Don't Be a Scrooge!

1. Answer a Child’s Letter to Santa

How it works: If you're too old to write wishful letters to Santa Claus but miss taking part in this childhood tradition, try Operation Letters to Santa, and find out if your local post office is collecting letters bound for the North Pole. If so, you can write back to a child in need or fulfill his or her modest gift request. Even if the surprise arrives a few days after Christmas, we bet the letter-writer will still be thrilled. Who it helps: Needy kids. Contact: U.S. Postal Service

2. Keep Someone Warm

How it works: The holidays may be filled with warm wishes, but that doesn't mean some aren't left out in the cold. Donate a coat to those in need. One Warm Coat lets you look up where and when to donate in your area. Burlington Coat Factory stores, for example, are accepting donations until Jan. 15. Charities such as the Salvation Army and Goodwill Industries are also happy to take your old jackets, in addition to any other unneeded clothing. Who it helps: Anyone in need of warm clothing in your community. Contact: One Warm Coat, The Salvation Army

3. Donate Your Frequent Flyer Miles

How it works: Feeling like you don't have the extra cash to spare this holiday giving season? Try donating your frequent flyer miles. Various charities, such as the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Red Cross, Hero Miles, and Project Concern accept them all year round. And if you know you won't be traveling before those miles expire, this is a great way to unload them for a good cause. Who it helps: Children of Make-A-Wish, Red Cross volunteers, military service members and their families, global health workers. Contact: Make-A-Wish, Red Cross, Fisher House: Helping Military Families, Project Concern

4. Put Food on the Table

How it works: Before you sit down to feast on your holiday meal, consider dropping off some nonperishable items, such as hot cereal mixes or beans, at your local food bank. Feeding America lets you look up local food banks serving your area. The Hunger Site goes global and makes giving even easier--all you have to do is click on the Web site and sponsors are ready to donate cups of food. Who it helps: The 1.02 billion people facing hunger worldwide, including 25 million low-income Americans. Contact: Feeding America, The Hunger Site

5. Help a Child Play

How it works: Toys for Tots collects new, unwrapped toys and then distributes them as gifts to children in need. It’s too late to drop off a toy at Toys R Us, but you can donate money to the organization year round to support their toy collection and distribution program. Who it helps: Low-income kids and their families, who can’t afford gifts. Contact: Toys for Tots

6. Give the Gift of Music

How it works: Are you a music lover looking for a way to foster appreciation of the arts? How about donating an instrument to a student? The Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation will refurbish your used instrument and put it in the hands of a child. Clarinets, trumpets, violins, and other beginners’ instruments are good choices. Who it helps: Instruments are expensive and in poorer neighborhoods, students are often forced to share them at school, which means they can’t practice at home. Because of cost, many schools can’t even afford to get a band or orchestra program off the ground. Contact: The Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation

7. Help a Job-Seeker Dress for Success

How it works: With record unemployment, think about donating business clothes that can give someone confidence on a job interview. Dress for Success is a non-profit that offers poor women interview-appropriate clothes and career training services. Career Gear does the same for men. And Men’s Warehouse stores around the country are accepting suit donations, and rewarding donors a 10 percent discount coupon. Who it helps: The jobless, at an especially trying time. Contact: Dress for Success, Career Gear, Men’s Wearhouse

8. Give Blood

How it works: There's always the need for blood. If the idea makes you queasy, consider this: 38 percent of Americans are eligible to donate blood, but only 8 percent actually do. The Red Cross lets you find and schedule donation opportunities near you. Who it helps: One out of every 10 people admitted to a hospital needs blood. For those with rarer blood types, there are frequent shortages. Contact: The Red Cross

9. Offer a Teacher Exactly What They Need

How it works: At donorschoose.org, public school teachers post detailed wish lists for their classrooms, which often lack resources as basic as books and construction paper, due to draconian school budgets. Donors receive photos of the project taking place, thank-you letters from the students, and a cost report showing how the money was spent. Who it helps: One New York City special education teacher wants 20 school supply packs for the back of each student’s chair. The packs would help disabled kids who have trouble moving around, and lose valuable instruction time when they hunt for supplies. Contact: DonorsChoose.org

10. Reach Out to a Soldier

How it works: You can help a soldier call home in the new year by donating money or an old cell phone through the Cell Phones for Soldiers program. Or you could ship a care package through Any Soldier or Treats For Troops. Who it helps: Homesick troops, many of them on their second, third, or even fourth deployment. Contact: Cell Phones for Soldiers, Any Solider, Treats for Troops

11. Break Language Barriers

How it works: Bilingual? Why not help break the language barrier by volunteering your time to translate at a local hospital? Almost every hospital needs translators in a variety of languages, especially during the holiday season when staffing is low. In New York City, for example, NYU Medical Center needs volunteers who speak Chinese, Russian, and Spanish. Who it helps: Anxious patients who don't speak English, and their families, who often take off time from work or school to translate. Contact: Your local hospital

12. Put a Roof Over a Family's Head

How it works: Rebuilding Together helps volunteers repair the homes of low-income people in their communities. Habitat for Humanity is also seeking volunteers to help build affordable houses in the U.S. and abroad. Who can help: Habitat for Humanity seeks volunteers with specific expertise in software development and other skills, as well as general volunteers. Rebuilding Together says they teach volunteers everything they need to know to build. Contact: Rebuilding Together, Habitat for Humanity

13. Comfort the Elderly

How it works: Take your kids and spend a few hours at a local nursing home. The residents might enjoy reading to younger children or toddlers, while older kids might want to interview the residents on what their childhoods were like, or about historic events they lived through. Experts say it’s best to make a commitment to visit once a week. Who it helps: More than 50 percent of nursing home residents have no close relatives and even more never have visitors, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Contact: Find a local nursing home in your community and ask if they take volunteers.

14. Fight Back Against Domestic Violence

How it works: Donate a cell phone to combat domestic violence through the Call to Protect Program. The phones are refurbished and the funds from their resale go to domestic violence organizations. So far, $3.5 million has been donated. Who it helps: Victims of domestic violence and their children. Contact: The Wireless Foundation

15. Support Entrepreneurs in Developing Countries

How it works: Though beset by a recent scandal involving questions about how “direct” this microloan site really is, Kiva is still a great way to read about—and instantly donate to—inspiring homegrown anti-poverty projects around the world. Who it helps: Right now, a woman from Hovd, Mongolia is asking for a $2,750 loan to purchase beauty products for her retail business. The requested repayment term is 26 months. Contact: Kiva

Plus: Check out more from Giving Beast, featuring news, video, and amazing photographs of people, places, and issues that need our support.