Cards on the table

See the article below about the Christmas cards that portion of sales go to charity. 

I wanted to point out that 100% of profits from the sales of the VCFS 22q11 Christmas cards goes directly to the VCFS 22q11 Foundation.  I would encourage you all to buy our cards and know that 100% goes to us!!!!! www.vcfsfa.org.au 

CHOICE looked into Christmas cards that give a portion of the sales to charity, and found even savvy consumers can misunderstand how much of their dollar goes to charity. Almost half the respondents in our online charity Christmas card survey expected that between 20-50% of the cost of a card would be donated to charity, and almost a third put that figure at 51-70%. With those figures in mind, it may surprise you to learn the actual percentage donated by many card providers.

 

Contents:

• 01Cards on the table
• 02Alternative charity gift giving

 

We found several charity Christmas card providers donating as little as 10% of the wholesale price of a card – which really amounts to small change. On the upside, charity cards are still a way to make a small contribution with an item you are likely to purchase at some point anyway.

• Flaming Rhino Design , one of the smaller greeting card providers we surveyed, donates 10% of the wholesale price. It has raised in excess of $410,000 for its chosen charity, The Salvation Army, since 1997 when the program began.
• Hallmark , Australia’s largest greeting card provider, contributes 10% of the wholesale cost of nominated card box sets to its chosen charity, the National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF) at both Christmas time and Mother's Day. This has resulted in donations totalling over $1 million since the program began in 2002.
• Of course, there are examples of card providers donating more than 10% too. Charity Connections is a small outfit based in Adelaide’s CBD that donates a whopping 79% of all proceeds to the 45 different charities it supports. The different charities and cards associated with them are listed on the website so you can choose who your money goes to.

However, probably the easiest way to ensure the highest amount of your money goes to the cause is to buy direct from the charity. Most now have websites where you can order online. One great example we found was the Cards4Kids program, which is run purely to assist Barnardos, a charity dedicated to helping children facing abuse or neglect. You can buy Christmas cards and other festive items online at Oxfam and Unicef. In these cases, all profits are delivered to the charity organisations. At Oxfam's website you can actually custom design your own printable cards or e-card, a personalised touch which is also a bonus for the environment.
While not strictly a charity, Mouth and Foot Painting Artists has been operating since 1956, allowing its members to completely support themselves through sales of their paintings, reproduced as cards and other items. Through illness, accident or birth defect, members have been deprived of the use of their hands, but taught themselves to paint with their feet or mouth. As the group is at pains to emphasise in its literature, "AMFPA is run by mouth and foot painting artists who want - not pity - but a chance to earn a living".

Other reasons to buy charity cards

Of course, buying a charity Christmas card provides more than just the sum of your donation. While the fundraising is an important element to charity Christmas cards, many organisations also see it as a way to raise awareness of a cause and a charity’s brand.

“Offering cards is just one way to engage people in our work at Christmas and spread brand awareness and goodwill,” says Barnardos Marketing Director, Jill Atherton. "The most effective way to help the children we care for is still to give a direct donation. That said, Cards4Kids, the social enterprise that produces and sells our cards, provides a valuable income stream and we are very glad to provide our supporters with the opportunity to involve us in their Christmas celebrations.”