As the gift giving season moves into high gear, there is a new alternative to the millions of hours and billions of dollars spent on gifts that are unwanted, go unused, and end up in landfills or next year's garage sale. Instead of a Gift, Inc., has just launched their new web site, InsteadofaGift.org, and for the first time, there is a site solely devoted to replacing material gifts with online charitable donations. Instead of a Gift, Inc., has made it easy to either give a donation instead of shopping for and sending a gift, as well as registering for contributions to your favorite charity instead of receiving gifts for yourself.

"We are dedicated to the belief that traditional gift giving is incredibly wasteful." said Frank M. Edwards, president and chief executive officer. "In these trying economic times, unless you know that someone really needs and wants that gift you were planning on giving, you could do more good by supporting a charity that is important to the person you care about ."

Who cares about the American Revolution? Should something that happened more than 200 years ago matter today?

These are among the questions raised by a recent national survey, sponsored by The American Revolution Center, which revealed an alarming lack of knowledge of our nation's founding history, despite near universal agreement on the importance of this knowledge.

The report, conducted in the summer of 2009 among a demographically representative random sample of U.S. adults, is the first national survey of adult knowledge of the American Revolution and its ongoing legacy. It reveals that Americans highly value, but vastly overrate, their knowledge of the Revolutionary period and its significance. Asked to grade themselves on their knowledge, 89 percent believed they could pass a basic test on the American Revolution. However, 83 percent failed when tested on the beliefs, freedoms, and liberties established during the Revolution.