We all know someone who is hard to buy for. Giving the gift of a charitable donation around the holidays is a great way to say that you care without selecting a gift just for the sake of giving a gift. But what if you are that person who has everything? And you’ve got your whole family constantly asking you what you want? Enter: using CheckedTwice for charitable giving at Christmas!

The same way that you add tangible gift ideas to your wishlist, you can also add suggestions of a charitable donation to the organization of your choice. This is a great way to inspire your family to donate to a cause that you support as part of their holiday gift-giving efforts and it will make everyone feel warm and fuzzy. Here’s an example:

Michael is a big supporter of the Houston Food Bank. This Christmas, in addition to some of his other gift ideas, he goes to the food bank’s website and shares a link and their logo onto his wishlist. When his kids get around to their holiday shopping, they can see that he has suggested a donation to the food bank, they can click on the logo and be taken to the organization’s website, and make a donation on the web. Then for Christmas morning, maybe they can share in a nice card the details of the donation.

Here’s another way to do it and this is a little bit of a CheckedTwice hack. If you want to encourage donations of physical items, such as pet food for an animal shelter, you can create a dependent account for the organization (the same way as you would set up an account for a child). Once you’ve done that, you can populate the organization’s wishlist with items that you think or know they need. Make sure to leave some information about where items should be shipped or dropped off so that your family members know where to send the goods. Here’s what an SPCA wishlist might look like:

Are you involved with a local organization that is collecting items for a needy family? Create a shared wishlist for your family (a dependent account) to view that outlines the needs – “gift for 5 year old girl,” “toiletries,” “gift for 10 year old boy,” and your family can claim and buy items for the needy family or group and send them directly.

Adding an element of charitable giving is a wonderful way to keep the holiday spirit alive and we’re happy to be able to provide a way to help make it happen more easily. Sign up to use CheckedTwice this Christmas at www.checkedtwice.com.