50+ gifts that give back to meaningful causes
Gifts from transformative nonprofits are a catalyst for change
Find the right gift for everyone on your list while supporting the work of social entrepreneurs and the communities they serve! These gifts cater to every passion, from creative souls to fitness enthusiasts, while supporting people who are working together to address critical issues like addiction, juvenile justice, and chronic homelessness.
When you shop with a nonprofit organization, you’re giving so much more than a gift.
Every person can make a difference right where they are. When we work together to help each other, we solve real challenges and make our communities thrive. You can see that in the inspiring work of each and every organization on this list — they’re making an impact. And by giving a gift for a good cause, so can you.
“Gifts that Do Good,” as seen in Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine Gift Guide, Kourtney Kardashian Barker’s Poosh, and The Kelly Clarkson Show.
For the chef
From holiday gift boxes that support youth empowerment to handcrafted snacks, jams, and coffee that fuel community transformation, each item helps uplift individuals and build stronger futures.
Café Momentum
Cook up your own creations with Café Momentum’s holiday gift boxes, which support justice-involved youth on their path to realizing their full potential.
Women’s Bean Project
By mixing the art of creating delicious snacks and culinary delights with life- and job-skills training, Women’s Bean Project sets women facing chronic unemployment on the path to self-sufficiency.
Bonton Farms
Bonton Farms works with disinvested Dallas neighborhoods to create sustainable solutions for their community. Try the coveted honey butter or blueberry jam and support the power of growing healthy and delicious food to fuel community transformation.
Urban Ventures
A bag of coffee beans from Urban Ventures is a step toward preparing under-resourced students in south Minneapolis for college or postsecondary education.
For a little self-care
Who doesn’t need a little self-care this year? Infused with essential oils and the restorative power of meaningful work, our social enterprises handmade items inspire peace and wellness.
Thistle Farms
Looking for the perfect candle set or essential oil to offer healing during the holidays? Thistle Farms provides a sanctuary of hope to survivors of trafficking, prostitution, and trauma through holistic residential care, including employment through crafting self-care products.
Benevolence Farm
Benevolence Farm provides transitional housing and sustainable farming employment to women leaving the North Carolina prison system. Invest in second chances with various body care products and candles.
Coalfield Development
Mountain Mindful, Coalfield Development’s social enterprise, offers soaps, mists, teas, and bath bombs made by people facing barriers to employment, including individuals with substance use disorder or former coal economy workers.
New Moms
Crafted by young moms forging new career paths through job training and academic coaching, each candle made by New Moms’ social enterprise Bright Endeavors lights the path toward stronger families and hopeful futures.
Brink Literacy Project
Manifest great gifting with Brink Literacy Project’s tarot deck. Made in partnership with authors like Margaret Atwood and Stephen Fry, the proceeds from Brink’s literature-inspired deck go toward increasing literacy rates and nurturing emerging and marginalized voices.
For the creative
We believe everyone has unique gifts and talents to contribute — and our artisan contributors create space for creative minds to share their talent with their communities. Now available online from select partners, these gifts inspire creativity and contribution.
Mobile Loaves & Fishes
Browse the Community Art House and place an order for your own commissioned work. Mobile Loaves & Fishes operates a 51-acre community designed to restore dignity for those experiencing chronic homelessness. Its micro-enterprises empower individuals to transform their lives by putting their passions to work.
PeaceLove
Find peace of mind through PeaceLove prints and apparel. PeaceLove believes that creative expression inspires and heals as it works with people, families, and organizations throughout the country to improve mental health and quality of life.
Bridle Up Hope
Bridle Up Hope’s jewelry and accessories support the mission of empowering girls and women to overcome personal struggles through a horsemanship program rooted in holistic wellness.
Unshattered
Shop premium handmade bags that are just as unique and beautiful as the women who make them. At Unshattered, each handbag has a seam of gold thread to honor the female makers of the bags, who are in addiction recovery.
Project Free 2 Fly
Project Free 2 Fly bridges the gap between crisis recovery and sustainable living for women in rural Tennessee by providing mentorship and skills training, enabling participants to manufacture the beautiful bags sold in the organization’s online store.
POETIC
From stickers to sweaters to mugs, many of the colorful items in POETIC’s Etsy shop are designed by girls receiving comprehensive, holistic support after experiencing trauma.
For the one who loves home decor
Share your values and beliefs with guests in your home through high-quality decor items that tell a story of recovery, growth, and self-actualization. Check out gifts that inspire conversation and represent your commitment to social change.
UTEC
The one-of-a-kind cutting boards and tongs from UTEC’s Madd Love Market are handcrafted by young men and women in Massachusetts who are at risk of long-term poverty due to gang involvement or criminal activity.
Coalfield Development
Buying a cutting board or piece of decor from Coalfield Development helps rebuild the Appalachian economy. Coalfield Development’s social enterprise produces breathtaking wood products, large or small, ready-made or custom-built — all in the name of developing West Virginia’s workforce.
Treetops Collective
Treetops Collective offers a wide variety of home goods, including pillows, wall art, and ceramic plates, to further the vision of transforming communities into places of belonging for new Americans.
Mile High Workshop
Every customizable pillow and upcycled banner tote from Mile High Workshop is sewn, packaged, and shipped by people receiving job training and finding community while transitioning from prison, addiction, and homelessness.
For the energetic
Looking for that perfect swag to support the nonprofits you love and give to your high-energy loved ones? See below for ways you can help spread the word (and wear the brand) of the Catalysts driving transformative change.
Surf Skate Science
Surf Skate Science provides students with hands-on learning opportunities, successfully pairing fun and education by providing purchasable kits so kids can craft their own skateboards and learn the science of kickflips.
The Phoenix
Get your sweat on this holiday season in customized sportswear by The Phoenix, an addiction recovery program that leverages a sober-active lifestyle to build supportive communities and reduce the stigma of addiction to help people heal.
Adaptive Training Foundation
Adaptive Training Foundation bridges the gap between functional rehabilitation and adapted sports for athletes with disabilities, emphasizing holistic recovery to build up physical prowess while providing space for emotional healing.
Downtown Boxing Gym
By creating an after-school academic and athletic program for under-resourced youth to learn and grow, Downtown Boxing Gym is supporting the doctors, lawyers, engineers, scientists, artists, and entrepreneurs of the future.
CONBODY
CONBODY’s mission to offer affordable and accessible fitness classes comes second only to the goal of destigmatizing the formerly incarcerated and easing their reintegration into society.
Row New York
Represent Row New York during your next workout to support its mission of cultivating confident young people through competitive rowing and academic guidance.
Fugees Family
Fugees Family provides specialized education to refugees and immigrants by leveraging the universal language of soccer.
Brilliant Detroit
Brilliant Detroit builds community around under-resourced parents and their young children to ensure that future students — regardless of their background — are prepared to thrive in school and beyond.
Merging Vets & Players
Merging Vets & Players combines physical fitness with peer-to-peer support to connect combat veterans and former professional athletes after taking off their respective uniforms.
Elevate USA
Elevate your next training session with Elevate USA-branded pullovers and jackets, supporting the mission of equipping underserved youth to thrive and contribute to their communities.
CONBODY
After getting the gear, check out CONBODY-TV for on-demand workout classes taught by formerly incarcerated instructors. All you need is yourself and a 9x6 area – the same size as a prison cell – to do the time together!
For the baker
Want to satisfy your sweet tooth or get creative in the kitchen? Check out a must-have cookbook or some delicious sweets to fill that holiday craving.
Bridge House
Indulge yourself with truffle brownies or send a box to a friend! Danconias Truffle Brownies is owned and operated by Community Table Kitchen, a social enterprise of Bridge House that helps adults experiencing homelessness unlock their potential through employment, housing, and counseling support.
Hot Bread Kitchen
The Hot Bread Kitchen Cookbook weaves together bread recipes as unique as the women who make them. Hot Bread Kitchen is a bakery that employs and empowers immigrant women, providing them with skills to succeed in the culinary industry.
Women’s Bean Project
Women’s Bean Project also has a line of delicious sweets! By mixing the art of creating go-to snacks and culinary delights with life and job skills training, the Women’s Bean Project sets women facing chronic unemployment on the path to self-sufficiency.
DV8 Kitchen
Fill your pantry with DV8 Kitchen’s baked goods and jams while supporting its efforts to provide second-chance employment for people in the early stages of substance abuse recovery.
For the reader
For the book lover in your life, these powerful reads offer inspiration, transformation, and insights from diverse voices sharing their personal journeys and lived experiences.
"Rise. Recover. Thrive. How I Got Strong, Got Sober, and Built a Movement of Hope"
In this "memoir with a mission," Scott Strode shares his extraordinary journey from addiction to recovery and founding The Phoenix, a national sober active community that has empowered more than half a million people to thrive in sobriety.
“The Folsom Prison Daybook of Despair, Grief, Hope and Art”
Sit by the fire with a daily reading of poems by incarcerated individuals of the Inside Circle at Folsom Prison. Inside Circle believes in the healing provided by inspiration and creates opportunities for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals to reduce recidivism and violence in their communities.
“Yoga: A Path for Healing and Recovery”
Put your mind and body at ease with a yoga mindfulness audiobook. Prison Yoga Project brings trauma-informed yoga practices to thousands of incarcerated people around the country, emphasizing improved mental health and personal rehabilitation for every participant.
“Hope Is Always Real”
Dorris Walker-Taylor, senior ambassador at Thistle Farms, is no stranger to adversity. Combining her remarkable journey with powerful insights and inspiration, Dorris offers a glimpse at the way God uses hope to heal wounds, mend broken relationships, and transform lives.
“Practically Divine”
Thistle Farms founder Becca Stevens’ book, “Practically Divine,” is an invitation to experience love in a new way and a testament to the concept that social change starts with creativity.
“A Redemptive Path Forward: From Incarceration to a Life of Activism”
The motivational memoir by Antong Lucky, a formerly incarcerated man who transformed from a founder and leader of the Dallas Bloods to a practitioner of peace and nonviolence in the neighborhood he once helped destroy.
“Learning America: One Woman’s Fight for Educational Justice for Refugee Children”
Luma Mufleh — a Muslim, gay, refugee woman from conservative Jordan — stumbled upon a group of pre-teens from Liberia, Afghanistan, and Sudan playing soccer in Clarkston, Georgia. “Learning America” traces the story of how Mufleh grew a group of kids into a soccer team and then into the Fugees Family.
“Going Right: A Logical Justification for Pursuing Your Dreams”
Authored by Logan Gelbrich, the co-founder of DEUCE Community, “Going Right” offers readers a new model of decision-making in the pursuit of happiness, providing logical arguments for why taking the leap and prioritizing your dreams is always the best choice.
“Life Changing Choices”
Co-authored by lived experience experts in foster care, “Life Changing Choices” offers insights into the failings of the foster care system while providing solutions of empowerment.
“Healing What’s Hidden: Practical Steps to Overcoming Trauma”
“Healing What’s Hidden,” co-authored by the founders of REBOOT Recovery, offers a fresh perspective on trauma healing with relatable true stories and practical next steps.
“Is It Safe?”
“Is It Safe?” is a collection of essays written by students of Mount Tamalpais College, a college preparatory program providing intellectually rigorous courses to students at San Quentin State Prison.
“Begging for Change: The Dollars and Sense of Making Nonprofits Responsive, Efficient, and Rewarding for All”
Robert Egger, the founder of DC Central Kitchen, tells the story of his career trajectory from nightclub manager to nonprofit executive, offering his personal experience as lessons learned and actionable advice for readers.
“The Food Fighters: A History of DC Central Kitchen”
“The Food Fighters” tells the 35-year history of DC Central Kitchen, redefining the issues of food waste, unemployment, mass incarceration, school nutrition, and chronic disease through award-winning programs and a gutsy, risk-taking mindset.
“When We Walk By”
“When We Walk By,” co-authored by the founder and CEO of Miracle Messages, explains the current crisis of homelessness through the lens of relational poverty while raising the voices of our unhoused neighbors and providing community-driven, evidence-based solutions.
“The Anti-Ableist Manifesto: Smashing Stereotypes, Forging Change, and Building a Disability-Inclusive World”
Diversability founder Tiffany Yu guides readers through an exploration of disability by sharing her personal journey and practical strategies for allyship.
“Supporting Neurodivergent and Autistic People for Their Transition into Adulthood”
Danny Combs, founder of TACT, authored a trailblazing resource for educators and employers to support and harness the strengths of autistic students, preparing them for successful transitions into adulthood and employment.
“Living Undivided”
Co-authored by UNDIVIDED leaders, “Living Undivided” boldly addresses racial injustice, offering a pathway for churches and communities to move from avoidance to connection and work toward healing and justice.
“From My Front Row Seat: A Collection of Stories from My Time Working Alongside Women in Recovery”
“From My Front Row Seat” weaves together stories from Susan Binkley’s life as the founder of Blue Monarch, touching on the realities of recovery, her faith, and the courageous women she walks alongside.
“A Place to Belong”
Lisa Stevens’ memoir tells the inspiring true story of a former teen mom and her journey to founding Hope House Colorado, revealing how faith and community can empower teen mothers to break the cycle of poverty.
"F(r)iction"
Brink Literacy Project’s literary magazine, F(r)iction, investigates important cultural themes and ideas while amplifying the creative works of diverse and underrepresented voices.
For the giving kind
For those who want to give directly, the gifts below will be donated to those who need them, whether it's a housewarming gift for someone transitioning out of homelessness, supplies for newborns, or holistic support for foster families.
Mobile Loaves & Fishes
If you are in the Austin, Texas area, donate a housewarming bundle and welcome new residents to Mobile Loaves & Fishes’ Community First! Village, where individuals experiencing chronic homelessness are supported in a nurturing environment and offered permanent, affordable microhomes.
Brigid’s Path
Donate supplies to help babies in the Brigid’s Path community who are withdrawing from prenatal drug use.
National Angels Love Box
The Love Box program provides fostering families with community and holistic support. This wrap-around help enables caregivers to continue the important and meaningful work of being foster parents.
For the conscious consumer
The shops below offer products that not only delight but also empower by supporting entrepreneurs, refugees, people with disabilities, or those overcoming adversity through meaningful work and creativity.
Rocky Mountain MicroFinance Institute
Rocky Mountain MicroFinance Institute empowers creative-minded, motivated individuals with business ideas to realize their unique potential through entrepreneurship. Shop with the small businesses that have graduated from RMMFI’s boot camp.
Rising Tide Capital
Browse through Rising Tide Capital’s Impact Shopping Guide, a curated collection of entrepreneurs’ products ranging from fashion, food, décor, beauty, arts, books, and wellness.
Miry’s List
These four different spices offer one way to support newly arrived refugee families in 24 states across the country, with all proceeds going toward Miry’s List!
Diversability
Check out Diversability’s online shop to find an array of goods — from totes to tees to mugs — that amplify the voices of people with disabilities and elevate disability pride.
Good Soil
Shop Good Soil’s Gift Guide to support Black- and minority-owned business owners by choosing from a wide variety of products, including Christmas ornaments, clothing, and mugs.
The Other Side Academy
The Other Side Academy offers one-of-a-kind succulent arrangements made by those overcoming barriers and transforming their lives while residing in The Other Side Village.
Blue Monarch
With a recipe for recovery, Blue Monarch offers its residents a chance to rebuild their lives by making hand-crafted granola and other crafts with a purpose. Each bag of wholesome granola features an enclosed photo of the incredible Blue Monarch baker and her story of addiction recovery and redemption.
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