When someone is celebrating a birthday, for example, you might find yourself struggling to pick out the perfect gift for your loved one or friend. These days, one trend that is growing in popularity is the practice of ethical gift-giving.

In a nutshell, ethical gifts don’t particularly benefit the person on their birthday, for instance. Instead, they show thought and compassion because you have carried out a charitable act on that person’s behalf.

Arguably the main reason ethical gifts are growing in popularity is that they encourage charitable giving rather than unnecessary spending. After all, people usually buy the things they want and need throughout the year anyway.

With all that in mind, here are some of the types of ethical gifts that are saving lives across the globe in 2020:

Water Pumps and Wells

One of the sad facts about many third world countries is millions of people don’t have access to fresh drinking water. Many men, women, and children often walk for miles to their nearest clean water pump and must carry back bottles of water to their homes.

Many charity projects use donations to build new wells and water pumps for communities across many countries. According to UK-based Islamic Help, a generous donation of £150 ($183 USD) will help to donate a water pump in a country such as Pakistan or Bangladesh.

Meanwhile, a donation of £500 ($611 USD) is enough to construct a water well in a disadvantaged community. Having access to fresh drinking water means poor communities can eradicate infectious diseases such as cholera.

Medical Supplies

As you can appreciate, many parts of the world have limited to no medical care facilities. The clinics and hospitals that people in the Western world sometimes take for granted are virtually non-existent in some areas.

Donating enough money to build a clinic or hospital is obviously too much to ask from a single charity donor. But, some charities are collecting donations that will pay for much-needed medical supplies.

In the United States, a charity named Aid for Africa is helping thousands of lives by using donations to pay for medical supplies. A $50 USD donation, for example, is enough to pay for ten boxes of medical supplies for use in Africa.

Food

Hunger is a massive issue in developing countries. Starvation doesn’t just affect adults but children too. The reasons for hunger in some parts of the world is mainly due to poverty; people can’t earn enough money to feed their families.

Other reasons include conflict, as many research studies have shown that more than half the world’s starving adults and children live in warzones or areas of conflict.

Getting food to communities where such a resource is in short supply is only part of the solution. Many charities have set up initiatives to help disadvantaged communities become more self-sustainable by helping to plant fruit trees and grow crops.

Farmers can then feed their families and communities, and those same charities can help connect farmers with area markets to help boost their incomes.

Those are just some of the many ways people in Western countries are helping the disadvantaged in third world nations through ethical gifts.