Make Christmas Matter, an easy but effective way of gifting that actually changes lives for good, has been created by GreaterGood South Africa and is sponsored by the Cadiz Foundation. A highly innovative campaign that works online, it makes giving simple but meaningful to both donor and recipient.

Based on a quick and easy-to-use online shopping facility, Make Christmas Matter identifies carefully selected potential gifts like vegetable seedlings for community food gardens, mobility canes for the sight-impaired and access to toy libraries for marginalised rural children, with items ranging in price from just R50 to R1 000.

Says Chairman of the Cadiz Foundation, Dan Ahern: “We have been closely involved in the initiative since its inception in 2005 for its proven capacity to make a difference in an inventive and accessible way. It is a wonderful example of creative problem-solving. Many compassionate South Africans are overwhelmed by the adversity they witness around them and struggle to find ways of positively impacting on the lives of those less fortunate than themselves. Make Christmas Matter has been devised for just this reason. No matter how much you can give, the donation will be used constructively.”

To date, Make Christmas Matter has raised over R2 million for 22 development projects ranging from a family planning programme in the Northern Cape to an environmental project that manages the rehabilitation and release of animals back into the wild.

All Make Christmas Matter gifts are intended as an investment in a social development project in South Africa. Details are available by visiting makechristmasmatter.co.za.

Providing assurances for donors

Make Christmas Matter uses the GreaterGood SA intensive assessment process to select beneficiary projects. This process includes peer review panels, site visits, organisation and risk assessments, research, evaluation and detailed reporting, to assure donors their money goes towards effective, sustainable solutions to South Africa’s problems. All donations are properly spent and accounted for as organisations funded through Make Christmas Matter have to submit detailed reports on the progress and completion of their projects. Highlights from these reports are posted onto Great Good South Africa’s news pages, so donors can track how their gifts have helped to change lives.

How it works

Buying a gift is a simple three-step process:

1. Choose a great gift from makechristmasmatter.co.za.
   
2. Personalise an electronic gift card and send it to friends, family or business associates explaining what you have bought and the impact it will have.
   
3. Check out and know your gift has just helped to change lives in South Africa.
   

Avoid those last minute trolley dashes and frustrating queues and buy gifts online that change lives, without even leaving home. And for those who don’t celebrate Christmas, you can still make a difference all year round by buying gifts on gifts4good.co.za for any special occasion.

Make Christmas Matter’s building blocks for life

In the rural Umzinyathi district of KwaZulu-Natal, lies an isolated community called Mbuba. Elderly women manage the households while absent parents seek employment in the cities. Community leaders estimate that less than a quarter of the remaining adults are employed and almost half of families live below the poverty line. With only one pre-school, a primary school and no high school, children have limited access to learning and development opportunities.

Donations made to the Make Christmas Matter project will be used to install and equip an educational toy library in a secure container, improving the quality of play opportunities and providing children with constructive leisure-time activities. The library will include a covered play area where facilitated play sessions will introduce educational toys, games and the library concept. Over 200 local children will be able to borrow toys from the library and teachers will have access to the equipment to complement their lessons in class.

Sowing the seeds for learners

As part of the National Curriculum, schools are expected to include environmental topics but many lack the resources, skills or information to do this. The Eco-Schools support project aims to increase awareness of the natural environment among all sectors of the community in the Midlands Meander area. Focusing on rural schools, the programme helps teachers integrate environmental education into the teaching curriculum, with emphasis on wise resource use, creativity, sustainable living and community building.

The project aims to nurture capable, confident, curious children who are sensitive to environmental issues, who have the resilience to cope with a changing world and are able to contribute positively to their communities. Make Christmas Matter gifts will provide environment and conservation learning opportunities to 122 learners and five educators at Dargle Primary School; establishing a food garden, a recycling programme and taking learners on conservation field trips to areas of local natural significance.

The gift of a sparkling new kitchen

There’s an extraordinary nursing home in Pinelands, Cape Town, called St Josephs, that provides 24-hour nursing care to 145 chronically ill and disabled children who cannot be nursed at home. St Joseph’s addresses the overall needs of each child by providing physiotherapy and formal education up to Grade 7.

Make Christmas Matter donations will allow the home to upgrade their kitchen, fitting new stainless steel worktops, shelves and sinks to bring the home back into compliance with the most recent government health regulations. It will also ensure that the children in the care of St Josephs receive the very best in terms of hygienically prepared meals.

Priceless independence

There are over 724 000 people with sight disabilities in South Africa. One of the biggest challenges they face is poverty and the lack of resources to afford the tools and helpful devices they need for daily living. The South African National Council for the Blind (SANB) provides tools such as mobility canes and Braille paper to disadvantaged people with visual impairments across the country.

The SANCB, through its national network of over 100 member organisations, has identified a need for these devices in the Free State. Make Christmas Matter plans to provide mobility canes, signature guides, and liquid level indicators to 96 visually impaired people, restoring their dignity and independence.