Gifts of Love Explained: How a Gift Card Becomes Medical Care

A $20 pair of sandals doesn't sound like medical care. But for someone with leprosy who has lost feeling in their feet, protective shoes help guard against ulcers, infections and permanent damage.

That's the simple but powerful idea behind charity gift cards from the Leprosy Mission Australia. You choose a gift, give the card to someone you love, or keep as a meaningful keepsake/reminder for yourself and your donation supports care for people affected by leprosy around the world.

Quick Answer

• What it is: A Gift of Love is a tax-deductible donation to a Leprosy Mission project, given as a card in someone’s honour or saved as a meaningful keepsake
• What it costs: Gifts start at $5 and go up to $435, so there's one for almost any budget.
• What it funds: Leprosy screening and education support for children, protective shoes, physiotherapy and healthcare worker training, livelihood gifts such as goats and chickens, plus much more.
• How it arrives: As a posted card, a print-your-own card, an email, or with no card at all.
• Who it suits: Anyone who has everything and cares about others. These are gifts that give back on their behalf.

How Do Gift of Love Charity Gift Cards Work?

A Gift of Love works like any other present, with one twist. Instead of a product, the person you're giving to receives a card showing the aid given in honour of them. The card doesn't show the price, so it suits any budget.

Here's the process:

1. Choose and buy your gift from the Gift of Love range.
2. Pick how it's sent: a posted card, a print-your-own card, an email, or no card.
3. Your donation goes to the matching Leprosy Mission project.

Your gift doesn't buy a particular pair of shoes for a particular person. Each dollar value represents the estimated cost of that part of a project, and your donation supports that area and other vital activities.

It's a straightforward way to make a donation feel like a present.

How Does a Gift Card Become Medical Care?

Leprosy is curable, but around 200,000 new cases are still reported every year across more than 120 countries. Left untreated, it can cause progressive, permanent disability.

The medicine itself, called multidrug therapy, is provided free by WHO. The work around it still costs money: spreading awareness, finding cases early, screening the people they live with, ensuring uninterrupted medicinal supply, caring for damaged nerves and training local health workers.

Charity gift cards like these turn a present into early diagnosis, protective footwear and trained health staff. Three examples:

• Screen a Child ($5): Early diagnosis helps prevent children from developing serious, permanent disabilities, and this gift ensures a child is screened.
• Protective Shoes ($20): Leprosy can cause loss of feeling in the feet. Adapted shoes protect vulnerable feet from further damage, ulcers and infections.
• Physiotherapy ($20) and School Screening ($250).

Which Gift of Love Should You Choose?

There are more than 40 gifts in the collection. Here's a sample:

Not sure which one suits? Match the cause to the person. A keen gardener might love the goat, a retired nurse might love healthcare worker training. Browse the full range of gifts of love to see how far your gift can reach.

Gifts That Give Back for People Who Have Everything

Charity gift cards suit the people who are hardest to buy for, such as parents, grandparents, and friends who say "please don't buy me anything". A Gift of Love works for birthdays, Christmas, thank-yous and anniversaries, and there's no clutter to find a home for.

The recipient feels thought of, and someone who truly needs it receives care. It's also one of the easiest gifts that give back to explain: here's what it paid for, and here's why it matters.

If you'd still like something to unwrap, the wider range of charity gifts at The Leprosy Mission Shop includes handmade, fair trade, and Australian creations. Proceeds from shop purchases, after expenses and cost of goods, fund the Mission's overseas projects. Some products are also made by people affected by leprosy.

Are Gifts of Love Tax Deductible?

All Gifts of Love are tax-deductible. The Australian Taxation Office says a donation is deductible when it's made to an organisation with deductible gift recipient (DGR) status, and you don't receive a material benefit in return.

Keep your receipt, because you need a record to claim. From 1 July 2026, the old $2 minimum has been removed, backdated to gifts made from 1 July 2024. You can check any charity's status on ABN Lookup. For your own situation, check with a registered tax professional.

Give a Gift That Does More

Charity gift cards turn a present into care. Screening for a child, shoes for walking safely, or a trained health worker in a remote community. Choose from the gifts of love range, or browse the other charity gifts in the shop.

You'll have given one of the more thoughtful donation gifts Australia has to offer, in the name of someone you care about.