E-Mail This Article to a Friend See a social problem? Lick it. Promoting solutions through specialty stamps and license plates BY GENEVIEVE RAJEWSKI

Sure, there are plenty of loud ways to spread awareness of your pet social cause or philosophy. After all, who hasn’t seen a Volkswagen plastered from quarter-panel to rooftop with bumper stickers proclaiming PRACTICE RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS and the like?

But there are more subtle strategies for getting the word out — and putting your money where your mouth is. For one, turn to the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles. There, you can order one of nine specialty license plates benefiting a wide range of groups or causes, from budding Olympic athletes to economic development to local fire departments.

The Red Sox/Jimmy Fund plate ($36 initial registration fee plus $40 special-plate fee) features the Red Sox and Jimmy Fund logos. Funds raised from this brand-new plate benefit cancer care and research at Boston’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Beat that, Yankees fans.

Featuring the tail of a right whale and two roseate terns (sea birds), the environmental plate ($36 plus $40) helps raise money for the Massachusetts Environmental Trust. The trust provides grants for environmental education and preservation. To date, more than $3 million have been raised to save and promote the Bay State’s natural resources through this license plate. Decorated with stick-figure drawings, the United Way–sponsored Invest in Children plate ($36 plus $40) benefits the Child Care Quality Fund, a division of the Massachusetts Office of Child Care Services.

Of course, you don’t need a car to help lick social problems. The United States Postal Service has several stamps that raise money and awareness for great causes. They’re certainly less intrusive than forwarding countless e-mails full of good intentions. The Breast Cancer Research stamps ($9/20) feature the phrases " Fund the Fight " and " Find a Cure, " along with an illustration of a mythical " goddess of the hunt " by Whitney Sherman of Baltimore. To date, they have raised nearly $33 million for breast-cancer research. The Heroes of 2001 stamps ($9/20) feature a detail of Thomas E. Franklin’s famous photograph of three firemen raising the US flag at Ground Zero in New York City. So far, the stamps have raised $8 million to aid families of relief personnel killed or permanently disabled in the line of duty in connection with the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Two other stamps help raise awareness, if not money. The Neuter/Spay stamps ($7.40/20) feature either a male puppy or a female kitten. Both were photographed at a Connecticut animal shelter before being neutered or spayed and adopted by a loving home. And the 80-cent Special Olympics stamps ($16/20) feature an illustration of a triumphant Special Olympic athlete clasping hands with two others.

Where to find it:

• Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles, various locations, (617) 351-4500 or (800) 858-3926; www.state.ma.us/rmv.

• United States Postal Service, various locations, (800) STAMP-24; www.usps.com.