ABOUT IMPORTANTGIFTS
At the same time that the nonprofits we're all passionate about struggle for funding, Americans, alone, spend $250 billion each year buying birthday, wedding, and
holiday gifts for one another. Many of us, who just don't need any more fruitcakes, toasters, or pen & pencil sets, find this social obligation an unfulfilling
way of spending our money or expressing our love.
ImportantGifts.org, a new online nonprofit marketplace, launching right after Thanksgiving, will capture for nonprofits a small percentage of that gift money by
promoting donation gifts as a social norm. That is, the best way to show you care for friends isn't by buying them something they don't want, but rather by doing
something to make the world a better place, in their name.
Visitors to ImportantGifts.org will be able to do more than select an organization to support; they will choose exactly what they want to
accomplish, such as protect an acre of the rainforest, make a blind person see, fund an hour of a cancer researcher's time, or provide books for children, drugs
for AIDS patients, shelter for the homeless, meals for the hungry, etc. By making giving tangible and more emotionally rewarding, these donation opportunities
become better alternatives to traditional gifts. Wish lists, registries and greeting cards further promote this more meaningful way of showing we care.
In the words of internet luminary Esther Dyson (disclosure -- she is the lead investor in WellGood):
"ImportantGifts will change not only the way money is raised, but also the way nonprofits fit into people's lives!"
The deep expertise and broad support for ImportantGifts is seen on the Board of Advisors with over 150 prominent nonprofit leaders, including the heads of:
- America's Second Harvest
- Amnesty International
- Ashoka
- Grameen Foundation USA
- Lance Armstrong Foundation
- Rainforest Alliance
- Save the Children
- Sesame Workshop
- Sierra Club
- United States Fund for UNICEF
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