ImportantGifts, Inc.

Overview

ImportantGifts is the nonprofit behind ChangingThePresent.org, which makes charitable giving more rewarding and convenient than ever before. In doing so, it helps nonprofits raise awareness and funding.

Mission

ImportantGifts seeks to raise awareness of the important problems we face and provide opportunities for people to make a difference.

History

ChangingThePresent.org launched in December 2006. We continue to add features and content to the website.

Program

ChangingThePresent.org, the website of ImportantGifts, will be the first comprehensive marketplace to bring modern business practices and efficiencies to the very inefficient $222 billion market in individual charitable giving.

Now, at ChangingThePresent.org, you can learn about and support any of half a million nonprofits. More than that, you can choose exactly what you want to do to make the world a better place. You can, for instance, preserve an acre of the rainforest, provide books for children, fund an hour of cancer research, provide a woman with a month of AIDS medicines, feed a family for a week, or sponsor cataract surgery to make a blind person see.

One way people are using this web site is as a meaningful alternative to traditional birthday, wedding and holiday gifts. The media has reported on the growing trend of the ‘donation gift,’ that is the charitable donation made in a friend’s name in lieu of a traditional present. ChangingThePresent.org takes gift donations to the next level. Choosing a particular donation gift, such as vaccinations for children, or meals for the homebound elderly makes the donation gift more rewarding to the giver and recipient. In addition, you can order a beautiful, personalized printed greeting card. You can choose the cover art and write a caption for the cover, write a personal message, and display the photograph and description of the gift you have made in your friend’s name, so that you can both see what you have accomplished together.

ChangingThePresent.org also provides profile pages, so you can share with friends your thoughts on making the world a better place, and on your favorite causes and favorite nonprofits.

Registries on ChangingThePresent.org let friends know the donation gifts we would find meaningful, and ensure the perfect gift. In addition to displaying our favorite nonprofits and donation gifts, the registries also let us comment on them, so our friends see why we care so much about them, and why they might also appreciate them.

Many people raise money for their favorite nonprofit, including through marathons, walkathons and bike-athons. Our Drives offer greater choice, more powerful tools, a more social experience and widgets, at a transaction fee that is one third to one half that of existing solutions.

Impact

We are helping nonprofits raise awareness and capture new funding, including some of the $250 billion that people in the United States now spend each year buying birthday, wedding and holiday gifts.

Goals This Year

Awareness, traffic, and donations! Please tell your friends about this website.

Board

Steven J. Spiegel, Chairman

Alton Parks
Chrysalis Projects

James Huysman, Psy. D., LCSW
Executive Director
Leeza Gibbons Memory Foundation

Countries of Operation

United States