As I wrote yesterday, I will remember Paul Newman just as much for his charitable endeavors as I will for his movies. This got me thinking about ways that I could do more and how I could teach my teens some lessons in philanthropy. The website Changing the Present may be one step in that direction.

At Changing the Present, instead of giving your teen, spouse, friend, etc a material gift, you instead donate money to a cause in their name and a card will be sent to that person thanking them. There are many specific charities that already do this, but the nice thing about Changing the Present is that here you have choices.

There are many ways to choose your donation:

By Cause
Basic Needs - choices include Human Rights, Water and Education
Community - choices include Aging, Peace and Refugess
Environment - choices include Environment and Global Warming
Health and Safety - choices include Cancer, Global Health ad HIV/AIDS
Opportunity - choices include Social Entrepreneurs and Technology

By Gift Ideas
Who you are giving to - Choose fathers, mothers, kids, teens and they will provide choices of causes that these people would be most likely to be interested in
Events - Weddings, Valentines, Graduation - same as above
Price

By joining Changing the Present, you can also take advantage of their free wish lists, registries, and fundraising drives. Try giving your teen a present through this site to teach them about charity. And it can go both ways. Encourage them to give you a present this way also.

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