Choose gifts that give back

I Give

• The shopping site igive.com directs up to 26 percent of the cost of purchases from hundreds of retailers (including the Gap, Home Depot and Target) to any nonprofit you designate.

(Product) red

• Buy many popular items (including iPods, cell phones, clothes and even credit cards) in the signature red color, and a percentage of the proceeds goes to buy and distribute medicine to people with AIDS in Africa. Go to joinred.com.

UNICEF

• Find beautiful and reasonably priced gifts through unicef.org. All proceeds go to UNICEF, which feeds and educates some of the world's most disadvantaged children.

World Wildlife Fund

• Help save your favorite animal species by adopting a furry friend (you don't get to take it home) in the recipient's name through worldwildlife.org. She gets an adoption certificate and a stuffed animal (or other gift) as acknowledgement.

Network for Good

• Create a "gift basket" in a friend or family member's name at networkforgood.org, which allows you to give money to charities supporting issues such as child safety, housing and the elderly. Once you've chosen an issue, Network for Good lets you know which organizations will receive the funds.

Heifer International

• Donate a milk-producing cow, a goat or a hive of honey bees in the recipient's name. The gifts help struggling families all over the world by providing them with livestock that enables them to earn an income. Go to heifer.org for more information.