of milk, but they will not survive in many drought-affected countries. Camels will, says Bóthar, which makes them an invaluable commodity. They can provide a family with meat, milk, butter and draft power for ploughing and farm work, which can dramatically increase a poor family’s crop production.

Like all of the charity’s other livestock programmes, the animal is shared by a whole community, with the first recipient family required to “pass on” their camel’s first female calf to another poor family. They then keep all subsequent stock bred.

The charity also sends chickens, goats and water buffalo to families in the developing world. The biggest seller for Bóthar is the dairy goat; it costs €300 to buy and transport a goat to a family and then train and supervise that family when it arrives. A dairy goat can live for 10 years and will normally have at least one kid, and more frequently twins, each year from the age of two. The breeding programme is managed by Bóthar staff on the ground.

Sending animals from Ireland is only about 15 per cent of what Bóthar does. The remainder of livestock it deals with are sourced in the countries where they have people on the ground.

Over on the Oxfam Ireland Unwrapped website (oxfamirelandunwrapped.com), the gift of a donkey costs €47, a goat is €38, while a set of school books is €18. Drinking water for three families is €25 and a mosquito net costs €7.

Once you buy the gift, you are directed to Oxfam’s e-card section, where you can pick a card and enter a message. The recipient gets the e-card straight away by email, explaining what you have bought them, and a printed card and fridge magnet comes later in the post. The charity is also offering fairtrade colouring pencils from Tanzania as inexpensive stocking fillers.

Paul Dunphy of Oxfam Ireland says that despite the tough times people are still offering the site support. Last year its Unwrapped service raised €80,000 for the charity in Dublin alone.

AROUND 50 MILLION Christmas cards will be sent in Ireland this year, with 80 per cent of them raising money for charities, but just how much money depends on where you buy.

Some charities produce their own cards and sell them in their shops or online. Others sell them through retailers, while others simply license their name – and the goodwill that goes with it – to printers seeking to maximise their sales by selling to altruistic shoppers.

Typically, charity cards bought in major retailers do not raise a lot of cash for the charities whose names are emblazoned on them. As little as 10 per cent of the sale price of some cards actually goes to the cause. If a card is bought directly from the charity, closer to 80 per cent of the total price goes to the charity.

Paul Dunphy says there has been a dramatic fall off in the number of cards being sent on the whole. Last year Oxfam raised €75,000 through card sales, compared with €100,000 a year earlier.

He attributes the fall off to changed habits, particularly among younger people, who are more likely to send e-cards or text messages. “We would always encourage people to send cards. Everyone loves getting them and it is one tradition we would hate to see die out,” he says.

Over the Christmas period there are other ways to give, even if some of them sound horrendous to Pricewatch. Each year hundreds of people brave freezing waters at the Forty Foot in Sandycove, Dublin, to raise money for charity. We have heard from people who do it that the water is absolutely freezing, but the swim raises tens of thousands of euro each year for local charities and allows people to reward themselves with hot whiskies at a time of the morning when it might otherwise be considered bad form.

While the swim at the Forty-Foot is the most high-profile dip of the season, it is not the only one. Swimmers also take the plunge at Rosses Point in Co Sligo, off Blackrock in Salthill, Co Galway, and down by the Old Head of Kinsale, Co Cork, to name just three.

And even when Christmas is done the giving can continue. Every year the Pro-Cathedral on Marlborough Street in Dublin opens its doors to unwanted presents, which it then uses to raise funds for charities in the city that work with the homeless. The parish office accepts toys and other Christmas gifts between 9.30am and 1pm and 2.30pm and 5pm. People can leave their unwanted gifts at the crib between now and January 6th. All the gifts are redistributed through Crosscare, the Diocesan Social Care Agency. Any surplus is sold to raise further funds for the charity.

BUY A LITTLE EXTRA . . .

FASHION TARGETS BREAST CANCER IRELAND CAMPAIGN

Marc Jacobs’ tote bag starring his signature character, Miss Marc is selling for €35 with all the money going towards programmes for Irish women fighting breast cancer. cancer.ie/catalog

THE MIXING BOWL

The Mixing Bowl is a recipe book with a difference. It features a collection of recipes from the patients and residents at Our Lady’s Hospice and includes recipes handed down through generations that might otherwise have been lost. It is beautifully illustrated and comes with added feel-good in the form of anecdotes and heart-warming tales from hobs around Ireland. It costs just €12 and can be bought here: themixingbowl.ie Proceeds go to older people’s services at Our Lady’s Hospice Harold’s Cross.

OXFAM UNWRAPPED

Oxfam Unwrapped’s Supergranny is deserving of a mention. A generation of African children have lost their parents to HIV and AIDS and frequently it is the grandmothers who come to the rescue. A Supergranny gift costs €59 and will help grannies in the developing world to feed and school their grandchildren.

oxfamirelandunwrapped.com

A LIGHTER HEART

Ten-year-old Emma McCarron's CD A Lighter Heartwill make a nice stocking-filler. Emma underwent extensive treatment for more than two years at Crumlin Childrens Hospital when she was diagnosed with a rare childrens cancer, Neuroblastoma. This year she collaborated with some talented relatives to record a CD. The result is four beautiful songs sung in Emma's unique sean nós style. All the proceeds go to Our Lady's Children's Hospital. It can be purchased or downloaded direct for €5 on emmamccarron.ie