not necessarily be spent directly on buying a bird, but will be channelled instead into a general “livestock fund” that distributes the cash where it is deemed to be needed. They argue that this is the most effective way of using donations.


But other charities, such as Save the


Children and World Vision, in contrast, insist that when someone buys an ethical gift, the money will go directly towards purchasing that item, as Rossella Pedaci, coordinator of Save the Children’s Wish List range, explains: “If someone buys a bicycle then we will spend the money on buying a bicycle. This is one of the things that sets us apart. We compile our list of gifts based on what our different pro- grammes have requested from us. It’s based on need. This helps us match what people buy to where that item is needed.”


L


ikewise, World Vision only offers gifts that are specifically requested by the projects it runs across the globe. These include a month of medicines for 18 people for £45, and buying a llama to help restock the herd of a struggling farmer in Latin America. This policy is impractical for Oxfam, says


Rick Lay, adding: “If we just directly bought a chicken for every chicken people buy, we could end up with more than we need. Each gift item is connected to one of 11 different funds. If someone buys a chicken, for example, that money will go into our livestock fund and then be spent on providing a chicken or any other kind of livestock that is needed in a specific area at a certain time. We would obviously love to be able to promise that each gift will be spent directly on that item, but it’s not possible in reality.” Liz Hulme said Cafod, which channels


money from purchases into five different funds, is in a similar position, as she explained: “The money people give us goes into five funds – livestock and agriculture, emergency and conflict and livelihoods, health and care, edu- cation and skills training, water and food. It’s about making sure it is spent most effectively where it’s needed.” Competition in the virtual gifts market has grown as an increasingly crowded marketplace and the economic downturn have combined to make it harder to attract discerning buyers. Several charities, including Oxfam and Cafod, have even seen their income from the market level off in recent years – but have fought back by offering an ever more innovative range of options. Oxfam, for example, now offers gift sets that include both a “virtual” gift and a “real” gift. One of these, the Coffee and Fairtrade Coffee gift set, features a donation towards training and equipment for coffee producers in Ethiopia, as well as a real jar of fair-trade coffee – for £22.99. Despite the importance of the virtual gift


market, it still only accounts for a small pro- portion of total income for most charities. Perhaps the key challenge charities face this Christmas is to convince first-time buyers who are attracted to their gift ranges to become regular monthly donors, as these people pro- vide the real lifeblood for many charities.


“The most important thing in prayer and song is for us to focus on the fact that we are singing for God” (Mother Abbess)


Voices – Chant From Avignon is an album of beautiful, soothing Gregorian chant, recorded by the Benedictine Nuns of Notre-Dame de l’Annonciation in their Abbey near Avignon in Southern France.


The Nuns were ‘discovered’ after an extensive world-wide search for the best choral ensemble, and have created an album of evocative tranquility and inner-purity.


This extraordinary album is released on November 8th 2010 but can be pre-ordered now via Amazon.


The community has granted unprecedented access to their cloistered way of life through a series of films and interviews. To see these and hear preview tracks from the album, go to www.chantfromavignon.com


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Subject to validation by


www.sarum.ac.uk/postgraduate-study/ phone 01722 424827 • courses@sarum.ac.uk


6 November 2010 | THE TABLET | 13


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