‘SAY NO TO RUBBISH PRESENTS ’ is the message from Helen Mirren, Will Young and friends in the season’s advertising for Oxfam’s ‘famously funusual' Christmas gift catalogue. Apparently, us Brits waste £1.2bn a year on unwanted presents – and Oxfam (see profile) wants to change that. Send condoms to AIDS victims, or a loo to the disposessed, through Oxfam, and we can all save the world and avoid pointless presents at the same time.

So it says. But Oxfam does not have the monopoly on these gifts. And it certainly isn't the best at explaining how your cash will actually help. 'Funusual' presents aren't as simple as they at first might seem.

Oxfam, like many charities, doesn’t put your money where your goat (or condom, or loo) is. Buy a condom, and your cash could be spent on running a sexual-health clinic. Buy a loo, and your gift could transform into cash for running a sanitation project. Clever stuff.

"Some catalogues do offer gifts that actually do what they say on the tin"

But we stick-in-the-muds don't approve. We don't argue with Oxfam's assertion that the money from its gift catalogue should be spent where the need is greatest. But we think that all charities should be upfront with their supporters about where donors' cash is spent. And Oxfam isn't. It tucks away the details on its website, and the wording is not clear.

ActionAid (see profile), on the other hand, is a good fairy. The description of every gift on its Gifts in Action website explains that the gift is merely an example of where your money could be used. It's roughly the same setup as at Oxfam, but ActionAid is much more transparent.

Some catalogues, however, do offer gifts that actually do what they say on the tin. The Good Gifts Catalogue is our favourite. It offers the widest range, from real goats sent to Africa, to paying for a scheme to get British grannies dancing.

The key point here is: are you getting what you are paying for? If you paid for a toaster in a shop and were given an iron, how would you feel? Equally, if you paid for a goat and ‘got’ a tenth of a goat, and then a lot of other animal husbandry tools, should you feel misled? We think that honest advertising should help you decide where you spend your money, and there's not enough of that in the world of virtual charity gifts.

- The Christmas Charity Gift Awards 2007

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