The World Vision Gift Catalog Provides 100+ Presents with a Purpose

Seattle, WA — If trends in charitable giving continue to grow, consumers have a chance to break records this year; giving with intention grew 4.9 percent in 2013, the largest gain since the 2008 recession.  Shoppers who want to give gifts with meaning this holiday season have more than 100 ways to change the world in the 2014 World Vision Gift Catalog.

Since it first began in1996, the popularity of World Vision’s Gift Catalog as a gift giving alternative has grown substantially, with over 844,000 people in the U.S. and around the world contributing in the last fiscal year alone. The catalog gives shoppers a tangible way to improve the lives of children, adults and communities in different areas of need: clean water, food, education, sexual exploitation and job training, among others.

“Every year we search the globe to find new products with life-saving impact,” says Cheryl DeBruler, World Vision Gift Catalog Manager. “You don’t have to spend a fortune to bring tremendous social change. For $22, less than the cost of an average smartphone cover, you can provide an innovative blanket that not only protects children from the cold but also helps stave off disease-carrying mosquitoes. This year, when you provide one blanket your donation automatically doubles to bring another blanket to someone in need, thanks to our generous friends at Insect Shield.”

Here are other examples of alternative gifts featured in this year’s catalog:

Accessories for Advocacy: What’s better than giving two gifts for the price of one?  Choose from dozens of new Handcrafted Gifts like a Royal Silk Scarf made in Vietnam or a multi-strand beaded necklace from Bali. When you give Fair Trade jewelry, such as this Silver Vines Cuff Bracelet ($85), your donation helps World Vision meet urgent needs that otherwise might go unmet. The jewelry makers who designed this bracelet were being exploited and underpaid for their craft. Now, Fair Trade practices ensure improved working conditions, tripled income and freed funds for workers’ children to return to school.

Presents for your Passion: Donate a gift in your loved one’s name and support a cause they are passionate about, such as combating sexual exploitation. A gift of $35 to $250 provides hope to the millions of children, most of them girls, who are enslaved in the global sex trade. One young girl who was rescued and cared for in a World Vision shelter told aid workers, “My mother sold me for $500 to the brothel owner [to buy] food.” World Vision helps restore physical and spiritual health to girls like her by providing safe shelter, medical care, nutritious food, vocational training, compassionate counseling and, when possible, reintegration with a loving family.

Animal Activism: When you give an animal such as a goat, alpaca or a sheep to a family in need, the offspring are often shared with others in the community – changing generations of lives. Take a goat, for example (the most popular gift in the Catalog) – for $75, one goat not only nourishes a hungry family with up to 16 cups of milk a day, but the surplus milk can also be sold at the market for extra income to buy school supplies or medicine. Goats are also practical animals, flourishing in harsh climates while producing valuable manure to fertilize crops and vegetable gardens. Animals are truly the gift that keeps on giving.

Donations can be made by you or in the name of a loved one, to whom you can choose to send a personalized card that describes the gift and its impact. You can even print these cards online as a great last-minute gift option.

To order from World Vision’s Gift Catalog, visit www.worldvisiongifts.org or call 855-WV-GIFTS.

About the World Vision Gift Catalog:

Since 1996, the World Vision Gift Catalog has given people the opportunity to better the lives of children, adults and communities in the U.S. and around the world through hundreds of gifts in all different areas of need: clean water, food, education, sexual exploitation, job training and others. Last fiscal year more than 186,000 donors purchased more than 475,000 gifts that raised more than $33.7 million. To order from World Vision’s Gift Catalog, visit www.worldvisiongifts.org or call toll-free at 855-WV-GIFTS. Want to see where your dollars go? Watch how the Gift Catalog works through the WorldVisionUSA YouTube channel.

About World Vision:
World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization conducting relief, development, and advocacy activities in its work with children, families, and their communities in nearly 100 countries to help them reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice. World Vision serves all people regardless of religion, race, ethnicity, or gender. For more information, please visit www.WorldVision.org/media-center/ or on Twitter @WorldVisionUSA.

Highlights

• Over 100 alternative gift ideas appear in World Vision’s Gift Catalog
• Donations can be given in a loved one’s name
• Handcrafted Gifts make beautiful presents that will also change a life of a child or family in need