Some charities this holiday season are working an anti-consumerism theme. And it is a good year to do so.

The Associated Press reported that many more people than usual are cutting their personal and business gift lists. The LA Times says that Frugality Is a Given This Holiday Season.

Charity:water, which uses donations to dig wells in developing countries, has picked up on the frugality theme at its holiday website, urging consumers to cut back on gift giving and donate directly to mycharity:water. The site says we have too much and other people have too little, plain and simple.

BRAC USA, which provides help to poor countries such as Bangladesh, put up What I Did Not Buy, a holiday website that cleverly plays on the anti-consumerist trend. The site asks the donor fill in a form indicating what he/she won't buy at what price, and then provides a way to donate that amount.

I put in a new cell phone and the amount of $100. The site then told me what a donation in that range can do, such as "provide training for adolescents in computer skills, hair dressing or another skilled profession, giving them a source of income for life." Then I could pick my donation, fill out a form and click. If I meant that cell phone for someone else, I could even send an e-card to tell them what I didn't buy for them.

An article in the New York Times explores the anti-consumerist trend among charities and quotes Lucy Bernholz, of PHILANTHROPY 2173, who says this may be a reaction to "embedded giving," which Bernholz has been quite critical of. Bernholz goes more deeply into what she calls Unbundling Embedded Giving at her site.

The discussion over giving that requires buying a product has been cropping up rather frequently. Last spring, a debate erupted as the result of an article in a leading journal; while a couple of years ago, the Buy (less) Crap website went after the popular (RED)campaign, stirring up some strong feelings on both sides of the issue.

Anti-consumerism has for a long time been next to unpatriotic in the minds of many people. It is notable that its reputation seems to be enjoying some mainstream popularity, to the point that major charities are willing to use it in their giving campaigns.

What do you think? Is it time to move away from holiday consumerism and even the somewhat better cause-related marketing, and give directly to charitable causes? Is this just a recession-centered phenomenon or a lasting trend? Perhaps more important is: does this type of appeal work? Will donors respond? So far, both mycharity:water and BRAC look pretty good on that score.

Related:

• Cause-Related Marketing: What You Need to Know

Photo by Charitywater.

Is a book on your list to give to a friend this holiday season? Or, perhaps, during a little down time you'll get to something on your own list.

Here are a few books for the nonprofit professional or the altruistic and philanthropic minded that I have enjoyed this year.

• The Life You Dan Save: Acting Now to End World Poverty, Peter Singer

  There are enough statistics in this little book to make one's head spin. The most telling statistic, of course, is that there are 1.4 billion people in the world who are living on $1.25 or less per day (the poverty line as set by the World Bank). Despite these daunting figures, Peter Singer wants to convince us that 1) global poverty can be eradicated and 2) we are all capable of giving more to accomplish that goal without really depriving ourselves.

• Half The Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity For Women Worldwide, Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn.

  Harvard Magazine wrote of this wonderful book:

  "The book--a series of essays and anecdotes that work together--forms an argument in two parts. The first part argues that the oppression of women in (mostly) developing countries is a devastating and under-recognized injustice that's the equivalent of slavery, and that demands a moral and political movement as focused and principled as the campaign against slavery to bring it to an end. The second discusses practical ways to create this movement and effect the change that's needed."

• Twitterville: How businesses Can thrive in the New Global Neighborhoods, Shel Israel.

  Even though the subtitle of Twitterville is "How Businesses Can Thrive in the New Global Neighborhoods," it is not just about how business uses Twitter. Besides stories about the likes of Dell, Zappos, and The Coffe Groundz, Shel has included examples from individuals (Personal Branding), journalism (Braided Journalism), government (Conversations with Constituents), and nonprofits (Goodwill Fund-raising).

• Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust, Chris Brogan and Julien Smith.

  Trust agents, for Brogan and Smith, are the glue that hold communities together. They are the pioneers of the social web, digital natives who have learned to communicate with (not to) people. Brogan and Smith provide dozens of examples of trust agents, such as Oprah Winfrey, Robert Scoble, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Trust agents also sound suspiciously like change agents, social entrepreneurs, and a growing number of people who are transforming their nonprofits.

• The Art of Giving: Where the Soul Meets a Business Plan, Charles Bronfman and Jeffrey Solomon.

  Charles Bronfman and Jeffrey Solomon, of the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies, present two sides of the philanthropic equation in their new book. Bronfman is the philanthropist and founder of his family foundation, and Solomon serves in the senior staff position as president of that organization. Together they bring years of experience to the advice and counsel they offer to budding philanthropists.

• Reliable Fundraising in Unreliable Times: What Good Causes Need to Know to Survive and Thrive, Kim Klein.

  Frank Martinelli, on his Nonprofit Picks of the Week, said of Klein's book:

  "This important book offers social justice nonprofits a road map for meeting the challenges of fundraising in a climate of economic uncertainty. Klein outlines the steps an organization needs to take to create a disciplined, systematic fundraising program that is both flexible and durable in order to survive almost any challenge."

Other Book Lists:

Here are the "bookish resolutions" I put together at the beginning of 2009. There are five must-read books on this list.

Pamela Grow compiled this list of books that are must haves for your fundraising bookshelf.

Marion Conway has a terrific list of recommended books in several categories ranging from technology for nonprofits to fundraising and philanthropy.

Please add your favorite book or a link to your own list of books in the comments.

Photo by Getty Images

• Outrun the Recession. An article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review by Bridgespan reveals recession strategies of nonprofits that are using the hard times to get stronger.

• Follow The Millennials as the Pew Research Center studies them through 2010. Start with this introduction to the generational group that is changing everything.

• At Community Organizer 2.0, Debra Askanase writes about the Front Yard and Back Yard Conversations of social media. Real engagement takes place in the back yard. Are you there yet?

• Jeff Brooks wants your blog post for the December Nonprofit Blog Carnival. The theme is "Helping your nonprofit colleagues succeed in 2010." Check out the details at Future Fundraising Now and get your submission in.

• 2009 Year-End Fundraising Guide. Allyson Kapin on Frogloop summarizes the easy fixes you can and should do now for your fundraising and provides links to other great sources.

• Charities Rise, Costing U.S. Billions in Tax Breaks. The New York Times asks that question again: Are there too many charities? Reporter Stephanie Strom delves into the workings of the IRS in this article.

• Allison Fine, author and social media guru, asks about Women, Social Media and Influence, exploring whether social media will help women become more influential both on line and off. Her question kicked off a good discussion that continued in her follow-up post. You can still join the conversation.

• Beth Dunn says Listen first, tweet later. Dunn gives a wonderful and quick how-to for listening on Twitter and then joining in the conversation.

Photo by Getty Images

One of the first questions that nonprofits have about setting up a blog for their supporters is: "What do we write about?"

It's a good question, and many nonprofits never get the answer right. Their blogs turn into self-referencing organizational messages that most people, even their supporters, tune out.

After initially thinking the whole idea of "curation" on the web was pretty pretentious (after all isn't that what experts do in museums, libraries, and academic journals?), I've realized that it is a great concept for what we do on our blogs. After all we are researching, making choices, highlighting, summarizing, and displaying information so that our readers can easily consume it.

We all have an expertise. Nonprofits especially have expertise. You are an expert on education, civil rights or disaster response. Your supporters must be interested in your topic, or they wouldn't bother with you at all. But they don't have time to research it or find the latest news about it.

Considering yourself a curator of your own nonprofit topic and expertise can be a powerful way to build content that attracts your supporters to your website again and again.

I looked at a fair number of nonprofit blogs in preparation for this blog post. Many were really good, but some were simply full of information about the next event, the current fundraising campaign, or where the executive director was speaking next. They were inwardly focused rather than audience focused.

Some blogs seemed to be abandoned, with material that was as old as one to 18 months, even when the organization appeared to still be in business. Were they abandoned because the pressure to continually produce content was too much? Probably.

Curation is the cure. Provide information about what you know best...your field. Share your expertise, knowledge, advice, even the news about whatever corner of the world in which you exist. You will be focused, never run out of topics, and will be performing a huge service for your readers. Those blog posts, if well optimized, will be indexed by search engines, drawing in even more people.

Some nonprofits are very good curators. Here are some examples:

• FirstBook includes How to Build Self-Esteem in Your Child on its blog, Bookmark.

• Room to Read keeps the focus on the cause through a fascinating interview with a South African author of children's books.

• The ASPCA Blog dropped this informative article into its array of adoptable pet posts: Swine Flu Infects Housecat--Are Your Pets Safe?..

• The National Wildlife Federation has several blogs. One is Green Hour that provides how-to articles for parents on introducing the great outdoors to their children. Another, Wildlife Promises, presents attention-getting studies.

• The Nature Conservancy, on its blog Cool Green Science, is curating the news about Copenhagen and climate change right now. Camfed also provides news with many positive stories and links to articles about girls and education.

• We Are What We Do curates its own unique user-created content on its blog, We Are What We Blog. The website is for youngsters who participate by sharing their own ideas for making a difference in the world. The blog features these stories, and the result is charming and addictive reading.

Are you curating content for your readers on your blog? Think about your audience and what they are interested in. Consider your nonprofit a storage locker of information about your topic. Then edit and present that knowledge in an attractive way on your blog. You can do this and still convey your message and underscore your mission.

If you have a good example of NPO curation or tips about how to curate well, please leave a comment.

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