Put more love in your holiday greetings with cards that benefit charity

If you're like me, the holiday season might be the only time of the year when many of you actually pick up a pen and write out longhand well-wishes to your friends, family, business associates, and acquaintances. 

If you are one of those who enjoys sending and receiving holiday greeting cards, I hope that instead of picking up something treacly and generic at the Hallmark store this year, you'll buy cards that financially support one of your favorite charities. It's a great way to show your far-flung loved ones that you're not just thinking of them, but also about the greater good!

After the jump you'll find a wide variety of holiday cards that benefit an equally wide array of causes. I think everyone can find at least one organization they can get behind to do some charity work while also sharing the holiday spirit!

  

 

Alzheimer's Association

The Alzheimer's Association and its network of local chapters throughout the country raise money to fund research on the condition, provide care and support to those afflicted, and promote risk reduction through engaged brain activity. This year they are offering three cards--each designed by an Alzheimer's patient--and providing the option of regular cards, personalized cards with blank envelopes, or personalized cards with personalized envelopes.

The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation

 
The Komen Foundation is an international network of organizations that works to eradicate breast cancer fatalities through research, education, screening and treatment. This year they're offering several different card designs as well as a few ornaments to grace your tree, window, or rear view mirror.

   

American Sociey for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

The ASPCA shop has a pack of five pet-themed cards as well as a wide array of toys and decorations that will make the season brighter for your human friends as well as their animal companions.

Make-A-Wish Foundation

Make-A-Wish grants the wishes of children with life-threatening illnesses to enrich the human experience with hope, strength, and joy. You can choose between ten physical card designs, eight varieties of e-card that the foundation will send out on your behalf, or a dozen different certificates that you can print yourself after making a donation. 

Citymeals-on-Wheels

Citymeals delivers daily meals to New York City's homebound elderly, to provide a continuous lifeline of nutritious food and human company, thereby helping them to live with dignity in their own familiar homes and communities. This year, there are six NYC-centric designs, each of which includes a donor insert card, informing the recipient that a financial gift was made to the organization on their behalf. 

The National Audubon Society 

The Audubon Society seeks to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds and other wildlife for the benefit of humanity and the earth's biological diversity. They have a broad array of card designs available this year (as well as ornaments and jigsaw puzzles), most featuring different species of birds. Each box of cards includes decorative return address labels and seals, and there is free imprinting on any order of three or more boxes.

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
 

The Boston-based Dana-Farber Institute has been fighting cancers for over 60 years, and may be most widely known as the people behind "The Jimmy Fund" which focuses on juvenile cancers and collects donations at moviehouses nationwide. This year they're providing dozens of card designs, e-cards and gifts, including Red Sox and Patriots themed options for the New England sports fans in your life! Some items are also available for in-person purchase at Paper Store locations in New Hampshire and eastern Massachusetts.

National Wildlife Federation

NWF has a whopping 106 nature-themed designs to choose from this year, to fit every animal lover's taste, with free imprinting and foil-lined envelopes made of recycled material. Also available are Thanksgiving cards (why not stock up for next year?) and personalized 2011 calendars to promote your business or community group. Additionally, the NWF is featuring a pre-season sale of 30% off orders completed before December 6, so get hopping! 

Cure Search for Children's Cancer

Formerly known as National Childhood Cancer Foundation, Cure Search supports a network of childhood cancer programs at institutions throughout North American, Australia, and Europe to provide state-of-the-art care to young people with cancer.  Their 40+ cards (including Hanukkah-specific greetings) are all designed by current or former patients, and feature a photo and bio of the young artist on the back of each card.

World Wildlife Fund

WWF is dedicated to protecting the world's wildlife and wildlands, and is the largest privately supported international conservation organization in the world. This year, they feature 13 nature-themed holiday cards (including two photo frame cards for you to personalize with your own family pictures) as well as non-seasonal note cards and gifts. 

New York Public Library

The NYPL serves the boroughs of Manhattan, Staten Island, and The Bronx with 83 lending branches and four research libraries, including its world famous location on Fifth Avenue in midtown. Their 2010 holiday card design features the iconic stone lions that guard the stairs of its home base, as well as a variety of ornaments, gift tags, and (of course) books.

The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization

NHPCO is committed to improving end of life care and expanding access to hospice care with the goal of profoundly enhancing quality of life for Americans with terminal illnesses and their loved ones. There are two cards (one non-denominational and one Hannukah-specific) as well as two holiday ornaments available.

God's Love We Deliver 

GLWD serves up free meals, nutrition information, and counseling to New Yorkers struggling with HIV/AIDS, cancer, and other life-threatening illnesses. Choose from six designs, and for a $10 donation each, the organization will personalize and mail the cards directly to the list of addresses you provide.

Autism Speaks

Since 2005, Autism Speaks has been providing funding for research into the causes, prevention, treatment, and eventual cure for autism, largely through their fund raising walk events. To further their fund raising efforts, they have four holiday card designs as well as three holiday ornaments to choose from this year. 

Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

LLS provides funding for research, patient services, education, and eventual eradication of these deadly blood cancers. This year, the group has designed three different single-sided cards featuring a 2011 calendar, so that you can keep blood cancer awareness visible year-round on your wall or desktop.

If none of these options suit your needs, there are links to numerous other holiday cards benefiting local charities around the country at http://www.cardsthatgive.org. 

An additional way to make a little change go a long way is to festoon your holiday mailings (and all of your letters throughout the year) with the US Postal Service's breast cancer stamp. So far, the stamp has raised more than $70 million for breast cancer research, and at the current semi-postal rate, every stamp you buy puts another 11 cents toward the goal of breast cancer eradication!

Happy shopping, and happy holidays!