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What Charitable Organizations do you donate to?

S SarbuzeMember
In the last few years I've been giving a lot more to smaller, local groups more so than the larger groups. The two larger groups I still give a good chunk to are the Mayo Clinic and American Cancer Society.

For the smaller/local organizations I tend to give to animal shelters/rescues, food banks, and to support community activities or recovery following tragedy (ie Nepal recently).

Always happy to spread the love to new organizations that are in need- where do your charitable donations go?

Also- any organizations you choose to strongly avoid due to corruption or mismanagement of funds? Would be good to see this list as well.
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doubleddoubledMember
Great thread sarbuze!

Since you are now in NJ, here are three local groups I've donated to and/or volunteer time:

o Chemo Comfort - I have been volunteering since 2007 to produce wellness kits each month for patients undergoing chemo therapy which the founder has undergone a couple of times and wanted to pass along advice and products that were helpful in dealing with the side effects. The organization doesn't have any payroll costs and pays a small amount of rent. The remaining operating costs go directly to the products that go into the kits. See their website for more information.

o CUMAC
Their activities primarily focus on Patterson. From their website: "As the largest food distribution program in Passaic County, we regularly feed over 3,000 low-income people a month. About 1 in 3 of our clients are children, 1 in 6 are disabled and 1 in 8 are senior citizens. "

o Mt. Pleasant Animal Shelter is a no-kill animal shelter located in East Hanover.
S seaquamMember
In order of financial support:

- cancer society
- addiction recovery facility
- heart and stroke foundation
- Alzheimer society
- 2 local community outreach programs

I get so many requests for assistance that it's hard to try to determine which are most worthy, but the above are the ones I support annually. Others are usually one-time things. It's my preference to give a few large contributions rather than a lot of small ones; I think there's greater overall benefit from that.
A arsenal4everMember
I've always thought it was better to donate to local charities where the money stays in the community. Examples would be SPCA and Hospices.
For national organizations, I favor Can Do Multiple Sclerosis and The Civil War Preservation Fund. Unfortunately, the United Way scandal of a few years ago soured me on the big charities with high overhead.
V vinobevoMember
Both my wife and I come from military families so we tend to lean toward charities that support veterans and active duty personnel like the Wounded Warrior Project. Beyond that we focus on more local organizations and our church where we know where the money is going and what it will be used for. I also try to do something for the private high school I attended so others can have the same blessings I did.
vintvintMember
Good thread, sarbuze.

Like Aresenal4ever, I used to give to big, well-known charities but became jaded after realizing most of each dollar raised went into administration, marketing, mailers, staffing etc. Charity Intelligence researches Canadian charities on their transparency, accountability, need for funding and operational efficiency, assigning each a rating from one to four stars. It's a great way way to decide where your charitable dollars will be best used. A quote from Warren Buffett on their home page says it well: "Giving money away is easy. Giving money away well is fiendishly difficult." I don't know if there's a comparable site for US charities.

Much of my charitable giving goes to one of those four-star charities, Sleeping Children Around the World, which provides bed kits, mosquito netting and other supplies to children in impoverished countries. Virtually every penny contributed goes towards the kits, and the entire charity has exactly one staff member. Volunteers do everything else, including paying their own travel expenses to distribute the kits where needed. That's my idea of a worthy charity.
E eyesintimeMember
I've worked in the nonprofit sector for the past the 15 years or so, so I donate where I work. It is especially important for me as I'm in fundraising. Outside of where I work, I tend to support human services/critical needs organizations such as the food bank and Habitat for Humanity. Luckily, while the organization for which I currently work is mainly an arts and culture org. it also has programs in community gardening, food access, education, job training, and nutrition, which are in line with what I want to support. Feel free to let me know if you want to learn more about the organization to consider making a donation (hey, I am in fundraising Smile )

I've also recently been donating to some smaller organizations on a project basis that I've heard about through our local Soup. Soup is a crowd-fundraising organization (believe it started out west somewhere; Seattle maybe), that hosts quarterly dinner events where about 4 nonprofits make brief presentations on a particular project they have. Attendees then vote for a project and proceeds from the events go to the top 2 vote getters. I've found it a great way to learn about smaller orgs/projects that are doing interesting things and I feel that an additional donation would make a real impact.
A azwieseMember
We donate mainly to places where we have a personal connections (MADD, an organ donation foundation, a non-profit in Tucson that takes medical supplies to Central America where there's been a natural disaster).

I'm wondering if anyone works with a community foundation. We do, and I can't recommend it enough. They do all the due diligence and make sure your money is going to what you earmark it for. They also do the due diligence (whoa alliteration) for foreign non-profits, as we donated to a school in the Philippines. The community foundations also have a great network in the town you live in, and help match donors with charities based on one's interests. I highly recommend.
G gregtMember
Conservation Society and World Wildlife Fund.

I figure there will always be needy people and they reproduce rather quickly but once you cut down a tree that's 200 years old you need to wait 200 years for a replacement tree. Plus I've been eating Copper River Salmon and I get sad thinking about the time in the future when it's all going to be raised in warehouses. I like the idea of having some wild places left without off-road vehicles and RVs and wi-fi and handicap access roads and the rest.
S stefaniawineMember
quote:
Originally posted by Vino Bevo:
Both my wife and I come from military families so we tend to lean toward charities that support veterans and active duty personnel like the Wounded Warrior Project. Beyond that we focus on more local organizations and our church where we know where the money is going and what it will be used for. I also try to do something for the private high school I attended so others can have the same blessings I did.


Stef's family always had good things to say about:

http://www.militaryfamily.org/

I donate regularly. It really seems to be a practical 'boots at home' approach for things families need when a member is deployed. Little things we don't often think of like getting a spouse a professional license in a state after a transfer, or sending kids to camp when you've moved at the last minute. The kind of things Stef still remembers being really disruptive as a kid.

Otherwise we obviously get asked to donate for literally hundreds of things every year. I tend to limit it to requests that come from good friends (we just did a Rotary event for a friend) or we feel strongly about personally. We're still doing $1 from every bottle of Chardonnay to http://www.pulmonaryfibrosis.org/

My mom's long time partner died from PF a few years ago. This past year I started the Primal Challenge with someone who was given 18 months to live with PF. He lost 70+ pounds and qualified for a lung transplant and is now 6 months into recovery. Which if anyone ever wants to read a story of guts and determination , his is amazing.
G gregtMember
PH - sorry. PWI. It reads pretty cold in the early morning. I used to donate to Doctors without Borders and a few others as well but one day as I was throwing out junk mail I decided it's better to give more to fewer organizations than less to more of them, since they turn around and use the small donation to keep hitting you up for more. So since we all share the same planet and we only have this one and once we ruin it we can't change it back, I narrowed things down.

If I had considerably more money I'd donate to cardiovascular and Alzheimer's research.
V vinobevoMember
quote:
Originally posted by Stefania Wine:
quote:
Originally posted by Vino Bevo:
Both my wife and I come from military families so we tend to lean toward charities that support veterans and active duty personnel like the Wounded Warrior Project. Beyond that we focus on more local organizations and our church where we know where the money is going and what it will be used for. I also try to do something for the private high school I attended so others can have the same blessings I did.


Stef's family always had good things to say about:

http://www.militaryfamily.org/

I donate regularly. It really seems to be a practical 'boots at home' approach for things families need when a member is deployed. Little things we don't often think of like getting a spouse a professional license in a state after a transfer, or sending kids to camp when you've moved at the last minute. The kind of things Stef still remembers being really disruptive as a kid.

Thanks for the heads up my friend. Always looking for this sort of thing to support.
purplehazepurplehazeMember
quote:
Originally posted by PurpleHaze:
quote:
Originally posted by GregT:
PH - sorry. PWI.


I've never done that. The PWI thing, that is. Eek If we all gave to every cause that pulled at us, we'd all be broke, and few would be the better. One reason why I don't get into my charitable giving, politics, religion or sex in online fora...

PH
billhikebillhikeMember
The company I work for has become a Caring Partner for a nearby Ronald McDonald house. In addition to a 5-year commitment, our owners funded a family reading room in the house. Once a month, 8 employees will spend 4 hours on a weeknight cooking for families who stay in the house while their children are getting whatever treatment they need. In addition to our time, my employer pays for the food. I have volunteered for the next dinner event, and plan to do so regularly. So not a financial donation from me, but a volunteering of time.
R RothkoMember

Still donating to most of the same organizations, plus a few additional ones.

The one organization, though, that I have serious questions about is the Susan B. Komen Race for the Cure.  I always thought it was a serious, on the up and up, breast cancer charity - I participated and supported it.  But then I read articles that say that only 21% of the money they raise goes to cancer research; the rest goes to charity ball expenses, a whopping salary for the founder and CEO, etc.  Very disappointing to read stuff like that, and it makes me question whether to support the organization, even if it does do great Awareness walks, etc.

G g-manMember
@Rothko posted:

Still donating to most of the same organizations, plus a few additional ones.

The one organization, though, that I have serious questions about is the Susan B. Komen Race for the Cure.  I always thought it was a serious, on the up and up, breast cancer charity - I participated and supported it.  But then I read articles that say that only 21% of the money they raise goes to cancer research; the rest goes to charity ball expenses, a whopping salary for the founder and CEO, etc.  Very disappointing to read stuff like that, and it makes me question whether to support the organization, even if it does do great Awareness walks, etc.

https://www.charitynavigator.org/ein/751835298

i was curious to hear that too that only 21% went to programs that they support

but last 3 years it' looks like 77.6% went to programs which is very respectable with only 22.4% going to fundraising and administrative work

wineismylifewineismylifeMember

I usually aim to support organizations that  are rated even higher by Charity Navigator.  90% plus.  Examples (I have not re-verified lately):

North Texas Food Bank.

Educational First Steps

Zero: The End of Prostate Cancer

Conservation Fund

Operation Homefront

Direct Relief

MAP International

Purrfect Cats

Plus a few in the high 80s:

Human Rights Initiative

World Central Kitchen

Plus other random orgs here in there plus some local community orgs like River Legacy.

My only purposeful dud is KERA (PBS).  They are down around 63% but every since the Ferret Wearing Orange Shitgibbon tried to cut their funding they're winners in my book.

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