Why not play the cards right for charity?

Choosing a Christmas card can provide consumers with an opportunity to use their spending power to good effect, by opting for…

Choosing a Christmas card can provide consumers with an opportunity to use their spending power to good effect, by opting for a card which supports their favourite cause or charity.

But how much of your money will the charity actually get? In many cases, some 75100 per cent of the profits - but if you buy from retail outlets, other than the charities themselves, they may get a much smaller proportion of the profits.

Oxfam: cards in more than 100 different styles from Santa to a simple snowflake. Cards are available from all 35 Oxfam Ireland shops around Ireland, where 100 per cent of the profit goes to Oxfam.

They are also available from many other retailers where more than 15 per cent of the selling price goes towards alleviating poverty. Prices start at £1.99 for 10 cards. Oxfam Ireland is launching a range of corporate Christmas cards (telephone 048 90565041 for a catalogue).

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Trocaire: this year's cards will feature "upbeat mother and child photographs" from Somalia and India. The photographs come from Trocaire's own files. The only cost is printing, according to a spokeswoman.

All the profits go directly to the charity. The cards are available in Trocaire's shops in Dublin and Cork.

Amnesty International: greetings on each card in eight languages, including Irish. Cards available from Amnesty shop in Dublin or over the web at amnesty.ie. Once printing costs are paid, all profits go to Amnesty. Cost: £3.00 or £3.50 for eight cards; bumper pack £3.50 for 20 cards.

Corporate cards are available (from £95 for 100 cards with a personal greeting and/or logo printed in one colour; callsave 1 850 611 122). Amnesty was one of the first charities to print Christmas cards and they are still an important fundraising activity.

UNICEF: broad range of cards from the traditional to the modern. Available from UNICEF's shop at 32 Lower Ormonde Quay, Dublin, or a range of outlets (newsagents, booksellers and health-food shops, tel (01) 878 3000 for a list or to mail order). The standard pack costs £4.95 for 10. Three-quarters of the profit is remitted to UNICEF regardless of where the cards are purchased.

UNICEF is also launching a corporate gift programme, The Gift of Life. For a £50 donation UNICEF will send the corporate client a card acknowledging the donation and a box of Lir chocolates.

The Simon Community: The Simon House of Cards campaign targets businesses, asking them to donate all or part of their Christmas card budget to the Simon Community. Instead of sending cards, participating companies will send their Christmas greeting through a full-page advertisement which will be placed in The Irish Times in mid-December. The aim: to raise £100,000. Last year, the campaign raised £75,000 for the homeless.