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

 

Help a Charity by Submitting your Art

Dana Farber Cancer Institute, 2009

Are you an artist?  Each year, some of the charities on our site seek holiday art for their cards. 

The Dana Farber Cancer Institute asks for "artwork or photography featuring Boston Red Sox or New England Patriots-inspired images, winter scenes of familiar Boston landmarks, or New England beach scenes and lighthouses" for its successful card program. 

And each spring, artists throughout the world submit their work to Courage Cards, which benefits the Courage Center in Minnesota. 



Duke Children's Hospital and Health Center, 2010

Some non-profits request that the artists live nearby.  Adults and children who live in New Hampshire can submit their art to CASA of New Hampshire.  Duke Children's Hospital and Health Center seeks paintings and drawings from North Carolina children (under age 18). 

The Hunger Task Force of Milwaukee also asks for design submissions from local artists.

I'll start keeping a list of these organizations and put them on the site.  If you hear of other non-profits that accept card art submissions, please let me know.

Thanks -
Anne

2012 Designs Appearing

August is a great month to choose holiday cards.  Non-profits that have recently added new designs include The National Wildlife Federation, the Pine Tree Society (which helps disabled children and adults in Maine), the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and The National Arbor Day Foundation.

National Arbor Day Foundation

If you're considering sending Sahaya International's hand-embroidered cards, you'll need to order them before the end of this month; it takes between half a day and two days to create each intricate card.  The cards provide essential income for women and girls in southern India.

Anne

A Successful Season

Community Kitchens of Birmingham
2011 Tribute Card

What a great season.  More than 90,000 visitors and many orders -- from corporations, small businesses, individuals -- supporting responsible, effective charities.  Thank you!  Now, as usual, no new cards will appear on the site for a few months while we prepare for holiday 2012.

I'm working on a few ideas for the coming year, including a section featuring organizations that offer birthday, thank-you, and all-occasion greetings.  We'll also include a selection of new non-profits. 

Please check in with us in July.  Have a good spring, and thanks again.

Anne

Oregon Food Bank
2011 Tribute Card

New Year's Cards

CardsDirect

Cards with New Year's greetings are good for those who are a little behind schedule as well as those who want to avoid the religious-or-secular greeting decision.  Here is a sampling of charities that offer them.

City Harvest

City Harvest (a New York City food rescue organization) has created a pear card that reads, "Wishing You Peace and Abundance in the New Year."

Veterans Moving Forward

Veterans Moving Forward, which provides service dogs to military veterans, sells four New Year's card designs.

Sparkling New Year by Masha D'yans
Museum of Modern Art

"Sparkling New Year," by Masha D'yans, is from New York's Museum of Modern Art.

Tiny Prints / Children's Healthcare of Atlanta



Tiny Prints / Children's Healthcare of Atlanta


If you buy Tiny Prints photo cards through this link, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta will receive 15-20% of the order price.  (Take 10% off your order with code CHOA12.)

CardsDirect

CardsDirect

If you send New Year's cards from CardsDirect, you can choose to have 20% of the card price donated to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, For the Troops, Autism Speaks, or the National Multiple Sclerosis Society South Florida Chapter.  Just be sure to begin your order with the organizations' specific links (the ones used in the previous sentence) to make sure that the charities will benefit.

Anne

Photo Holiday Cards

Evergreen Wishes
American Cancer Society

There's still time to order holiday cards that include your photos.  Here are some of the nonprofits that invite you to include an image with your card order:

National Arbor Day Foundation
M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
American Cancer Society
Courage Center (a Minneapolis-based rehabilitation center)

Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta
UNICEF USA

National Wildlife Federation

Quite Content
National Wildlife Federation

The following organizations don't sell cards with your photo on the front, but you may insert your photos inside the card:

Miami Children’s Hospital
MADD Canada
Seattle Children's Hospital

 

CardsDirect

Finally, CardsDirect produces photo cards, and offers cards that benefit:

National Multiple Sclerosis Society, South Florida Chapter
Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
For the Troops
Autism Speaks

Anne