The darkness outside accentuates the glow of the candles, melting gently in their heirloom menorah. The family is gathered around the table, enjoying their latkes and deep in discussion, alternating between guessing the answer to a cryptic clue and defending their favorite cause in vigorous debate.

A familiar scene? Not quite.

For the subject of discussion in this home, and in others across the US and round the Jewish world this holiday, is which project of the hundreds featured on the JGooders.com website is most deserving of the family’s Hannukah gift vouchers. And unlike most arguments, in this particular debate everyone wins.

Every family member, even the youngest (with some assistance), will be able to log on to www.JGooders.com and contribute the $36 voucher they received as a Hannukah gift to the cause that resonates most with them, from helping at-risk teens and providing food packages to the elderly in Sderot to teaching blind and visually-impaired children how to play musical instruments, supporting environmental education or joining the efforts to free Gilad Shalit.

And the clue the family is puzzling over belongs to the JGooders Hannukah Gift Quest, an online treasure hunt through the JGooders website, with a new challenge each day. Participants solve the daily clue and enter their answers in a raffle, with the winner to be awarded $1,000 to donate to a project of their choice featured on the site. Leveraging the Jewish Facebook community, the JGooders Hannukah Gift Quest was launched as our first JGooders Facebook Group event ,chosen for its association with community building.

Says JGooders Co-Founder, Ronit Dolev, “Hannukah is a holiday when people search for meaningful gifts for their loved ones. But this year, the holiday will be a hard one for many who have been affected by the economy. The JGooders Hannukah Gift Quest gives everyone an entertaining and upbeat opportunity to provide a significant holiday boost to their favorite cause.”

This growing holiday trend — referred to as “good gifting” — “involves giving a philanthropic gift in someone else’s name or giving them the choice of a charitable donation instead of more stuff,” writes Lucy Bernholz, founder and president of Blueprint Research & Design, Inc., a consulting firm for philanthropic organizations and individuals, on her blog, Philanthropy 2173. Bernholz estimates that there are currently more than 130 online giving marketplaces, with JGooders being the sole portal focused exclusively on Jewish and Israeli causes.

In today’s unpredictable economic climate, every penny can make a difference and many small gifts can accumulate to meaningful sums. JGooders has given us all the opportunity this Hannukah to light up the hopes of Jewish and Israeli not-for-profit organizations suffering during this crisis and help them to meet ever-increasing societal needs

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