FAQs
How does the catalogue work?
It's simple. When you buy a gift from the catalogue, communities in the developing world receive a gift that they really need and it helps them on their journey out of poverty. You can choose between a number of card types to give to your friend or family member with the details of the gift that you’ve chosen for them.
What do I receive?
You can choose between a greeting card, an eCard, a printed certificate or no card.
- Greeting Card – A quality greeting card with an image of your gift and a certificate holding details of your gift will be posted to you to hand to your friend or family member.
- eCard – Send an eCard with the details of your gift to your friend or family member via email directly from the website.
- Gift Certificate – The printed certificate gives you the details of your gift in a printable format to print at home and add to your own card to give to your friend or family member.
- No card – If you wish to buy a gift and don’t need a gift certificate or card, simply select the no card option and all you will receive is a receipt via email.
Can you send me a catalogue?
Requesting a catalogue is simple. You can order one online or alternatively you can give us a call on 1850 366 283.
How do you decide what goes in the catalogue?
We choose the gifts on the basis of the needs of the communities that we work with. Our field staff who live and work locally keep us informed of the needs of the community at all times. All items in the catalogue have been identified as priorities, so you can be sure that they are important and will be greatly appreciated.
What is the latest date to order in time for Christmas 2010?
If you would like a greeting card to hand to your friend or family member in time for Christmas, last orders must be placed by 12pm on Friday 17th of December to allow for processing and delivery within Ireland (last day for postage with An Post is Sunday the 19th of December). For dates outside of Ireland have a look at the An Post website.
But if you are looking for an eCard or gift certificate to print at home yourself you can order anytime right up to Christmas and beyond!
To select your card option, simply choose your gift and once in the gift details you will see the options at the bottom of the page.
Can I order several cards for one gift?
No, you can only order one card per gift. If you would like to order more than one copy of the same card, please call us on 1850 366 283 or email Emma_Graham@wvi.org.
Can I pay by cheque or postal order?
Yes. Please send a cheque or postal order, made payable to World Vision, with a covering note stating which gift you would like to purchase to the following address:
World Vision Ireland
The Mews
Garland House
Rathmines Park
Dublin 6
Ireland
How do I cancel my order?
If you wish to cancel your gift please call us on 1850 366 283 or email Emma_Graham@wvi.org and we’ll do our best to sort it out for you. If the eCard or greeting card has already been sent or the gift certificate printed, a cancellation isn’t possible.
Can I order one card for several gifts?
At present it isn’t possible to add several gift certificates onto one card. As an alternative you could opt to print your own certificates and add those to your own greeting card.
I have selected no cards. Will I still get a gift certificate?
In this case you will only receive a receipt for the total amount you have donated through the Gift Catalogue. If you wish to receive a gift card, eCard or printed certificate to give to a friend then you can select this option during the ordering process.
Can I order cards to be sent to someone other than myself?
You can request for an eCard to be sent directly to the recipient of the gift. However, if you choose a greeting card, it will be sent to you so you can add your own message.
How quickly will my cards be sent?
Please allow up to 5 days for your card to arrive.
We aim to dispatch your order within 48 hours and may take up to 3 days for the delivery by post.
Can I get a blank envelope for the greeting card?
If you order a greeting card, both the card and a blank envelope will be sent to you.
Can I give my gift to my sponsored child?
No. The gifts that have been selected for the catalogue are to help children, families and communities both within and outside of our sponsorship programme. People have been selected by community leaders to receive these gifts, and these may or may not include sponsored children.
What is included in the price of the gift?
We seek to be open and straightforward in what we do. Staff find out the local price of the items, we then add in the costs to cover marketing, catalogue production, processing the orders and local transportation of the gifts to the communities that have requested them. The gift also includes the price of any relevant training for those who receive the gifts.
How is my gift delivered to the recipient in the field?
Where possible, the gifts are bought locally, having the added bonus of contributing to the local economy. The items are purchased, any necessary training provided and the activity started.
How much of the donation reaches the end beneficiary?
Like any gift you may buy, the price reflects the cost of getting the product to you. World Vision begins by securing the price of the item in the country where it will be bought and we then add in costs to cover marketing, catalogue production, processing the orders and the cost of actually getting the gift to the recipient. This breaks down to 20% costs with 80% going to the field.
You can help by getting an eCard, cert or no card to cut down the cost of printing and postage.
Will my gift be diverted into general funds?
No. If all the gifts within the catalogue have been fully funded, World Vision will ask the communities we work with to identify similar needs. We do not put money from the gifts into a general fund.
Payment Issues
If you receive an error message on screen after a short wait, try and enter your card details again, making sure you check everything correctly - it’s often easy to enter a wrong number or expiry date. If you still have no luck, give us a call on 1850 366 283 or send an email to Emma_Graham@wvi.org and we’ll check it out for you.
While completing an order I get a session error what do I do?
All Internet Browsers; such as Internet Explorer, have time out functions. When you login to our site you start a session, if you session remains inactive for a period of time, normally about 20 minutes, the session times out automatically. Sessions are used for security purposes - especially when accessing sites such as Internet Banking. To return to your session simply return to the Gift page and reselect your gift. Depending on your cache settings of your computer, you gift may still be in your shopping basket. You'll notice this during checkout where you can still add or remove gifts.
My technical difficulty isn’t listed here. What should I do?
If you receive an unexpected error message or something strange happens while you are using the site, please write down the following points and call us on 1850 366 283 or email Emma_Graham@wvi.org.
- Where are you on the site?
- What were you doing immediately before it happened?
The more information you can give us, the quicker we will be able to identify the problem.
Why do you use animals in the Gift Catalogue?
The animal gifts are all requested by communities where World Vision is working on long term development – typically for 15 years. World Vision has people on the ground who know the local area - and the community needs - very well.
The communities we work with often lack stable means of income and food. We need to be practical in the help we offer and providing animals is one solution to both issues. Animals are often highly valued and we do also provide training to help communities care for their livestock. All the animals bought are purchased locally and this helps to support the local economy.
How do animals have a positive impact on community development?
There are a number of different benefits to using animals as part of development work:
Animals can produce milk or eggs, and so provice an instant source of nourishment to a struggling family.
The animal’s offspring and additional produce can be sold to supplement a family's income. This can help pay for things like a child’s education.
Animals are also useful in crop farming. They can improve crop production where there are labour shortages and they provide manure, which is used as a low-cost and environmentally friendly fertiliser.
Our programme staff usually include agricultural advisers who know which livestock are the best animals for that area.
How do you make sure that animals don’t damage the environment?
We only include items in the catalogue that have been asked for by the communities we work with. Our programme staff working in the community include agricultural advisers who will be very aware of what the impact on the environment will be. We also have gifts in the catalogue (such as fruit trees) that are aiming to combat the effects of deforestation.
How do you ensure that the animals are going to be well cared for?
We only provide animals to communities where there is a tradition of using animals in the local economy and where there is capacity to care for animals. We also provide training on animal care. We find that these animals are normally very important to the local people. The animals are usually providing a vital source of income (through milk or breeding), and so they are usually very well cared-for by the recipient.
Can I order a Community Gift from other websites?
Yes. World Vision has partnered with Gifts & Vouchers who feature all community gifts on their website.