Holiday Watch: Hanukkah Gift Cards and Penguin Philanthropy

Charitable gift cards and holiday fund raising aren’t just an American phenomenon.

JGooders.com, a charity portal in Herzliya, Israel, offers charitable gift cards that people can give instead of Hanukkah presents. The person who receives the gift card can then choose a charitable beneficiary from the nearly 300 Jewish projects in 10 countries featured on the site.

Donors have contributed more than $100,000 through the site since it was founded in November 2008.

To try to spur more year-end giving, JGooders will give $1,000 to the project that raises the most money in December and $500 to the project that receives the largest number of contributions this month.

In other seasonal news, through December 21, children who play video games on Club Penguin can use the virtual coins they earn to vote on how $1-million Canadian will be divided among five charities.

Players have three causes from which to pick: kids who are poor, kids who are sick, and the environment. The money will be divvied up among organizations working in those areas: Partners in Health, War Child Canada, Free the Children, Rare Conservation, and the Wildlife Conservation Network.

This is the third year for the Coins for Change campaign. Last December, more than 2.5 million players donated 3 billion virtual coins.

This year’s campaign includes new ways that children can get involved. Through their penguin avatars, they can put up a personal donation booth in their virtual igloo, hold fund-raising parties for other penguin friends, or attend benefit concerts. In addition, the site offers suggestions for things that children can do to help others in their own neighborhoods.