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Sweet charity
Katy McAulay tried to go through one day without
spending a single bean and
ended it examining the
world of giving. So who should receive your donations and how far do they actually go?
ews flash: I bought nothing
today. I wasn’t in a coma. I
didn‘t have my wallet stolen. But. in a move that may not have been particularly wise considering my job title. I decided it was time to do my bit for an international movement that challenges the public to switch off from shopping for just one day.
Conceived in l993 by Vancouver- based anti-consumerist magazine Adbusrws. International Buy Nothing Day occurs on the last Saturday in November across Europe (Americans celebrate it on the Friday after Thanksgiving). but that's not to say consumers aren‘t welcome to tie up their purse strings on any other day. Of course. buying nothing for one day in itself isn‘t going to make a huge . difference. while buying nothing for the rest of your life is a concept that also falls flat on its arse unless you are willing to throw morality to the wind and get really good at shoplifting. But according to Adhusrers. this simple idea could have a lasting effect on you. ‘Buy Nothing Day isn‘t about
changing your lifestyle for just one
day. it's a lasting relationship: maybe a life-changing experience] booms its website. ‘We aim to make Buy Nothing Day stick in people‘s minds so they turn their back on the throwaway society we have become.‘ I've got to admit. my lunch hour in the centre of town with nothing but some home—made sandwiches for company was tough. However. shimmying past the late-night shoppers to arrive home. bag-free. I began to feel a little bit smug. That's when I turned on my laptop to discover a belated birthday email containing a £25 Amazon gift voucher. Reader. I cracked and started to fish around for a loophole that would enable me to spend some cash.
Of course. if the shopper in you just can‘t be suppressed. there are ways to spend money without those pesky guilt pangs. You could buy something for someone else. Even better. you could buy something for someone else that benefits someone else who really needs it.
Confused? It‘s called ()xfam Unwrapped and it‘s an innovative gift service that enables you to buy goats. seeds. orchards and camels
for a friend. As gift-wrapping a grumpy, spitting. seven-foot animal may prove problematic. vouchers are issued to the recipient instead. saying: “I‘ve bought you a camel; but I’ve sent it to someone who needs it more than you.’ In Somaliland. a camel can provide milk for nourishment during droughts. can carry houses and children on its back and, as Malcolm Fleming. spokesperson for the charity. puts it. embodies a way of giving that benefits everyone. ‘It’s a gift that gives twice. as both money and much needed resources are sent to countries in need. Goats and seedlings were popular choices last Christmas in Scotland.’
A camel will set you back £95 but other gifts include planting an allotment for £24 or purchasing two textbooks for schoolchildren costing a mere £6. Visiting www.greatgifts.org will expand your choices. It provides a good summary of some of the gift options out there provided by a range of charities from EthiopiAid to the World Land Trust. Those who fancy themselves as entrepreneurs can spend £85 to establish a carpenter’s shop in Africa. £30 will buy you a bike for a midwife in Ethiopia. Alternatively, save the rainforest one acre at a time — £25 buys 4840 square yards of bug- infested jungle — while if you can afford £2500 for 100 acres, you can name your rainforest reserve. Closer to home. £20 will buy ten metres of rope to keep monkeys happily swinging in London Zoo.
That‘s not to say that if you donated £20 to Oxfam. it wouldn’t go towards buying a goat anyway, but
THERE ARE WAYS TO SPEND MONEY WITHOUT THOSE PESKY GUILT PANGS
such gift schemes seem to be a way of putting the public’s mind at rest about what their money is actually spent on. The main organisation representing charities. the National Council for Voluntary Organisations. says it receives calls every week asking for lists that rank the performance of charities. While it says such tables can be misleading. a rifle through the accounts information provided by charities online or organisations such as Charities Direct can throw some light on how the big players spend your cash and enable those die-hard shoppers to make informed choices. So if you must shop, do it wisely.
www.buynothingday.co.uk, www.greatgifts.org
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