Children of Soldiers Fund

Charitable gift giving is a worrying thing. When you give your spare change to the homeless guy you worry that he is going to spend it on the wrong things. When you contribute to those orphanages in Africa you worry whether you are propping up some despotic gangster turned politician general. Perhaps most worrying of all is when you give those charitable gifts you do not know how much of the cash gets through to the good cause. In fact giving a present that also benefits charities may seem like the perfect holiday gift, but in most cause-related marketing, less than 1 in $10s of your spend goes to the charities. Here are some ways to reduce the worry around charitable gift giving.Choose your charitable gift with care: Buying products for yourself and contributing to a cause is nothing new. Many of them can be very worthwhile purchases. For example, if you buy a bottle of Ethos Water, a subsidiary of Starbucks, the coffee company will donate 5 cents toward clean drinking water programs in developing nations. When you take home a red iPod Nano, a whole $10s of your money