When I started my monthly Giving Back feature, I put a call out for indie shops and designers who donated their time and/or money to charitable organizations. I was totally inundated with emails and was just blown away by how charitable people are and by the variety of organizations and projects that you all are involved with. A good many people wrote me about organizations they are involved with or have founded and I wanted to share a few of those organizations with you.

Nest

Nest is a non-profit organization founded by Rebecca Kousky that provides micro-loans to women in developing countries to help them build and develop sustainable arts and crafts businesses. The money to provide these loans comes from the sale of clothing, accessories and homewares, which are produced exclusively for Nest by a group of artists and designers. Carrie Sommers of Sommer Designs in one of the participating designers and Carrie produces one or two hostess apron designs that are excessively sold at Nest each season. Alena Hennessey is another artist involved with Nest, her Mimi Bird print is pictured above. You can read more about Nest and their mission here.

Crafters for Critters

Started in 2004 by Melissa Dettloff, formerly of Lekkner and now of Severed Unicorn Heads, the goal of Crafters for Critters is to simultaneously support independent design and to raise money for animal rescue organizations. Indie crafters, designers and artists donate their goods to Crafters for Critters and 100% of the profits from the sale of those donated goods are donated to a variety of animal rescue groups. In the past, funds have been donated to the Greyhound Protection League, Great Lakes Rabbit Sanctuary, Compassion without Borders and more. A little over $17,500 has been raised over the last four years!

Softies for Mirabel & We Heart Mirabel

Looking to raise money and awareness for the Mirabel Foundation, an Australian foundation that works to assist children who have been orphaned or abandoned due to parental illicit drug use, Pip Lincolne of Meet Me at Mike’s organized Softies for Mirabel. Crafters donated stuffed toys, which were presented to the Mirabel Foundation and donated to the children of the group. This year, Pip started the We Heart Mirabel campaign and encouraged crafters to donate a stuffed heart to be sold at Meet me At Mike’s for $10 apiece. So far, $400 has been raised for the Mirabel Foundation and you can see some of the hearts displayed in the Meet Me at Mike’s window. If you live in Fitzroy, Australia, go buy one!

Don’t forget to visit the Wolfie and the Sneak hosted One-day market to benefit the Sierra Club.

Why the Sierra Club? In 5 days, the US will vote whether to make available land for lease for oil drilling in the Chuckchi Sea. The Sierra Club, always a champion of the environment, has been working extra hard to get the word out and we know you want to ensure that they can continue to be the watchdog and protector of the environment.

Buy a Valentine’s Day gift for your “bleeding heart” and know that 100% of the proceeds are going to the Sierra Club. You’ll find wearable goodies, fine art, and other fun stuff.

**edited to add - this fundraiser has ended.

Today’s Reader Fixx Pixx were sumbitted by one of my favorite artists, Tara Hogan of INK&WIT. Tara’s list is a mix of sites and products with a socially conscious and green focus. Check ‘em out, it’s a great list!

Also, make sure to visit Tara’s site and her etsy shop for some lovely, lovely art.

We want to hear from you and so do the other readers! What are your indie favorites? Send us your list and make sure to include a link to your shop and/or blog, so we can include a link when we post your list.

2 Modern Design Talk - 11 ways to live green

Hugg - Seen some green? Hugg is your source for user-submitted green news.

Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary - info about factory farming and you can sponsor a rescued animal.

Greenward - is an independent boutique specializing in eco-modern goods.

I’m Organic - Reusable Bags, Organic Clothes, Recycled Wristbands, Biodegradable Mugs and more!

Envirosax - a great reusable bag!

World Changing - a great site for news and info about green products, politics, building ad more.

Flip and Tumble - another great bag to throw in the car or your purse, so you always have a reusable bag for unexpected errands.

Make It Right - Help rebuild the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans

Crafting in a Greener World - DIY blog for Environmentalists

Renee from Wolfie and the Sneak is looking for donations of handmade goods for her Bleeding Hearts Benefit. After reading about the impact oil drilling will have on Alaska should the US pass legislation to begin leasing drilling rights in the Chuckchi Sea, Renee was spurred into action. Always interested in environmental causes, Renee decided to use the impending Valentine’s Day holiday to raise the awareness of this particular issue and to raise funds for the Sierra Club, a champion of the environment.

So, if you are a bleeding heart and would like to donate, contact Renee at nobiting [at] gmail.com. The sale will take place for one day only on February 1st, so make sure to visit and shop as well. 100% of the proceeds will go to the Sierra Club.

Just a quick note to let you know that 55% of the sales of the Grace Jewelry collection at Artchestra will be given to the Gal to Gal Foundation for the month of October. The Gal to Gal Foundation helps women with Phase IV Breast Cancer, you can read more about the work that they do here. Later this month I will be giving away one of the Grace necklaces, so stay tuned.

Here’s some interesting indie newz for ya:

Jan of Poppytalk has put out a Call for Submissions for her new online street market. Just like a real street/flea market, indie makers of all kinds will be able to rent a virtual table at Poppytalk Handmade for an opening date of early October/07 (just in time for the Christmas season)! For more info, go to Poppytalk Handmade.

Call for vendors for Indie Sacramento — 1st Annual Holiday Bizarre to be held at the YMCA Sacramento on Saturday, Dec 1 from 2-9 pm. For more info about participating, visit the vendor page.

The Hipp Benefit Shop at Etsy are looking for crafters who would like to donate items to be sold with 100% of the proceeds going to help Taryn Hipp’s sister, Jennifer, pay her medical bills after an emergency stay in the hospital. Like so many people, Jennifer is under-insured and as a single mom lives pretty close to paycheck to paycheck. Jennifer is a big help to Taryn at her MY MY, while Taryn helps Jennifer take care of her daughter. They sound like a wonderful supportive family, so let’s all pitch in a little bit and help them through this rough patch.

FYI about Wonderland Retreat, the benefit shop for Elijah Wyman’s rotten kidneys, will be closing down September 15th, so if you’ve been thinking about buying something to help out and haven’t gotten around to it, you better make it over there soon. There are some really cute donated goodies in the shop and it’s a great way to help out some deserving peeps.

In our final newsworthy item tonight, the organizers behind I Shop Indie have created two shopping portal sites—Cutique and Loungeluxe. If you are a designer who may interested in listing your products on either site, check out their parent site.

Remember the Wonderland Retreat shop at Esty created to help indie crafter Alison Gordon of Wonderland Q deal with her medical bills? Well, Alison has made a full recovery and now has a full-time job at The Sampler with medical insurance! According to Alison, she was able to “…take care of just about every non-insurance bill that i had to pay” as a result of all your generosity in donating items to and buying items from Wonderland Retreat. I’m proud of all of you!

So, let’s do it again, people. The Wonderland Retreat shop is back open with the proceeds to go towards helping the Wymans pay off current and future medical expenses for ELijah’s kidney transplant. Elijah had his transplant and is recovering, but really needs our help with recovery expenses, expenses that can reach upwards of $210,000, not mention the medications and care he will need to maintain his transplant for the rest of his life. Plus, since he has a pre-existing condition any future insurance premiums are gong to be pretty hefty.

How can you help? Check the shop out, donate an item, buy something, spread the word about the Wymans, or make a cash donation.

Thanks to everyone who bid in the Auction and donated to the Elijah Wyman Kidney Fund. The highest bidder for the Tilting Swiftly necklace was Christina from Illinois. Christina sent her payment, which I matched and sent off to the Elijah Wyman Kidney Fund. I will be sending her necklace out to her tomorrow, so enjoy Christina.

You guys are the best readers ever!

I’m not sure if you’ve heard yet or not, but Rhonda Wyman’s husband needs a kidney transplant for a rare blood disorder he has. Rhonda is the creator of the beautiful jewelry line Figs and Ginger and her hubby, Elijah, is a musician and has his own indie shop Eli & Ra. The goods news about Elijah is that he is scheduled for a transplant, but the bad news is that it is super expensive and the Wyman’s will have to bear a lot of the costs themselves.

How can you help?

1. Donate money to the Elijah Wyman Kidney Fund. I’ve already donated some money, so come on, you should too.

2. Help spread the word. Here’s some links to a couple of really funny videos made by Elijah’s friends to help get the word out.

Video 1
Video 2
Video 3

3. I’m offering this necklace, made by me, to the highest bidder and I will donate 100% of the proceeds to the Elijah Wyman Kidney Fund. To enter, there’s been a little change in the rules, just comment on this post  with your bid and make sure to include your email, which will not be visible to the public.

The auction will end at 11am EST, June 12th. I will contact the winner by the end of the day and send a Paypal invoice for the amount of your bid.

The Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls is a really cool non-profit summer day camp serving girls aged 8-18 in New York City. With the goal of empowering young girls and helping to them develop self-esteem, self-confidence, collaborative skills and tolerance the camp also lets girls “rock out” and have a kicking good time. This sounds like a totally fantastic program. If you think so too and want to help out, check out the Willie Mae Scholarships for Camp Auction. The proceeds from the Auction will support scholarships to the camp, since approximately 25% of the campers report annual household incomes under $20,000 and more than half of campers receive partial or full scholarships.

There is a Ladies Rock Camp if you are aged 19 or above and think the Camp for Girls sounds like fun. There are even a couple of Ladies Rock Camp slots in the Auction if you want to join in on the fun. No musical ability or experience is necessary.

Don’t forget to check out Wonderland Retreat, the shop of donated goodies to benefit Alison Gordon of Wonderland Q, Baz Biz, and the Sampler. Alison is facing some pretty steep medical bills and she, like so many self-employed crafters and designers, is uninsured. 100% of the proceeds will go to help Alison pay her medical costs.

Mallory of Miss Malaprop, one of my favorite blogs, is sponsoring a charity fundraiser to benefit The Green Project, a group in New Orleans that salvages recyclable building materials and makes them available at low cost for redidents who are trying to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina. A very worthy cause and one for which I will be donating some of my hard-earned cash to. I hope you will give up some of your cash as well, and if you need a little incentive there is a prize! Mallory has gotten together a prize to be given to a random doner. No amount is too small to help or to win, but make sure to donate before te end of April.  Read more about the fundraiser at Miss Malaprop or just go donate.