Looking for rhinoceros head to mount in your trophy room, but don’t really feel like slaying a giant rhino today? UncommonGoods has the answer. This Rhino Head
is handmade in Haiti from 100% recycled newspaper, cardboard and paper. Its green head and white horn will made a great conversation piece and addition to your den.

Sales support artists in Carribbean Craft, an FTC-supported job workshop for craftsmen living in temporary housing after the earthquake. The design was done collaboratively with Aid to Artisans.

This Christmas, want to give a powerful computer to someone who desperately needs one for only $20? Believe it or not, it’s possible with Camara Education, a charity that’s working to alleviate poverty in Africa by using the power of education and technology (Camara is a west African word that means “one who teaches with experience”).

The charity was founded in Ireland in 2005, but they’ve established a 501(c)(3) presence here in the United States, meaning all your donations are tax-deductible. Typically, they’ll take donations from businesses who are disposing of used but perfectly good computers, refurbish them, and work with schools in Africa to learn how to use them.

Since 2005, Camara has sent over 27,000 computers loaded with educational content to over 1000 schools in Africa. The result? Students and teachers in some of the most disadvantaged areas in the world have access to “eLearning Centers” in their schools which will make it easier for them to learn skills and get employed, breaking the cycle of poverty. The picture you see here is of students in Grandsons of Abraham School, Kenya, experiencing Camara computers for the first time.

One thing that really impresses me about Camara is that after you donate, they’ll give you a Tracking ID. When you enter it online, you can track exactly where your donation is as the computer you fund is purchased and makes its way to a school in Africa. This kind of transparency is very refreshing and something I hope other charities can learn from.

This is one of those rare charities that do good twice. They keep computers from filling up landfills, and find a way to get them to people who desperately need them.

To sponsor a computer, visit their site today.

Well, it’s that time of year again. Macy’s is selling the Aflac Duck. In 2008, he was wearing a red parka. In 2009 he wore a Christmas tree outfit.

This year he’s back, this time with a hunter’s cap (how ironic) and a stylish knitted scarf. He comes in both a 10 inch version and a 6 inch version. As always, squeeze his belly and he yells AFLAAAAAAAC!

It’s more than just a clever advertising stunt, of course. All proceeds from sales of these ducks will be donated by Macy’s and Aflac to benefit cancer treatment and research at more than 50 children’s hospitals across the nation

To get yours, click the GO button to search Macys.com:

On this blog we like to identify gifts where a percentage is donated to a great cause. But wouldn’t it be great if ANY gift you bought could go towards a great cause? There are a few sites out there like this, and the newest one is Buy4.com.

Buy4 works on an affiliate model, meaning that when you “click” through to a participating merchant’s Web site from Buy4.com and purchase an item, the merchant will pay a percentage of that transaction to them, and they in turn will donate that money to a charity which you designate.

It doesn’t cost you any extra money–the price you pay when you check out of the merchant’s account is exactly the same whether you clicked through from Buy4.com or not.

Buy4.com has done a few things that I haven’t seen other similar sites do. First, they have connected to a database that lists over 1.5 million registered 501(c)(3) charities, so you can choose literally any charity you like. I was able to pull up the little church I used to attend back in New Jersey.

Second, they have over 1,700 online retailers you can click through to, big names like 1-800-Flowers, Target, Amazon.com, and Macy’s. In other words, places you’ll be shopping anyway. In many cases, click through to these companies not only allow you to donate a portion of proceeds, they’ll also get you some good deals along the way, like free shipping or a dollar or percentage savings.

Third, they keep great track of how much you’ve earned for your charity through their online dashboard.

Fourth,  they have a partnership page which any charity can use for free to encourage fundraising simply by encouraging members or fans to shop through.

As I said, ideas like this have been done already, but this is probably one of the more clean and professional executions of it. I wish them the best of luck as they launch.

When talking with my sister at dinner a few weeks ago, the subject turned to reading. As kids, we were voracious readers. When the Scholastic Book Club newsletter came to us in our grade schools, we’d circle all the books we could, great books like Encyclopedia Brown, The Cricket in Times Square, The Phantom Tollbooth were our best friends growing up. She bought a whole set of beloved children’s books for our nieces, but sadly when she asked if they’d read the books, they told her that just didn’t have the time. Sadly, I’ve even heard stories that the Book Clubs themselves have devolved into a catalog of toys and junk for kids.

It seems like an epidemic. Kids don’t seem to read anymore. We live in a world where more than three paragraphs of text on a Web page are called too much. We’re too busy to write complete sentences, so we write things like “LOL”, “LMAO”, and “BFF”. That’s just sad. Because a great book can inspire you, can lift you up, and can broaden your world. If you look at the most successful people in the world, most of them can rattle off a list of their favorite books.

I recently got a nice email from Brad, the founder of Gone Reading International, LLC. His is an amazing organzation that fund new libraries and literacy projects around the developing world. It’s no coincidence that literacy rate is one of the statistics by which people judge whether a country is successful. There’s a cause-and-effect relationship there. It’s not that once people get rich, they can afford books. It’s quite the opposite. It’s when people fill themselves with knowledge and inspiration from authors of the past that they can build upon the things they read and achieve greater things themselves. That’s why tyrants as recent as the Nazis in the 1930s or the Communists in China’s Cultural Revolution of the 1960s destroyed books. Allowing the masses to have knowledge was just too dangerous to their grip on power.

What organizations like Gone Reading International do is the opposite. By partnering with organizations like READ Global and Ethipoia Reads, they don’t just give people in developing areas a handout. They equip them with one of the most powerful gifts of all: the gift of reading. And in doing this they can stop the cycle of despair and hopelessness and help change their world for the better.

GoneReading.Com has a large assortment of high quality gifts that you can send to the avid reader in your life (or to something who has a budding interest in reading which you’d like to encourage). Brad was kind enough to send me some products to review.

My favorite product is this apron that says “Jane Austen for President”. I really like this idea–surely the woman who brought together Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy could figure out how to solve the debt crisis and the conflict in the Middle East!

It’s funny, but recently on Brad’s blog he wrote a series called “A Dude Reads Jane Austen”. It’s been years since I picked up Pride and Prejudice, but reading his thoughts just made me want to pick it up again.

I also got a chance to look at some of GoneReading.com’s mugs:

There’s a Jane Austen for President mug and a cute mug showing GoneReading.com’s logo with an alien pointing a ray gun at you and saying “Take Me To Your Reader”. These mugs were actually really, really high quality…very sturdy and taller than your traditional mug.

There’s a whole range of gifts for book lovers at GoneReading.com, ranging from T-Shirts to Tote Bags to baby onesies to mugs and aprons. You’re sure to find something great for the book lover in your life.

I want to thank Brand for reaching out, and encourage you to support this fantastic organization!

The baby company Carter’s has a great deal going on now where you can buy some of the cutest stuffed animals around for baby, and all proceeds will benefit The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society under their Light the Night program. You can choose from the three cute critters shown above, a gorilla, a giraffe, and my personal favorite, an elephant.

As an extra bonus, if you spent $40 or more at Carter’s, take 20% off by using promo code schoolbus.

Traditionally, the giving of wedding gifts was a way for friends and family to help a young couple get started as they move out of their parents’ home and start their new life in an empty new home. Of course, these days couples are waiting longer before getting married. So what happens when the bride and groom already have all the linens and toasters and cookware they need–twice over? And just writing on the invitation “no need for a gift, your presence is gift enough” is nice, but at the end of the day guests feel unsettled because, well, it’s bred into society that you’re supposed to give something at a wedding (plus they feel ridiculous when everyone ignores the instructions and lavishes presents anyway).

The I DO Foundation has a very cool solution. They allow the couple to set up what they call charity registries.  Just like with a gift registry, guests can donate to a number of charitable causes securely online. The donations are completely tax deductible. The charities range from health to environmental cuases, to social justice charities to community development to educational and children’s charities. Chances are your guests will find a charity of their liking.

Having said all that, getting cool presents is a part of getting married, of course. The I DO Foundation also provides a Charitable Gift Registry where your guests can buy from a number of well-known retail sites and a percentage of proceeds to go to charity (the purchaser pays what he or she would anyway, the extra is taken out of the retailer). It’s a way to do good while still getting the goods

I was shopping at the new REI in Carle Place, New York the other day and stumbled across this.

I love my iPhone, but one of the annoyances is how quickly the battery runs out. When I first got my phone, I thought that surely the battery must be defective. I’d leave the house with a full charge, and it’d be nearly empty by the time I got home. But after looking online, I realized this was par for the course. I’ve heard from Android owners similar things. Phones these days just suck up power thirstily, given all the processing power they use.

There have also been times I’ve gone on long bike rides and hikes and my phone would meet the same demise. I have a charger in my car, in my house, and at my office. But sometimes you just can’t be around a charger.

This is where the GOAL ZERO Guide 10 Adventure Kit with 4 Goal Zero AA Batteries really comes in handy. I’m always looking for great solar chargers, but to date I’ve been disappointed. I tried the Solio charger, but the design was so confusing I could never figure out how to use it. Other flimsy solar panels would break immediately or hold only a few seconds of charge.

The Goalo is a rigid set of two big solar panels, which conveniently folds up flat to the size of a hardcover book.  To use it, you unfold it and expose it to direct sunlight. You can either charge your phone directly or charge a pack of 4 AA or AAA rechargeable batteries (the battery pack itself can be used to charge your phone as well). It works for any device that can be charged with a USB plug or a 12V cigarette lighter plug.

Note that you do need direct sunlight; I tried charging under a lamp but to no avail. With direct sun you can charge an iPod in two hours, a GPS in two hours, a iPhone or another cell phone in four hours, and so on. The iPhone can be finicky, so if you can’t charge it directly from the solar cell, you can always charge the AA batteries first, and then charge the iPhone from that.

All in all, solar technology is still evolving, but this device can literally be a life-saver if you’re stuck  somewhere with no power and your phone is completely drained.

GOAL ZERO has a pretty amazing history. The company was first founded to provide light in schools and orphanages around Africa. To this day, you’ll also be helping Tifle Humanitarian by buying their products. For more information, visit www.tifle.org.

Hurry! You only have hours left to bid on bags signed by celebrities in the The Celebrity Baggage Auction, a clever set of eBay auctions being sponsored by JetBlue where 100% of the proceeds will help dosomething.org, a charity set up to encourage youth around the country to do something for a good cause. There are 28 bags up for auction, all ending on Monday, June 6.

There’s an impressive number of celebrities who have agree to lend their names and their signatures to the cause, from actors and actresses to singers. Country music fans will be happy to know that three of the top five auctions are currently country music stars (a handbag and photo from Sara Evans, a guitar from Taylor Swift, and a duffel bag an CD from Martina McBride).

JetBlue is also urging people to visit its Facebook page, where they can get a chance to win a celebrity bag. They will donating $1 to DoSomething.org for every entry received.

Remember the pretzel hat that Princess Beatrice (Andrew and Fergie’s daughter) wore that was all the rage at the royal wedding?

Turns out Princess Beatrice auctioned the hat off on eBay last week.

The final total was £81,100.01, or about $131,000 in US dollars. As much derision and scorn as the hat generated, one thing is for sure: no other hat on any other head that day would have gone for as much!

Kudos to Princess Beatrice for having a sense of humor about the whole thing, and for turning the publicity into good. All of the money raised from this auction will go to support The Little Bee Initiative, which helps UNICEF UK and Children in Crisis.

If you missed out on the dress, it’s not too late! There are still auctions out there that support The Little Bee Initiative. Granted, the only item available right now is a Margaret Thatcher Nutcracker, which is almost as ridiculous as the hat!