Gifts of Hope FAQs

Yes. While Gifts of Hope make meaningful holiday and Christmas gifts for the hard-to-shop-for people in your life, you can purchase Gifts of Hope at any time of year.

The money collected toward a particular Gift of Hope funds the community-based project the gift supports. If money raised exceeds project requirements or cannot be used as planned due to unforeseen circumstances, it will go toward supporting similar activities for children and communities in need.

Yes. Whether you buy a gift in your own name or on behalf of someone else, you will receive a tax receipt for any donation over $25. The amount will be included on your annual income-tax receipt, which is automatically issued in February of the following year. (CRA charity registration # 11892 8993 RR0001)

All Plan International Canada supporters with an email address on record will receive their tax receipt electronically to help save paper and keep costs low, maximizing funds for Plan International Canada initiatives. If you would like to change your preference, please contact us at info@plancanada.ca or 1-800-387-1418. If you have more questions about tax receipts, please visit the income-tax receipts page.

No. Your company will receive a gift receipt acknowledging their donation. Plan International Canada issues appropriate gift acknowledgements depending on the type and identity of the donor: gift receipts for businesses/corporations and income-tax receipts for individuals. All the cash contributions made by a business/corporation are deductible by that business/corporation as business expenses. Therefore, there will be no impact on the business/corporation for income-tax purposes.

It is not possible to designate Gifts of Hope toward your sponsored child or their community. Funds donated through Gifts of Hope are channeled to the project described. These projects have been developed in consultation with community members who have identified the projects as appropriate and necessary in their community.

Plan International Canada works with funding partners, such as government, foundation or organizational partners, to match certain Gifts of Hope. The match ratio varies from gift to gift and is based on the financial commitment of the funding partner.

Yes. If money raised exceeds a project’s requirements, funds will be used to support similar activities for children and communities in need, and the match ratios may differ.

Plan International Canada works with several organizational and governmental donors, such as the Global Fund and Global Affairs Canada, in matching Gifts of Hope. The matching donor(s) depend(s) on the gift and project(s) it supports. When you buy a matched Gift of Hope, your money is matched by these donors at the ratio indicated on the gift.

Currently, you can only donate to one program type at a time. To learn about other ways to support Plan International Canada, visit plancanada.ca/donate.

For a more seamless checkout experience, we have simplified the process and no longer have a log-in option. For assistance with your account, you can contact our customer care team at 1-800-387-1418.

When placing an order online, you can request one greeting card for each gift ordered. During the checkout process, click on the “Select a greeting card” link under the greeting card section beside each item in your cart. You will have the option of mailing or emailing a greeting card to your recipient, having the greeting card mailed to you or printing a pdf version of your greeting card yourself once you have completed your purchase. You can select “No card” if you don’t require one.

Printed or mailed greeting cards are 5” x 7” and include a brief description of the gift and the impact it will help create for children and communities around the world. If you order online, you will have several different designs to choose from. You can preview what your card will look like on each gift page. If you order by phone or by using the catalogue order form, you will receive a card with an image of the gift as the front cover.

Greeting cards are free with the purchase of every gift.

At checkout, for each gift purchased, you will be given the choice to mail a greeting card, email an e-card, print a PDF version or receive no card. If you donate multiple gifts on behalf of the same person, you can choose to send a greeting card for only one of the gifts or send a card for each gift you have chosen in their honour.

No. Whether you send a greeting card or not is completely up to you. If you do not wish to send any greeting cards, simply check “No card” or select “I do not want a card. Skip this step.”

Your personal message can be up to 240 characters long. When composing your message, remember that every card comes with a detailed description of the generous gift you have purchased so your recipient can read about the work they are supporting.

If you wish to mail your greeting card, please allow up to two weeks for delivery. If you choose to send your greeting card through email, you have the option to send your card that day or schedule delivery for a future date.

No, we currently don’t have that ability.

Yes, you can choose when you would like your e-card sent. However, we currently don’t allow scheduled mailed cards. You can also choose to download and print a PDF card at any time.

The animals provided are part of larger, community-wide projects designed to reduce poverty through livestock productivity. For example, the $80 for a goat is used to buy goats for families, along with animal-care training, assistance with breeding, construction of animal shelters and access to veterinary supplies and medicines.

To ensure the success of our livestock projects:

• Families receive training in livestock management, production and health as a pre-condition to receiving the gift of an animal
• We collaborate with community members to construct appropriate housing structures for the animals
• A committee of community volunteers is provided with basic veterinary training as well as a medicine kit and other supplies to support the families involved in this project
• When the animals have offspring, one or two are passed along to other families in the community so that others can benefit and the impact of the project continues long-term. We work in co-operation with various government departments as well as local experts who have experience in livestock health and care.

Plan International doesn’t decide that people should have livestock – the community members decide. All our projects are community-driven, which means community members themselves identify the problems and challenges they’re facing and possible solutions. Families value livestock highly; animals are important assets (and sometimes the only asset), and families tell us time and time again that they see livestock as a great way to improve their lives.

Protein is often too expensive for many families to buy, but milk and eggs from livestock provide children with this essential nutrient. Plus, fertilizer from manure helps grow nutritious vegetables and improve crop production, which means better health for the whole family.

Families sell livestock byproducts like milk, eggs and honey to pay for health care and education for children. Plan International also helps create co-ops, which enable farmers to sell milk at twice the price they’d get selling independently. We also provide women and families with essential business and market training so they have the skills to boost their income. And animals like goats are valuable assets that can be sold in times of economic hardship when families need immediate cash.

We select the most suitable locations based on technical feasibility, demand and past successful experience with similar programs. We work in co-operation with various government departments as well as community experts who have experience in livestock health and care.

Most importantly, all our projects are community-driven, which means community members themselves identify the problems and challenges they’re facing and possible solutions. So, all our livestock programs are in areas where families have told us they want livestock as a way to build a better life.

Most of our livestock programs focus on the most marginalized people in the community, and everyone selected must be willing to participate in the program.

We work with community members to identify who should receive the livestock. Together, we consider factors like poverty and whether a household is headed by a woman, doesn’t own land, has a family member with a disability or has many children. Then a meeting is organized for all community members to discuss and agree on eligible families to be selected to receive livestock.

The animals are all locally sourced.

Yes. Families are provided with training in livestock management, production and health as a pre-condition to receiving an animal. We collaborate with community members to construct appropriate housing structures for the animals. A committee of community volunteers is provided with basic veterinary training as well as a medicine kit and other supplies to support the families involved in this project. When the animals have offspring, one or two are passed along to other families in the community so that others can benefit and the impact of the project continues long-term.

The livestock feed on crop residues or via controlled grazing, not on grains. And when the livestock begin producing (milk or eggs, for example), the products are used to feed children and extras can be sold to earn money almost immediately – money that can be spent on other food and essentials. In addition, fertilizer from manure helps grow nutritious vegetables and improve crop production. So, in fact, having livestock can sometimes be the first step to ensuring better nutrition and food security for the entire family.

A central community committee of trained livestock volunteers is provided with a drug kit and other supplies to support the families involved in this project. They are also trained in basic veterinary medicine. It is well understood that appropriate livestock-management practices are vital if the program is to make a lasting difference for the children and families participating.

The consumption of provided livestock for meat is strongly discouraged. Most families see their livestock as highly valuable for providing products (milk, cheese and eggs, for example) for family consumption over the long-term, manure for fertilizer to grow nutritious crops and offspring to sell at market, so they want to maintain their livestock as long as possible.

No, and that’s one of the great things about Plan International’s livestock projects! When the animals have offspring, one or two are passed along to other families in the community so that others can benefit. In fact, families who receive livestock agree to this as a condition of participating in the project. With this approach, impact of the project is spread throughout the community for years to come.

We do both. Sometimes agricultural programs are the best way to help bring lasting change, and in other times or places, livestock are most effective because of local growing conditions or community priorities. We work in co-operation with various government departments and community experts who have experience in livestock health and care to make decisions on locations for livestock programs based on technical feasibility, demand and experience with similar programs.