Photo credit: Haft2 Inc.

Haft2 has the very good fortune of working with some of North America’s foremost not-for-profit organizations, from humanitarian development agencies to healthcare foundations; and from philosophers to cancer fighters. It’s for this reason that we are proud to introduce our no. 1 recommended gift: The Haft2COLOUR Calendar Project. This 2012 printed calendar highlights 11 initiatives from across our past and present not-for-profit client base, in the hopes of raising their awareness and revenue.

Photo credit: Haft2 Inc.

We work with a number of very talented designers, so we invited each of them to submit artwork for a given month of the calendar. Armed with only a colour and specific month that we determined, each designer came back with his or her own visual interpretation of what the month means to him or her, and the result is stunning.

Calendars are $30 CAD (plus shipping and handling) and can be ordered by emailing us at hello@haft2.com, thereby inspiring you to have a bright and colourful year of giving of your own.

It’s my very pleasure to write to you here, and we are grateful you’re a member of Haft2Know. Thank you for joining us this year, and every year. We hope this holiday is one of your best.

Jason Allen
Haft2

Photo credit: CharityBuzz.com

And here we are, just days – hours perhaps – away that period at the end of every year, when we largely leave our regular ways of life to spend more time at home, with our families and with old friends. So let’s wrap up our Haft2Know What2Give 2011 with our final top three gifts.

CharityBuzz.com is an auction site with a difference; all proceeds go entirely to a variety of charities. The offerings are varied, and can be unusual. There’s a vegan dinner with actor James Cromwell (estimated value $1,000). There’s also a custom chandelier made by the staff at Martha Stewart Living to hang at your next party, (estimated value $5,000) and the chance to be the proud owner of Justin Bieber’s pet snake that accompanied his wrist to the 2011 MTV Music Awards, (estimated value $b,leck).

All joking aside, since their inception in 2005, CharityBuzz.com has raised over $40 million for not-for-profit organizations worldwide. Indeed.

CharityBuzz.com

Jason Allen

Photo credit: peopleforgood.ca

Ok here’s a giftly holiday challenge for you. Tomorrow morning, buy a coffee for the stranger in line behind you. Really.

This is one of many mini challenges suggested by peopleforgood.ca, who have launched an online movement for goodness. Visitors to the site enter their own ideas to pay it forward, and there are some good ones. I particularly appreciated “Give a high-five to a stranger you pass on the street.” LOVE it! Ideas that resonate with the organization’s founders get turned into public ads, like the one pictured above at Yonge & Eglinton in Toronto.

I first discovered this movement with their iPhone app. When you tap or shake your phone, it presents you with a sweet little colourful challenge of goodness. (Inner warmth at no extra charge.)

peopleforgood.ca

Jason Allen