For those who can get to it, ABC Carpet & Home [1] in Manhattan looks like a bohemian fairyland right now. The first floor is full of huge chunks of crystals, colorful hand-beaded elephants, stone Buddhas, hand-rolled incense, organic [1] cosmetics, and twinkling $700 lotus lamps. Owner Paulette Cole is on a mission to align the multi-tiered, decades-old store with green-minded, heart-centered values.

To this end she’s added another new touch, now in its second year––the ABC Home & Planet Foundation [2], the hub of which is Gifts of Compassion [3]. Instead of (or in addition to) a desktop Ganesha, you can buy intangibles like the “Gift of Vision [4],” which offers SEVA foundation-sponsored eye operation to a child in Africa or Asia; “A Kid for a Kid [5] ” which gives a baby milking goat to a poor family in Haiti through the American Friends Service Committee; or “New Life for a Hurricane Katrina Victim [6] ” which helps low-income entrepreneurs. Anecdotally, the Literacy for an Afghan Girl [7] option is the best-seller. Gifts are $40 and up.

This kind of donation-as-present has been happening for years. But Cole goes one step further by selling them with beautiful cards emblazoned with soft-hued mandalas slipped into envelopes made of sparkly sari fabric. It’s a good trick on the shopper: sugar to make the charitable medicine go down. To be honest, I bought most of my presents that way this year. We’ll see how the recipients feel about getting warm fuzzies in place of loot.

Though it’s a little late for Christmas day, these are good year-round. You can buy them at their site: abchomeandplanet [8]