Consider Holiday Tribute Cards

Sulzbacher Center, Jacksonville, FL
(This card says, "In celebration of the holidays, the gift of a good night at the Sulzbacher Center has been given to a homeless man, woman, or child in your honor. Happy Holidays! Cost: $7-15, depending on quantity)

Idea for businesses: why not send tribute cards this year?  You can show you care about your community / the world, help a worthy charity, receive a tax deduction, send an appealing and memorable card.  Great for all. 

We're adding more tribute charities this year, but already you can visit our tribute card section to choose from more than fifty food banks, hospitals, animal rescue centers, and other good non-profits.

Love Without Boundaries
(This $10 card says: "A donation has been made in your name to Love Without Boundaries' Medical program. This donation will help provide medical care to orphaned and impoverished children in China.")

 

A holiday tribute card -- in case you're not familiar with them -- represents a donation to a charity in the recipient’s honor.    

Most donations are in the $10 range; some more, some less.  Close in price to a fancy card from a status stationer, and much more in the holiday spirit!

Anne

New Cards from Two Boston Charities

Last Glow by Thomas Dunlay
Rosie's Place

Two Boston non-profits posted their holiday cards last week.  Rosie's Place, which provides shelter, meals, and services to needy women, offers good-sized, high-quality cards.  Often featuring images donated by artist Thomas Dunlay, they include frosty urban scenes that happen to be in Boston but would be fine wintery card images no matter where you are. 

If you're ordering 50 or more cards, imprinting is available: custom message, logo, graphics, envelopes.

Winter Cardinal by Elizabeth Traynor
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute has also introduced its 2012 designs.  As always, they invite artists -- including former and current patients -- to submit holiday images, and offer a variety of styles and subjects.  Last year, holiday card and gift sales raised more than $460,000 for the cancer center.

If you're looking for photo cards, eCards, or holiday tribute cards, Dana-Farber has those, too.

Anne

Handmade Cards

Starlit Night (from the Philippines)
Ten Thousand Villages

 

What's great about handmade cards is that each one is different, and each shows care and skill; in some cases one card can take a full day to create.  When you buy these cards, you are helping support the artists who made them.  Here are some ideas:

CEOLI (handpainted by disabled artists in Bolivia)

Nativity Scene
CEOLI

 

Paperworks Studio (created of paper handmade by Michigan residents with developmental disabilities)

Kipepeo Designs (crafted of handmade paper by women living in Kenya's Kibera slum)

Sahaya International (hand-embroidered by impoverished women in India)




Dove: Peace
Kipepeo Designs

The Douglas Center (collages created by Illinois residents with developmental disabilities)

Ten Thousand Villages and Ten Thousand Villages Canada (hand-crafted by low-income artisans in the Philippines, India, Kenya, Egypt, and other countries).  Ten Thousand Villages Canada's 2012 cards aren't up yet, but should be soon.

Made by Survivors offers cards made by women victims of slavery and other human rights abuses in India and other countries.  Their cards are usually up in October.

Falling Flakes
Paperworks Studios

Please let me know if you find more of these types of card sources.

Thanks -
Anne