This year, Christmas giving with a purpose

NEW YORK

ETP Inc. usually sends elaborate cookie and fruit baskets to its clients as a holiday gift. But, this year, the nonprofit management consultant and human resources firm is giving a donation to a World Trade Center relief fund.

Arlington, Va., resident Laura Monti, concerned that traditional charities won't be getting enough contributions, is asking relatives and friends to donate money to the Nature Conservancy in her name instead of buying her a gift.

Andea Ferrari and her husband, Louis, are planning to take their children from Rochester to New York City - not to shop or see the bright lights, but to pay their respects by leaving flowers at a victims' shrine.

"We'll make this our Christmas present to ourselves," says Mrs. Ferrari, mother of 7-year-old Frankie and 5-year-old Danny.

Yes, many Americans this holiday season are marching to the beat of a different drummer. On the heels of the terrorist attacks, some are forgoing the annual shopping binge and instead making contributions or scaling down their purchases. Holiday gift fairs are springing up that direct their profits to charities. Even some retailers are getting into the act, donating a percentage of their profits or hosting benefits for the surviving families. It's as if someone decided to make a real-life remake of the ending of Frank Capra's famous movie, "It's a Wonderful Life."

"There is a lot of evidence that after Sept. 11, people have refocused on core values, and they are asking themselves the question, 'How can I get back to the things in life that really matter to me?' " says Juliet Schor, a Boston College sociology professor. "It's been a wake-up call for many who find themselves operating in a world of excess."

A recent poll conducted for the environmental group Center for a New American Dream found that 63 percent of Americans are planning to make the holiday more meaningful as a result of the recent tragedy. Since October, the group has seen a doubling of visitors to its website. "People want to be connected to people, and our message is to keep things in balance and get in touch with what matters," says executive director Betsy Taylor.

One of those people is Ms. Monti, a graduate student at the University of Maryland. After Sept. 11, she decided that her biggest holiday priority is spending more time with her 9-month-old son. So she told her parents and husband, who works for a credit-card company, to donate money to the Nature Conservancy. "Donating to protect the environment is more important than stuff," she says. "This is the first time I've done this, but I don't know why I didn't think of it before."

One of the reasons people haven't thought of it before, says Ms. Schor, is that the booming economy meant the media spent a lot of time talking about prosperity. "The ordinary person became invisible," she says. "But, 9/11, while it didn't make them more visible, made the concept of need more visible. We realized there were all sorts of different people who worked in the World Trade Center - not just investment bankers. There is a feeling we are all in this together."

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