Charity highlight: Handmade Cards

Hello and welcome to the first ever charity highlight on my site! If you have no clue what this is about, here is a page with more details to fill you in.

This month I'd like to highlight charities who focus on distributing handmade cards to people who are suffering one way or another. These cards are a simple way to make a positive impact on someone without needing a high skill level or a lot of spare money. In some cases (see below) it's even free!
To keep things focused, the charities below primarily target young kids in hospitals suffering from a variety of diseases, and on elderly people who are often isolated. Throughout my research into these charities I also found many US charities focused on cards for their troops or family members of their troops. If those speak to you more, a quick Ecosia/search engine search will reveal them to you.

I've separated the charities based on their location. With the exception of SmileCards (see below), I've sadly only managed to find charities with shipping addresses in the UK and the USA. CardzForKidz (see below) does distribute to locations worldwide, but they only have 1 shipping address located in the USA. If you happen to know of any in other countries, let me know and I'll add them.

Important!

Each charity has different needs and requirements. Requirements usually include making sure your cards are not personalized and the messages on them are often restricted for clearly stated reasons as well (e.g. No "Get well soon" messages because the recipient might be terminal). Before sending cards in a rush, make sure to read their submission guidelines. Some are in need of specifically themed cards, for example.

UK based

Cards For Bravery

Site: CardsForBravery.com
Any costs: Shipping costs to/within England. Material costs if you make your own cards with new materials.
Target: Children in the hospital.
Notes: You can nominate a specific person to receive your card, so it's a nice way to surprise someone you know who's in the hospital. Terms and conditions apply (see site).
My due diligence findings: Not found in the charity registry (as far as I found), but was founded by Katie (see her about me section) after noticing how receiving a card from a friend brightened her day (paraphrased) at the age of 13 when she was in the hospital due to her Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. She has received a grant and a local hero award within her community.

Post Pals

Site: PostPals.co.uk
Any costs: Shipping costs to/within the UK. Material costs if you make your own cards with new materials.
Target: Children in the hospital and their siblings.
Notes: Cards, letters, emails and gifts are all welcomed.
My due diligence findings: They're a registered UK charity, here is their government charity registry listing.
Special notes: This is a very personal way to help. You find a little pall by checking their Find Pal page, click on a child's picture and read their story before potentially sending them something. Their pages also have updates, which can include how their health is doing. There is also a memorial page as the sad reality is that not all of these brave kids have an illness with a high survivability rate. Making their lives a little brighter is an incredible way to make a positive difference, but keep in mind that through their updates and thank you notes within those updates you can also grow attached to them. Please ask yourself whether you would grow attached to the point that if they happen to lose their battle, you would suffer a major blow to your mental health. If this would be too much for you in your current position of life, let those of who can take care of them while you focus on others helped through the other charities on the list. You have to be kind to yourself as well as others. These kids matter and deserve kindness, but remember that you also matter.

US based

Bring Smiles to Seniors

Site: BringSmilesToSeniors.com
Any costs: Shipping to/within the USA. Material costs if you make your own cards with new materials.
Target: Seniors
Notes: Accepts handmade, physical cards as well as store bought cards. Volunteers to help in person are usually also in demand.
My due diligence findings: Registered as a non-profit organization (EIN 81-2548045). Nothing dodgy popped up during my other searches. :)

Card Care Connection

Site: CardCareConnection.com
Any costs: Shipping to/within the USA. Material costs if you make your own cards with new materials.
Target: Those battling cancer within the USA.
Notes: All cards are welcome, though larger quantities seem preferred. Use of high quality materials is also requested.
My due diligence findings: Registered as a non-profit organization (EIN: 45-3281902). Nothing nefarious popped up elsewhere. :)

Cards For Hospitalized Kids

Site: CardsForHospitalizedKids.com
Any costs: Shipping to/within the USA. Material costs if you make your own cards with new materials.
Target: Hospitalized Kids
Notes: Any and all homemade cards seem welcome. Great way to involve the youngest family members, for example.
My due diligence findings: Doesn't seem to be registered as a non-profit organization. Nothing nefarious popped up though. They have people from all over the world sending cards, including some US celebrities (see their celebrity supporters page).

Cards For Kidz

Site: CardzForKidz.org
Any costs: Shipping to/within the USA. Material costs if you make your own cards with new materials.
Target: Sick and recovering people (primarily kids) with distrubtion locations around the world (see map at the bottom of their homepage)
Notes: Also accepts handmade bookmarks. Cards in a large variety of languages are also free to be submitted.
My due diligence findings: Registered non-profit organization (EIN: 46-1594296) and well reviewed too.

Color A Smile

Site: ColorASmile.org
Any costs: Shipping to/within the USA. Material costs if you make your own cards with new materials.
Target: Seniors and US troops overseas, as well as anyone else in need of a smile according to their site.
Notes: You donate drawings using some templates from their site. These can be color-in drawings as well as free style drawings. Perfect way for young kids who enjoy making people smile!
My due diligence findings: Registered non-profit organization (EIN: 22-3179537). Nothing nefarious popped up elsewhere. :)

Send A Smile Today

Site: SendASmileToday.org
Any costs: Shipping to/within the USA. Material costs if you make your own cards with new materials.
Target: Anyone on any part of their path with cancer, including those who won their battle.
Notes: Click on "Get Involved" to send cards. Their "Send A Card" page is for people who are battling cancer to sign up for their service.
My due diligence findings: Registered non-profit organization (EIN: 46-2846127). They're a smaller organization founded by Kim Whitehouse as a result of her battle with cancer.
Special note: If you or someone you know is battling cancer, you can sign up on their page to be a recipient of cards as well.

Send A Smile 4 Kids

Site: SendASmile4KidsChallenge.blogspot.com
Any costs: Shipping to/within the USA. Material costs if you make your own cards with new materials.
Target: Kids in hospitals across the USA.
Notes: Each month they have a different challenge/theme. Make sure to check their "Current Needs of Volunteers" page to ensure you don't send cards to a location already fully loaded up with cards.
My due diligence findings: Not a registered non-profit organization as far as I can find. This is primarily a blog and organization run by volunteers

Smile Card

Site: SmileCard.org
Any costs: Free with the potential exception of material costs if you make your own cards with new materials.
Target: Seniors in the US.
Notes: Cards can be both digital and physical. Both are submitted by uploading the image/photo on their site, so anybody can submit art without the need of shipping anything anywhere.
My due diligence findings: Not a registered charity. Smilecard is run by a group of amazing teenagers (see their about us section) and was founded by Apara Sai before encouraging others around her to join. All of you rock!

Money where my mouth is

During each charity highlight, I will participate as well as donate to some of the listed charities. Below you'll find receipt of the donations I've made, as well as some of the cards I've made. You're free to use these cards yourself as well. I already submitted them to SmileCard.org though, and will be sending some to the kids at PostPals as well. Keep this in mind to avoid duplicate submissions (and thus unnecessary work for the volunteers there).

Love,
- Emily