It’s the time of year again where we all start thinking about Christmas shopping. And like any good planner, I have a process. I make a list of our loved ones, and next to their names, my husband and I write down gift ideas. Then, for the things we can’t get online, we strategically plan our shopping routes to avoid making any unnecessary trips to over crowded stores. Not revolutionary, but it works—mostly.

Some years, coming up with gift ideas is easy, or we’re blessed with help. Others, however, it seems our Christmas shopping will never end, as we search for something we haven’t yet thought of. Usually, our greatest struggle is that we both want our gifts to have meaning—which isn’t easy, or always possible.

For this reason, today I want to share with you a few companies and organizations that not only offer some great gift ideas, but also hold a lot of meaning. Besides producing great items, each company seeks to employ or source their goods from artisans or farmers in developing countries. Rather than sending temporary charity to these areas, they bring lasting revenue and jobs to hardworking and gifted people.

All the organizations/companies listed below are ones we have bought from or have supported in some way, and I am sharing them with you today because I love what they do. None of them know about this post, nor will I be receiving any compensation.

Happy Shopping!

FashionAble While living in Ethiopia, FashionAble’s founder, Barrett Ward, discovered that women coming out of the sex trade were having a hard time finding work. By employing them to make scarves to sell abroad, FashionAble was born. Since then, they have expanded to making leather bags, jewelry, and household items. They now employ women all over the world, including in the US (Read more of their story). I love their scarves (I am wearing one in my sidebar photo), and their leather totes are on my “someday” wish list.

Preemptive Love: The reports coming out of the middle east for a long time have been heartbreaking. But when I learned about the work Preemptive Love does in Iraq, I felt incredibly hopeful. Preemptive Love provides aid to families fleeing Isis, and heart surgeries to children in war torn areas of Iraq. They make a way for at-risk children to attend school. And most recently have provided grants to refugees, empowering them to start their own soap-making businesses in Iraq. In the midst of unfathomable destruction, Preemptive Love is helping families rebuild right where they are. Check out their online shop for Sisterhood or Kinsman Soap.

Noonday:  Jessica Honegger founded noonday when she bought beautifully handcrafted jewelry from Uganda, and sold it in the States to make money to adopt her little boy from Rwanda. Since then, she has partnered with Artisans all over the world—not only to sell their goods in the States, but to also empower them to build sustainable businesses in their own communities (read more of their story). They sell beautiful jewelry and some of my favorite earrings are Noonday.

Dean’s Beans: If you are a coffee lover like I am, you know that freshly roasted beans is a big deal. But, what if I told you that freshly roasted, organic, Fair Trade coffee can be delivered as a Christmas Gift to your BFF or family member—while doing a lot of good in the world? Let me tell you about my favorite Coffee:

Dean’s Beans is organic, Fair Trade, and their whole mission is “to use high quality specialty coffee as a vehicle for progressive change throughout the coffeelands of Asia, Africa and the Americas.” They not only produce an amazing cup of Joe, they also use coffee as an opportunity to bring education, social change, and environmental stability to some of the roughest places of our world. To read more of about their mission, click here. To order some delicious, freshly roasted coffee for you or a friend, click here.

What companies do you love that sell great gifts and make our world a better place?

 

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