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Valentine’s Day 2019: Last-Minute Charitable Gift Ideas
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Valentines Day charitable gift ideas

It’s Valentine’s Day!!! It’s a great day to show the people in our lives how much we love them. But it’s also a good time to spread the love to others with some generosity and charity.

If you’re still searching for a last-minute gift, or perhaps would like something extra to give, consider some of these thoughtful, stress-free, last-minute charitable gifts this Valentine’s Day.

See below for our list of Last-Minute Charitable Gift Ideas For Valentine’s Day.

Here’s what you can do: Make a charitable donation online — in some instances you can do so in the recipient’s name — then print out the e-card or other message offered. You can add this to an existing gift or give it on its own. To accompany this, you can run over to your local Walgreens or CVS (or any kind of pharmacy type place), grab a tiny box of chocolates and/or small plush animal, put it together with the charitable gift print-out into a pretty gift bag (add tissue paper if possible to fancy it up), which will make a lovely presentation.

Oh, and most of these donations are tax-deductible! So you’ll be helping others, while giving the gift.

Donate Your Valentine’s Day To Charity

In recent years, Dave3 and I order in a heart-shaped pizza for $14 from our local pizzeria and take the money we would have spent on going out for an overpriced meal and “donate” it to one of the smaller animal/wildlife shelters/rescues. You can look up rescues in your area to donate, and then (at some point) go visit it to see the animals you’ve helped. Here’s a few I regularly donate to:

All About Cats
Strong Island Animal Rescue League
WINORR- Wildlife In Need of Rescue and Rehabilitation
Wildlife Reptile Rescue

Adopt A Pet

If you’re in a committed relationship where you can adopt a pet together, why not take the time on Valentine’s Day to welcome a furry new love into your life? (Disclaimer: Animals are not toys to be returned, so please be ready and willing to become a pet parent.)

Below are some places you can go to adopt, but there’s likely plenty of places near you. These are just the organizations I’ve had experience with, but there are so many adoption specials happening all over the country this week.

Best Friends Animal Society: See the promotions they have for the month, and search in your area for places in their network. (You can also sponsor the animals that already live at the Sanctuaries.)
North Shore Animal League
ASPCA

Name A Roach At The Zoo

Name A Roach Bronx Zoo

This is one of my favorite things to do: Name a roach after someone special!

The Bronx Zoo in New York, via the Wildlife Conservation Society, gives people the opportunity to Name A Roach — you’d be naming one of the tens of thousands of Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches that reside at the zoo. This is a unique way to say “I love you” for sure. Also, this is a fun Valentine gift to give to your child, and if you’re in the NYC area (or plan to be), you can take your child to visit these creatures in person. Kids love bugs!

“Adopt” An Elephant

Elephants are truly magnificent creatures, and they live a long time. Make a donation to symbolically Adopt An Elephant for your love from The Elephant Sanctuary, and watch as these beings live their full lives in peace. The donation comes with a digital email certificate, which you can print out and give to your Valentine — you might be able to find a plush elephant at the card shop or even a pharmacy chain to pair with this.

Here’s a video of the African elephants at the sanctuary enjoying their chocolate-covered strawberry Valentine’s Day treats:

FYI: This also makes a perfect gift for a 14th anniversary. (The anniversary gift for 14 years was traditionally ivory, which actually leads to the dismemberment and death of elephants, so counteract that negativity by helping these animals instead.)

Sponsor “Loving Couple” Farm Animal Pairs

Woodstock Farm Sanctuary Valentine's Day 2019

Like humans, some animals pair up for long-term relationships/friendships. This Valentine’s Day, you can sponsor a “loving couple” farm animal pair for your love. Here are some organizations that rescue farm animals that have been spared from the slaughterhouse that are offering up sponsorships.

Farm Sanctuary (see their #BetterTogether campaign)
Woodstock Farm Sanctuary (see their Valentine’s Day page)
Catskill Animal Sanctuary

Your gift recipient will eventually receive in the mail a personalized adoption certificate and color photo of the animal, but for your last-minute needs, print up the details on the animal you picked, and/or send the digital cards that come along with these donations. (Again, you can run to a local shop to see if they have a plush animal that matches the one you’re sponsoring.)

Sponsor A Bat At A Sanctuary

I LOVE BATS! And thanks to Dracula, so do lots of people. So consider sponsoring a rescued bat this Valentine’s Day. Here are some organizations you can donate to,

Bat World Sanctuary
Batcon
bats.org.uk (they have Valentine’s Day ecards you can send)

Donate to a Wildlife Sanctuary

World Wildlife Fund Valentine's Day gif

There several wildlife organizations where you can donate to sponsor an animal like a tiger, bear, panda, penguin, and many more. Here’s a few:

World Wildlife Fund
Defenders Of Wildlife
Rabbit Welfare
House Rabbit Society
International Crane Foundation

Plant A Tree At A Park

Prospect Park Valentine's Day plant a tree

Donate to have trees planted at a park or nature reserve. Here are some places that offer this:

Plant A Tree in Prospect Park (Brooklyn, NY)
Trees Atlanta
Adopt an Acre of land through The Nature Conservancy (they also have ecards)

This gift is especially meaningful if you are planning a visit to one of these places. For instance, if you plan to go to New York, you can make a stop in Prospect Park and see the trees. It would also be the perfect spot for a proposal!

Donate Flowers To A Park

Central Park Valentine's Day Love is in the air

You can also donate to plant flowers! Do an online search for parks in your area that offer this, or choose from one below.

Central Park Conservancy: Donate to plant Daffodils or Tulips and get an ecard to send to the recipient. Here you’ll have flowers planted at New York City’s famous Central Park, and as with the aforementioned tree donation, you can add this on to a trip if you have something like that planned, or you can give this on its own knowing that you are helping to beautify the Earth.

Nyack Park Conservancy
Denver Parks and Recreation

Lifesaving Gifts

Save The Children Valentine's Day

Giving to animals and nature is a wonderful thing, but so is helping your fellow man. The following organizations offer lifesaving gifts for people, such as vaccines, medical supplies, schooling, and more; some also offer sponsorship for children in need-based areas.

UNICEF (see their Give Love packages)
Save The Children
World Vision

CharityChoice Gift Cards

Valentine's Day CharityChoice Gift Cards

Select an ecard or a downloadable card from CharityChoice Gift Cards from the Valentine’s Day designs. Once you pick a design, you can add a customized greeting and then choose from over 250 major charitable causes and hundreds of local charities to donate to in honor of someone special. You can also make it so that the gift recipient gets to choose the charity after you give them the card.

Remember, these all make great gifts on their own, but they go great if you’ve already gotten flowers, candy, plush, etc. And these are not only great for your significant other; they’re also a thoughtful gift for parents, siblings, children, or any family member or friend you want to send love to. It’s a nice way to show you care — about them and about the world around you — and makes a nice gesture. Bonus – most of these are tax-deductible.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

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