Photo courtesy of Creamos
Through our work to design international travel experiences for nonprofits and social enterprises, we are fortunate enough to learn about incredible people and projects all around the globe. Our amazing donor travel clients and their partners address such issues as women’s rights and empowerment, environmental conservation, public health, food security, and stopping human trafficking.
In an effort to share and support the good work they are doing, we have gathered a list of holiday gift ideas filled with beautiful, hand-made products that will directly support various initiatives around the world. We have also compiled a list of some of our favorite books that inspire.
Join us in making the holidays more meaningful. Elevate your gift giving this holiday season to create long-lasting change around the world. Happy shopping!
Gifts that support women and girls
Photo courtesy of Nomi Network
Bags from Nomi Network: Nomi Network creates economic opportunities for survivors and women at risk of human trafficking. Every product you buy provides jobs for the women, improves the lives of their families and helps end modern-day slavery around the world.
Dining for Women’s Marketplace: Dining for Women, a global giving circle dedicated to transforming lives and eradicating poverty among women and girls in the developing world, has compiled a marketplace that features beautiful items, handcrafted by their beneficiaries. A couple of examples are:
- Paper beaded bracelets handmade by women in Uganda through Bead for Life.
- Beautiful weavings by women in Guatemala through Friendship Bridge.
Your purchases support these artisans, many of them women and girls, and also provide a portion of sales back to Dining for Women.
Jewelry from Creamos: Creamos was founded as a social entrepreneurship initiative aimed to offer safe and dignified income-generating opportunities for the mothers of the children in the community surrounding the Guatemala City garbage dump. Creamos is an initiative born out of Safe Passage, a nonprofit that helps children in Guatemala City break the cycle of poverty through education, life skills, and perseverance.
Scarves from RefuSHE: RefuSHE allows women impacted by trauma or conflict to express themselves creatively while learning to be entrepreneurs. RefuSHE’s social enterprise is a step in the journey toward independence and a new life after war and conflict. 70% of the 160 artisans who have been a part of the collective are now economically independent.
Gifts that support global health issues
Photo courtesy of SmileTrain
Sassafras Animal Stools to support Smile Train: From now until the end of the year, Sassafras will donate $20.00 to Smile Train for each of their adorable animal stools sold to support safe and quality treatment for children with clefts.
Wine to support The END Fund: Purchase a bottle (or two!) of One Hope Wine’s North Coast Reserve Zinfandel and support The END Fund’s work to end neglected tropical diseases (NTD’s) which affect 1.5 billion of the world’s most impoverished people, including 869 million children.
Coffee to support World Bicycle Relief: We’re big fans of World Bicycle Relief, which provides bicycles to entrepreneurs, health care workers, and students in rural areas. For every WBR Coffee Blend sold Equator will donate $1.00 to World Bicycle Relief to support programs throughout rural parts of the world.
African Fabric Notecards from DIG or the DIG Cookzine that features 12 recipes from some of their favorite Cocktails and Castoffs event chefs. Development In Gardening (DIG)’s projects enables vulnerable and HIV-affected communities to meet their own needs and improve their well-being through nutrition-sensitive and sustainable agriculture.
Books that Inspire
Photo courtesty of READ Bhutan
Find Me Unafraid by Kennedy Odede and Jessica Posner: Read about how Odede grew up to found Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO), a youth empowerment group that has founded two schools in rural Kenya. The book doubles as a love story between the two authors.
From a Tin Shed to the United Nations by Stephanie Woollard: This Melbourne native founded the Nepal-based social enterprise Seven Women at the age of 22. Part-memoir, part-manifesto, this book is a call to action for young people and shows them how to put powerful ideas into action.
We Fed an Island by Jose Andres: We love chef Jose Andres’s nonprofit World Central Kitchen, which empowers post-disaster communities to rebuild through food. His latest book tells the story of how a group of chefs fed hundreds of thousands of Americans in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria devastated the island in 2017.
Jump on the Love Train: Many Hearts Await You by Rae Lewis: Read the story of Rae Lewis’ adventures in Peru and the moments that led her to found the Chicuchas Wasi residential shelter for abandoned children in Cusco and later the Chicuchas Wasi School for Girls. All proceeds from book sales benefit the nonprofit Chicuchas Wasi.
The Secret Adventures of Anonymouse by Natalie Lynn Reckstad and Sophie Noelle Lynn: A children’s book about a mysterious poem, a tiny mouse with a huge heart, and a forest that is transformed by all they inspire.
