Gifts Without Guilt

"Fighting for an AIDS Free Generation" around the world, Product (RED) covers a big selection of name-brand products. Choose from iPads to laptops, from sneakers to watches, from Starbucks coffee to t-shirts from the Gap. All purchases trigger a donation towards the elimination of AIDS. The amount of the donation varies among the brands and products.

Jedidiah makes clothing and shares its profits with good causes. Every Jedidiah piece is creatively inspired and tied to a cause. What can you buy here? Things that young people will love, from t-shirts and tanks for either gender to accessories such as caps and bags.

Jedidiah is just one of the brands that are part of the Made for Good consortium, a network of brands and nonprofits that don't just add on charitable giving, but that are based on it. The other brands include Beautiful Feet, which sells sandals and t-shirts, donating a matching item to needy children around the world.

TOMS Shoes is famous for one type of unique, super-simple shoe (in a jillion variations), and for every pair sold, TOMS gives a pair to a child in need somewhere in the world. Buy a pair of shoes for someone you love and enclose the TOMS Shoes story in the package.

If sunglasses are on the wishlist of someone you know, TOMS now offers a slick line of fashionable eyewear that supports the company's newest charitable mission - the gift of sight. For every pair of glasses sold, TOMS will help one person somewhere to achieve better vision. That might be through giving a pair of glasses, providing eye exams, or even providing surgery to those who need it. What a deal.

Give a child in your life the sweet, cuddly 50th Anniversary bear from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. He (she?) is oh so sweet and only $12 or two for $20. The money goes to help the children at St. Jude.

Build-A-Bear Workshop has produced stuffed animals just for the World Wildlife Fund. The current one is the Amur Leopard. A donation is made to the WWF for each toy sold.

At Losinoni Primary School, located in a remote village in Tanzania, many of the school's 700 students walk more than five miles to attend class every day. When AfricAid volunteers visited the school in 2003, they encountered overcrowded classrooms with few school supplies. AfricAid partnered with the village to improve the school and encourage attendance.

Written in collaboration with 61 Losinoni students and illustrated by Penny Weber, "On My Way to School" gives American children a colorful glimpse into Losinoni students' multiple mile trek to school from their remote village. All proceeds from sales of this delightful book support AfricAid's ongoing projects at Losinoni Primary School.

At GreaterGood.org you can buy gifts that support specific causes, such as Breast Cancer, Child Health, and Literacy, with each site partnered with a handful of charities working on that issue.

Every time you purchase an item from one of these sites, up to 30% of the purchase price helps the cause. In addition, you can donate directly with 100% of the donation going to the cause; or you can simply visit each site and click the "Click Here to Give" button, which triggers a small donation at no cost to you.

GoodShop lets you shop more than one thousand stores online and designate a portion of your purchase to your choice of its 80,000 affiliated charities and schools.

Similar sites include ShopAnthropy; GiftBack.com; and iGive.com.