Last-Minute Gift Ideas For Socially Conscious Giving

Nonprofit's Web Site Offers Socially Responsible Gift Packages Making It Easy to Feel Good about Your Gift All Year Long

San Francisco December 13, 2007 -- More and more, Americans are using the holidays as an opportunity for socially responsible gift giving. UniversalGiving (http://www.universalgiving.org) makes it easy to do this, with Gift Packages available through their web site that reflect specific international causes the giver wishes to support.

"We want make it easier than ever for people to purchase gifts that make a positive, long-term impact on the world," said UniversalGiving's Founder and CEO, Pamela Hawley."

UniversalGiving offers a large selection of international Gift Packages addressing causes such as education, poverty, disaster relief, health, and human rights. Examples of UniversalGiving's Gift Packages include: gift cards made by orphan children ($20), helping someone start a small farming business in Tanzania ($40), sponsoring a chimpanzee ($90), sponsoring a school in Uganda ($100), and sponsoring a deaf child's education in Vietnam ($600).

"UniversalGiving is an instrumental partner to Sports Gift and our mission to provide sports to impoverished children," says Keven Baxter, President of Sports Gift. "UniversalGiving has made a direct and significant impact on our ability to provide the gift of sports to thousands of children living in poverty around the world."

Greater Impact Per Dollar
In contrast to many other charitable organizations - and for-profit companies that try to profit from these kinds of donations - approximately 97 percent* of Gift Package funding and other donations to UniversalGiving go to the project and organization the giver has chosen to support. No part of the funding or donation is directed towards UniversalGiving's operational costs. Further, UniversalGiving performs due diligence on all its non-governmental organization (NGO) partners using its rigorous, trademarked Quality Model (http://www.universalgiving.org/quality) to assure that only trustworthy, high-integrity organizations become part of the UniversalGiving family.

As Andre Vanier of Palo Alto, Calif., a purchaser of UniversalGiving Gift Packages, explains, "Through UniversalGiving, I identified two extremely worthwhile nonprofit organizations to support. UniversalGiving's evaluation model helps provide the assurance that these Gift Packages will be put to good use."

About UniversalGiving
Based in San Francisco, UniversalGiving is an award-winning, nonprofit marketplace that enables people to volunteer their time, buy gifts, and donate to top-performing organizations and projects all over the world. Visitors simply choose a region (such as Africa) and an issue (such as education or the environment) and receive a list of quality ways to give and volunteer. UniversalGiving operational costs are covered by individual investors, foundation grants and fee-based services it provides to corporations. As a result, the UniversalGiving service is free to the volunteers, donators, and NGOs, and the Gift Package donations go directly to on-the-ground services serving local communities.

Since November 2003, more than $1 million and 5,000 volunteers have been matched through the UniversalGiving website. UniversalGiving is a 501c3 nonprofit organization with an organizational vision to "create a world where giving and volunteering are a natural part of everyday life."

To learn more, visit UniversalGiving on the Web at www.universalgiving.org.

Editors' note: UniversalGiving does not use any of the gift money for operational costs such as personnel or technology. PayPal, a for-profit company, manages the financial processing and does charge of 3.2 percent charge for each transaction processed.

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