You seem like nice people. Tell us what causes and charities are important to you. Pimp your nonprofit. If there's a women's shelter that helped you, we want to hear about it. Spam us. And, if you got your tax refund, and you'd like to do a little something with it after you finish sending...um...basically all of it to American Express and your student loan, this is your opportunity to learn about some very worthy causes.
Let it all out in the comments, guys. And please tell us why you care about what you care about, too. Don't feel silly if your nonprofit of choice seems to have a narrow focus. Remember, you're allowed to care about many things at once, and if your only reason is "I love a person who cares about this issue," that's still a pretty good reason. It can be a subsidized golf course for retired mimes.
I'll go first!
The Fistula Foundation: Fistula is a painful, alienating, completely unnecessary complication which can be prevented with better care, and cured with restorative surgery. It ruins women's lives, and the Fistula Foundation has made a big, big difference for so many of them.
Ravi Drugan: My friend Ravi is a badass monoskier (he lost both of his legs after being hit by a train as a teenager) who could seriously use some funding help to continue training for the X Games and the 2014 Paralympics. He's not only one of the sweetest people you'll ever meet, he bitches less than anyone in the universe. "Oh, it's not so bad," he said to me. "I never have to wait in line for things, and I don't have to worry about frostbite anymore. I run nice and warm because my blood pressure doesn't realize I don't have to pump blood to my legs, and flight attendants let me upgrade for free!" I have a shittier attitude when I have to drag the garbage cans out to the curb on Tuesdays.
Praxis Youth Leadership Orchestra: Not only is Praxis a great organization with an incredibly committed and talented staff, the level of musical achievement they produce in such a short time with their students is...unimaginable. Their founder is one of the most passionate educators I know, and he devotes a ridiculous amount of time to fostering musical talent in the least likely environments. Attend a concert! Donate! Make your niece audition!
Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation: They do amazing work, they've got great resources for parents and kids who need to learn a lot in a hurry about having Type 1 diabetes, and they're going to be harassing our politicians until there's a cure. One of my dear friends volunteers extensively on their behalf, and it would make me very happy to see her with a working pancreas in my lifetime. And our own Pistol Packin' Mama, of course.
Law Students for Reproductive Justice: LSRJ is fighting the good fight to make sure that the next generation of young women will have lawyers working to keep the government from turning them into an incubator against their will. Sadly, that kind of advocacy is going to be one hell of a growth industry. Help them out, and if you're thinking about law school, ask them about internships!
Okay, now it's your turn. Where do your charitable dollars go? Conversely, what charities have helped YOU? If you had a massive windfall, who would you be excited to support? Let's hear it.
PLANNED PARENTHOOD.
It's obvious! I know! But I'm young and don't have much money to spend on charity because it's all being taken by evil evil student loans, so the little I can afford right now all goes to Planned Parenthood.
@terrific I realize that is probably not technically a "charity". Or is it? Either way, that's where my charitable dollars go.
@terrific Absolutely a "charity," if by "charity" we mean "nonprofit organization," which I think we do.
@terrific Planned-Parenthood-the-Political-Organization is not a charity, though they are wonderful and I <3 them so much. Planned-Parenthood-the-Medical-Provider absolutely is, and I <3 them even more because medical care for broke people.
@wharrgarbl Planned Parenthood is the only organization I've ever actually coughed up real money for, even though I haven't been a client there for years (the 'round up to the next dollar' at Whole Foods doesn't count).
@wharrgarbl There are many facets of Planned Parenthood! In addition to the advocacy arm, and the US-based clinic network, PP provides medical care around the world in some really hard-to-access places. The International Planned Parenthood Foundation has a network of thousands of clinics, some of which provide the only women's health care in their areas (heck, some of them provide the only health care in their areas!).
@wharrgarbl PPFA is a 501(c)(3), so donations are tax-deductible. They can do lobbying and advocacy, but not candidate endorsement.
@Lily Rowan So Canada my fair land recently decided to re-open the so-called personhood debate. Thankfully this was quickly ignored in parliament. But, I was worried, natch, and so angry that i gave them some cash money! They are awesome!
@terrific I don't know that we have Planned Parenthood in Australia - I wish we did because I would totes put up hard cash for an organisation like that.
That being said, we do have a lot of women's health already subsidised by our public system/taxpayers, but that doesn't mean it couldn't be run better by a non-profit! :-D
The Womens' Debate Institute (http://womensdebateinstitute.org/). Probably comes as a big surprise to readers here that academic debate, especially at its highest levels of competition, is overwhelmingly male. For more than 10 years, the WDI's been pushing against that trend by identifying and nurturing young women with exceptional talents in argument. Plus, it's free if you're accepted, unlike lots of multi-thousand dollar summer debate programs.
This isn't really a "charity," but my best man friend is currently in the Peace Corps and he's serving in Armenia. He and the other Armenia volunteers are doing a border-to-border (Georgia to Iran) trip ON FOOT spreading general health and wellness information as well as environmental info (because this is a resource little to no youngsters have in Armenia). You can read more about it and donate here:
https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=305-083
Obviously, even $5 goes a long way for them. I know it's kind of abstract and you won't directly see the results but I can assure you it's a major help over there.
Another obvious one, but: ASPCA.
@Bro-lo El Cunado YES. I got my kitty cat at the SPCA, and she's basically the greatest anything ever, so I owe the SPCA big-time.
Medicins San Frontieres/Doctors without Borders. I've linked to one of these before, but these blog posts by a friend of mine with her work through them are incredible.
Also, my local food bank. Give them money or your time (not food, they are better at using your money than you are to buy the food that they need). Food banks are a great place to volunteer, if you can't afford to give right now.
@thebestjasmine
My friend went to the Central African Republic with MSF and came back with a totally different notion of what makes a neighborhood "safe."
"There are no Kalashnikov-toting gunmen trying to overthrow the government? Sounds fine!"
@josiahg And Partners in Health!
@thebestjasmine MSF, Yes! They're amazing and I'm proud that I've been able to donate monthly for seven years. I don't have any of the necessary skills to work for them. ;)
Girls On The Run! Awesome non-profit that trains preteen girls to run a 5K. Which is incredible, to me, because when I was that age, runnning The Mile was the biggest scariest deal EVER. I'm a Running Buddy this year, which has turned out to be the most fun but low-commitment volunteer work I have ever done. (Just 2 days - you run a practice 5K with your "buddy," then you run the real race.) Doooo iiiiit.
Imagine Scholar: A non-profit school that provides unique, personalized education to promising youth in South Africa's disadvantaged Nkomazi region. (OK, I ripped that from their website.) The gentlemanfriend is currently volunteering with them and he's gone till September and I miiiiiiiss him but he's doing good work so hooray him.
http://www.crowdrise.com/supercoolwatercooler/fundraiser/megannellis#top
@dahlface Aw, Girls On The Run! I did that for a couple years in middle school. It was great, because it wasn't just about running. Each week we'd learn about different values (leadership, health, being yourself, stuff like that). I remember at the final race, they put a ribbon across the finish line as each girl approached to run through and everyone got the same metal, so the emphasis wasn't on competition, but our individual accomplishments. My good friend and I were the last two runners left, and as we were approaching the finish line, we looked at each other and in exhaustion nodded and mumbled to each other as if to say "Let's do this together," so neither of us were last. I have some great memories from GOTR; thanks for reminding me of them, dahlface!
@dahlface Thank you so much for this! Girls on the Run and Let Me Run is literally totally exactly what my boyfriend has been looking for. You don't happen to be in Boston/know about the boys' version I just located via Google?
Kiva! Which I guess isn't a charity because you get the money back? But it's nice to feel like you're helping real people without the weirdness of adopting a specific person or whatever.
Also, Afghan Institute of Learning.
@Emma Peel I also love kiva! The loans get paid back, and I send the money right back out again. My initial investment in kiva was about $200. I've made over $2000 in loans since then, just re-lending the money over and over. It's better than christmas!
Planned Parenthood, because duh, and also they're the reason I'm not up to my eyeballs in babies right now.
Also, National Advocates for Pregnant Women, because they are made entirely of awesome. If you read The Criminalization of Bad Mothers, you know what's up.
ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH FISTULAS
@redheaded&crazie i can't say the name is as bad or even almost as bad as the medical condition it describes but IT IS SUCH A BAD NAME FOR SUCH A BAD THING
I'm going to donate to the fistula foundation when I get home today. ugh ugh ugh
apologies for the use of alienating language :\
@redheaded&crazie Fistulas are just awful all around, they are a perfect storm of oppression and injustice.
@Lucienne exactly.
@redheaded&crazie Have you seen A Walk to Beautiful? Such a wonderful, devastating, awful, awesome movie. It profiles five Ethiopian women who gave birth as teens and suffered fistulas and were alienated by their husbands and families because of their incontinence and receive treatment at a hospital in the capital and sometimes the surgeries succeed and sometimes they don't and and ahhh these women! Just watch it.
Defenders of Wildlife!
I am a defender of wildlife! :D They've been working on wolves and endangered species status, fighting all the jackasses in Idaho who are hunting wolves with helicopters (REMEMBER our recent discussion on Julie of the Wolves?? REMEMBER????) and easing tensions between ranchers in Eastern Oregon and the Imnaha pack - Oregon's first (documented) wolves in many many years. They also are tracking the progress of OR-7, a lone wolf who struck out from that pack on his own and is undergoing an incredible journey across the Northwest. But mainly they are trying to have ranchers not kill wolves and blame them for ALL their problems.
@LaLoba What about a wolf highway? What is their stance on wolf highways?
@LaLoba West Wingery aside, their building in DC has two fantastic wolf-size wolf statues outside the entrance. You can't look at them and not smile. http://g.co/maps/4mvqe
@Vicky Johnson Hey! Don't mock poor old Pluie!
Sometimes I think the best thing we can do for wildlife is teach it to use guns so they can shoot back at the helicopters. It might be hard since wolves don't have opposable thumbs, but surely the raccoons could help them out? Or crows. Crows are really good at using tools.
Oy vey. I am right now trying to figure out how to squeeze enough money out of my grad school stipend to help out with the school fees of the daughter of the family I lived with in Kenya during my Peace Corps stint. I know I can do it and I do that amount of money dribbles out here and there on totally stupid things, but in a lump sum it just feels like SO MUCH and makes me feel SO ANXIOUS. I'm going to do it though, seriously. Like, right now. All of the generosity and awesomeness that I am sure this thread is going to inspire in me is going to fire me up to do it before I lose my will. Here I go.
@Kristen I DID IT. Weight off my shoulders! Man, Bank of America makes getting rid of your money terrifyingly easy sometimes.
@Kristen Thanks, Nicole, seriously. This was just what I needed.
@Kristen That is an awesome thing to do, though! You can do it! You can!
@Kristen This is amazing and so are you! I know you don't need to be told this, but you just made a hug difference in that girl's life.
@The Everpresent Wordsnatcher @The Lady of Shalott Thanks, you guys!!
@The Everpresent Wordsnatcher Also a HUGE difference. I'm not sure what a hug difference is, but I'm sure it is a good and much-appreciated thing as well. Oi.
@Kristen Amazing!
Public Radio! Donate to your local station and/or to NPR. I am so broke, but I always try to scrounge up $10 for them. I am going to start scrounging around to add PP to this list. I have never needed to use their services, but I feel very strongly about their work.
I'm a big fan of Army of Women, which you can support with your participation. Basically, you sign up to receive alerts about participation in studies about breast cancer. Since I've never had breast cancer most of the studies don't apply to me, but I've participated in one.
My mom died of breast cancer in 2007 and I get so tired of Komen and pink ribbon everything because really, awareness doesn't do shit, everyone but tiny babies is aware of breast cancer. Medical research can do shit however, and this is a concrete thing you can do to help. It's also not very time/email consuming. I get at most two emails a week alerting me to new studies.
http://www.armyofwomen.org/
@Genghis Khat Thanks for the tip, I just signed up!
@Genghis Khat I'm sorry you lost your mom :( Mine is in remission (her tumor was stage 1, thankfully) but just got diagnosed with another serious illness, and, ugh, parents getting older and sick sucks.
@Genghis Khat THANK YOU for this. I'm with you on the pink ribbon crap; what frustrates me even more than the "1% of profits from this ugly pink thing you'll never use or wear goes to fund Komen's administrative overhead" labels are products that claim to "support" breast cancer but don't ever explain how or where the money goes. (Individual vendors at craft fairs do this all the time, and I've never worked up the courage to ask if they're donating the money or just making a pink bracelet.)
@Genghis Khat Thank you for the link. I'm so sorry for your loss. Pinkwashing sucks.
An Australian site that needs more members: register4.org.au
@che @vomiting: Thanks, it was a very difficult time, and I really hope someday breast cancer isn't the killer it is today.
When I can, I donate to Doctors Without Borders (this came up in an Apples to Apples game for some reason and my med-school boyfriend looked at me in surprised approval and then gave me a longer kiss than he usually does in front of somewhat-strangers), the Humane Society, and Human Rights Campaign. Pretty obvious, I guess, but important! I also donate when I can to my favorite Pagan news site, The Wild Hunt, and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.
Specific to Canada, but a really, really worthy charity:
http://www.herofund.ca/
The Canadian Hero Fund. This supports the families of Canadian Forces members who have died in the line of fire, by raising money to help take care of their families. When a serviceman or servicewoman dies, their pension is not always enough to take care of the family, and the Hero Fund steps in to pay for university tuitions, for books, for residence payments, and so on, so that the children of fallen soldiers can go on to complete their educations. It's also transferred to spouses--many, many military wives don't complete or even start university, so after their spouse dies, they are faced with trying to support a family on a pension with relatively poor job skills. By providing them with the funds to go to university, you're helping raise families out of poverty or near-poverty.
Please, please help them! They are a great, worthy cause, and one that is very near and dear to my heart as an academic whose boyfriend is in the CF. Please help them if you possibly can!
Hey can someone tell me how much money you should shoot to give to charity? I am doing ok financially right now and I would like to give some away. I am also one of those people who is really terrified of not having any money and likes to hoard it whenever I can, so the answer can't be "whatever I can spare." I need RULES!
@OhMarie Back when I made more than enough money to barely live I went with 10% of my paycheck. That's probably because I was raised catholic so tithing (but not to the church!) felt appropriate to me. But it might not be appropriate to you!
@OhMarie Maybe think about it in a percentage of your income? I would love to be able to give 10% of my income to charity each year. I can't, but see what percentage you can give. Also, look at specific charities and see what the recommend; some of them will have a "$50 will feed one kid for a year!" kind of thing on their websites, and they often are very deliberate about those numbers.
@OhMarie It obviously depends on what you're comfortable with, but I understand your feelings. A good way to give is on a recurring basis, most organizations have some sort of system set up for this. It helps them plan their budget, and as a donor, it isn't super scary. It lets you spread your $60/$100/whatever donation over a year.
@OhMarie I aim for $50/month because my work offers free financial counseling a couple of times a year and when I asked that was the person's suggestion. Although, at the time I was saving up to move which I'm done with so maybe I should adjust up now...
I usually pick one organization a month and give it all to them. I also like this method because when friends and coworkers are raising money for something, I know immediately if I can afford to help and if I think it's worth tho whole $50 or if I want to give them a smaller donation and give the rest to something more urgent/close to my heart. Or if I have to say no, which has actually never happened.
@Genghis Khat Yes, my parents are also Catholic and also tithe. That seems like a lot? But maybe I just need to ignore that feeling because it's my frightened hoarder side talking and there are people starving, dammit. I think it might also help to break it down month by month like @themmases does.
@thebestjasmine I actually did this with my most recent contribution! I fixed one kid's cleft palate! It was cool.
@OhMarie If you're not giving at all, start with 1% a year. That for me is about $35/month, and that's still a lot for me. I want to take it up to 2% next year, but I can't imagine being able to afford giving away 5% or 10% until I'm making much, much more than I am now. I know I'm still more fortunate than many people in the world, and I feel guilty about it.
@OhMarie If it's any help, the people on the Australian 50 Rich List (some are multi-millionaires, some multi-billionaires) all give on average about 2% of their wealth to charity or non-profit NGOs, so don't feel like not giving 10% is tight - there are definitely better off people out there who only give as much as is tax effective and they sleep at night.
I donate to MAPS, the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies.
http://www.maps.org/
Partners In Health, a non-governmental organization that has been operating in Haiti for 27 years. They have been steadfast about their vision of training and equipping Haitians to serve their own communities, and they believe that health should be available to everyone regardless of ability to pay. Also 93% of every dollar goes directly to programs. It's a solid and admirable operation in every way.
http://bitly.com/IjLuJe
@mayalope seconding this one! they also work in other countries besides haiti.
@mayalope I've given to PiH before and have a friend who works for them and they are awesome.
@mayalope They are fantastic. And their president is Roald Dahl's daughter, which kind of blows my mind.
@plonk Yes! Thanks for mentioning that. They also do wonderful work in Rwanda, Lesotho, Russia, Malawi, Guatemala, and more that I am forgetting. But my heart is in Haiti, and I'm exceptionally proud of the work they have done there.
The DC Abortion fund! They're a wonderful organization that makes a HUGE difference.
@ylime or, if you're in the Philadelphia area, Women's Medical Fund! http://womensmedicalfund.org
Okay, so Scouting-- it can be kind of badges-and-popsicle-stick-based in the States, but the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts is doing some badass stuff elsewhere. It's not a cool niche charity, but it's important! A dear friend just did a stint at the WAGGGS Sangam Centre in India, and they did stuff like educating local scouts about AIDS prevention and environmental awareness and helping set up a day care for the kids of the city's sex workers, along with tons of other, real-impact projects.
Important stuff for the future of women!
@VolcanoMouse I feel sort of weird about WAGGGS, because its constitution states that "The Fundamental Principles of the World Association are those of the Girl Guide/Girl Scout Movement as expressed in the Original Promise and Law laid down by the Founder" - ie, "1. To do my duty to God and the King; or
God and my country; 2. To help other people at all times; 3. To obey the Guide Law". And I am uncomfortable about having duty to God/King/country being a fundamental principle. (I have helped out at my local Brownie Pack for about seven years, but am still not an official leader; we started the process a few months ago, but I told our leader I felt I couldn't do it because I would have to make my promise again, and I'm not willing to make a promise I know I won't keep ("I promise to do my best to love my god, to serve my Queen and my country"). Because I don't think people should have to promise to love God to prove they are a good and worthwhile person, and have massive issues about promising to serve Queen and country, what with not agreeing with the idea of the monarchy and preferring to follow my conscience rather than my country. But you're right that Guiding does a lot of good stuff! I am just weird. My leader looked at me very oddly when I told her this, and said most people don't a)read the Constitution or b)care about being honest. But, as I said, I am weird.)
I cut my lawyer teeth at the Bronx Defenders, and wholeheartedly recommend giving to them, particularly the Family Defense Practice, which defends parents in the Bronx accused of abusing and neglecting their children (which essentially, in about 98% of cases in the Bronx, ends up criminalizing parents for either being poor or making everyday parenting mistakes while under a human microscope or both.) I learned quickly that my job was to defend peoples' right to be parents. http://www.bronxdefenders.org/
Child's Play Charity! Group of no-good gamers (helmed by the Hooligans behind Penny Arcade) raising money to buy toys, books, games, and other distracting amusements for kids in hospitals. They are fantastic and do a lot of good for kids (and parents) in situations no one should ever be in.
@The Everpresent Wordsnatcher I did this one year! You can either give money, or at Christmas you can go to an actual hospital's wish list and buy a thing. One year I went to the site of the hospital I went to as a kid and bought a pink Nintendo DS. I had a lot of fun imagining the kid who would use it.
@The Everpresent Wordsnatcher Seconded! I always send some spare cash their way.
@The Everpresent Wordsnatcher Yes! I love that charity.
Girls Rock! Indy is my local branch of a very cool nonprofit that hooks ladies up with axes (and drumsticks and vocal training and more and more). Double whammy of awesome nonprofit-y goodness for me. With a mom in music ed (currently under massive legislative attack), my heart yearns to get more kids connected to music. It's also a very, very empowering and cool. http://girlsrockindy.org/
I'm a big Cystic Fibrosis Foundation fan. (May is CF Awareness Month!). Never have been more grateful to take a deep, full breath of fresh air.
@Katastrophe YES! I work for Rocknroll Camp for Girls, and we have over 40 camps internationally now, all with the aim of empowering girls through music education. Girls ages 8-17 choose an instrument, form a band, write a song and play a show all in one week! I love watching the girls grow in confidence not only from creating something but also learning how to actively shape their community.
Check out the Girls Rock Camp Alliance for more info about a camp near you! We are taking over the world...
Planned Parenthood because I'm a lady, Human Rights Campaign because I'm an ally, and ALS charities in memory of my Grandma Claire. There are so many good ones that get monies here or there, but those are the recurring ones.
@bandgmeg Unlurking to say yay for supporting ALS charities! It's a horrible disease that doesn't have a lot of visibility in society, so any awareness is awesome!
National Kidney Foundation because one of my besties needs a new one and none of her family or friends are a match (for real, we all got tested).
Be an organ donor! You can even be a living organ donor, people. That is full of the awesome.
http://kidney.org/
@Maria --Yes, organ (and tissue) donation. For me it's Be The Match (http://marrow.org/Home.aspx). So easy to register, donation doesn't have permanent consequences for your body, and you can save a life. Which is not to say that other forms of organ donation should suffer by comparison: I'm just giving the "sell" points here.
@Lu2 Would you mind sharing a little more about your experiences as a (potential?) donor? For many reasons, I've been really interested in joining the registry but reading through their website tends to scare me a bit...
@Sam I am --Sure. I haven't donated yet, but I think I feel pretty comfortable with the prospect, especially since you can always change your mind. They really, really hope you don't wait to do that until they've found that you're a match for someone, because doing so can mess up that person's treatment and likely put them in more danger. They don't keep a bank of bone marrow or cells; they keep your information in the registry and when a patient needs a donation, they find a match in the registry and then notify the donor to come in. Although a wide spectrum of donors are needed, Be The Match especially seeks donors from certain ethnic groups that are underrepresented in their database (not white Europeans like me).
I completely understand your qualms, but I think that most donations do not require the marrow to be taken from your bones surgically. Instead, they put you on a drug that increases your production of stem cells and then take it in a way that's similar to blood donation. It doesn't sound totally pleasant, since there will be side effects for the donor like body aches and headaches, so there will probably be a couple of days of recovery, but considering the benefit to someone else who may otherwise die, I'd like to at least think that it wouldn't be a big deal to me relatively speaking.
edited to add: that last part looks a little scold-y, but I really honestly don't mean it that way. I'm talking to myself there.
@Lu2 Not at all scold-y. As an ethnically underrepresented donor I needed to hear it. Plus, I know better than to be worried. My mom needed a donation. She passed away and this is really the least I could be doing. I don't know anyone who has been through the process personally (even just adding their name to the database) so this is just what I needed to hear to clear away lingering thoughts. Thank you.
@Sam I am --I'm so sorry about your mom. Good luck with your process. I hope that if you do it, you never need to be called on :). But you may find yourself wishing it would happen; I know sometimes I think that way, for the potential good it could do! :D
@Lu2 Thank you for your support :)
@Sam I am --You're welcome! C U at the apheresis center 'Pinup! (kidding)
Right now I'm preparing to bike 660 km (410 miles) in support of an awesome group called the Toronto People with AIDS Foundation. PWA is the biggest support service agency for people living with HIV/AIDS in Canada so, pretty awesome. Interested 'Pinners can donate here: http://my.e2rm.com/personalPage.aspx?SID=3341708&langPref=en-CA
I spread it around - I donate to Amnesty International, the Red Cross, Planned Parenthood, & a bunch of animal/environmental causes (Animal Welfare Association of Voorhees, NJ - where I adopted my little dog 6 years ago! - ASPCA, WWF, ENRD, Defenders of Wildlife, Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, etc.). $10-30/month is not unmangeable for me, and it adds up over the years.
@themegnapkin This is so great, spreading it around is wonderful! Can I also recommend (to everyone) to donate to smaller/more local non-profits? Donating to the bigger orgs is wonderful but the smaller, not as well known non-profits can't always afford to focus on donations or membership/getting their name out there, and $10 really does go a long way.
@Sam I am I'm chiming in to say please, please, please remember your local animal shelters! And I know it sounds counterintuitive, but the kill ones often need the most money. You can make sure your money is being used to fund animals staying alive. I volunteer for Berea Animal Rescue Fund in Ohio...currently our cat building is a mobile home. And we provide the best medical care for animals in NE Ohio, because we have lovely donors and vets and volunteers. But still! A mobile home! We need a building! People, your local shelters need the money. Ten dollars goes a loooooooong way.
There is a local Chicago cageless, no-kill animal shelter at which I have been volunteering for 6 years: Felines & Canines (it used be called Felines, Inc. but they are rebuilding the shelter to have room for dogs). This shelter is my "happy place" to go every weekend, and they could always use donations because the rebuilding is VERY expensive, but very worth it because they can double the number of animals that live there from about 150 to 300.
Plus, if you live in Chicago and love your pet, this Saturday they are having a Cinco de Meow fundraiser at Trader Todd's from 12-2pm. I will for sure be there (for your donation of $20, you get 3 drinks and unlimited Mexican food).
@olivebee CINCO DE MEOW!
@olivebee I WANT TO GO TO THERE
@The Everpresent Wordsnatcher I posted it in the Hairpin Meetups Google Group, because I am pretty much going without knowing anyone (besides the shelter staff), so I figured I'd try and turn it into a Pinup. Wish you lived in Chicago and could go to there!
@olivebee I saw this and want to go!
I donate to unworthy hospital charities where probably all the donations go to funding bureaucracy. I think I am going to switch that to Planned Parenthood.
Wounded Warriors Foundation!
+ The organization Carry the Load is a walk from West Point to Texas from May 1 - 27. You can join at any point during the walk (DC residents - the walk is coming through on May 7th!). It's kinda neat, and the aim is to share the stories of fallen soldiers, especially as Memorial Day nears.
@nyikin (Not just soldiers, but servicemen and women from other branches too.)
SPECIAL OLYMPICS. You want your heart warmed? Go to a Special Olympics event. My brother is autistic, so I went to a LOT of them. From first to last place, every kid is SO HAPPY and the parents are so appreciative. You don't know how much it helped my brother to hang out with other people who were going through the same things he does. Even if you don't have $$, you can donate your time!
Besides some of the major ones already mentioned, I like Donors Choose - I felt like even the small amount I could donate to one of the classes made a difference.
@Gracefully and Grandly I love them. Whenever I'm having a really crappy day, I'll go and help some kids and feel better about everything.
@Gracefully and Grandly Voicing my love for Donors Choose! My mom was a teacher for 25 years, so it's pretty close to my heart, and I love the idea of helping kids' education beyond just paying taxes.
@Gracefully and Grandly - Oh, yes, Donors Choose! My best friend is a teacher at a very small, very young charter school, and I hectored (...well, gently reminded/encouraged?) her for MONTHS and she finally put up a couple of projects and promptly got them funded and I might have been more excited than she was, checking the site every day and squealing when another donation was made.
@Gracefully and Grandly THE BEST. I like either picking by geography or by subject. The only problem is looking at the site and wanting to cry that schools can't do things like buy new books.
@Gracefully and Grandly Did you read the story last year or so when a woman funded every single Donors Choose project at schools in California? Ahh, here we go. Just reading that story again brought tears to my eyes AGAIN.
@thebestjasmine No! Oh man, that warms my heart. I wish I could do something like that. That's amazing - thanks for the link, needed an uplifting story.
@anachronistique I do that too! I tend to give more to my own location, but I do love that you're able to look it up by subjects too. It kills me when I see just how many projects are about classes not even having paper/supplies (or books). I like Donors Choose because while there are (I really hope?) people out there who are focused on the larger scale problems or future solutions for education, there are students right now that need help and as an individual this is one way I can help.
The Gulf Restoration Network is a group that for almost 20 years has worked to monitor, protect and restore the natural resources of the Gulf of Mexico. They do great work for wetland restoration, and they watch-dog the aftermath of the 2010 BP oil spill, which is still very much a problem in the Gulf Region. Great people, very dedicated.
Also, local foodbanks are one of the places your charity dollars can make the greatest impact close to home, and also one of the easiest places to donate. Just find your nearest one online and donate cash - they can do so much more with your monetary donation than with cans and so forth. You don't have to feel guilty that you could be doing more, because it's truly so much more effective for them to have the dollars than for you to collect and drop off foodstuffs.
The International Rescue Committee (IRC). They provide humanitarian assistance in conflict and disaster zones, as well as resettle refugees in the US. I volunteer with newly settled refugees, and donate whenever I can. They're one of the most respected humanitarian assistance organizations, and I find that their marketing and solicitations are extremely respectful of their recipients (i.e. no pictures of starving African children or other emotional manipulation). http://www.rescue.org/
@Whitmans Sampler Yeah, I'm their supporter too and they make it a point to solicit for ongoing under-the-radar humanitarian crises, not just the most sensational ones.
So many good ones here! I donate annually to the New England Center for Homeless Veterans, and I'm sure there are comparable shelters everywhere. I was inspired to start after hearing this news story: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/16/brian-christopher-homeless-vet-returns-wallet_n_797835.html
The Animal Legal Defense Fund is another great one, if you're interested in fighting animal cruelty (and who isn't, really?).
@gidgejane I second ALDF! They are out fighting the good fight & their lawyers are top-notch.
Share Our Strength (www.strength.org) is an solid nonprofit that does awesome work on childhood hunger in America. Their programs address those gaps in policy and economics that leave children without access to nutritious food, which is a terrible thing that we can absolutely do something about.
@dj pomegranate Love them. Also love Feeding America, and the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC).
Temple of the Forest Beneath the Clouds.
The temple is the oldest continuously used Chinese temple in California. On display are art objects, pictures, mining tools, and weapons used in the 1854 Tong War. This Taoist temple is still a place of worship and a fascinating look into the role played by Chinese immigrants in early California history. It breaks my heart that the CA State Park system can no longer support it and it will have to shut without outside support. It's also pretty much the *only* exposure to non-white culture you get as a child when you grow up there.
Wow - I was going to post the Fistula Foundation and then I saw it was the first one listed! Coincidentally, I just gave them $25 the night before last. I gave them $1000 in high school after reading Nick Kristof's op-ed (I had never heard of it before).
UNICEF because they teach girls to control their fertility. Unlike my extended family, who believe in "abstinence education". Oy!
I'll just shout out Girls Inc. for general education and empowerment for girls, and the Alzheimer's Association, for research and advocacy and support for folks affected by Alz.
And as long as we're donating, donate blood! If you can.
Did I say how much I love this? I love this post!
@Lily Rowan Also donate organs! I mean, not right now, unless you can spare them or you're braindead, but let's make sure we're all registered!
@The Everpresent Wordsnatcher Yes!
On the blood thing, I realize that a lot of people can't do it for all kinds of reasons (legit medical, bullshit rules, fear), so I try to remember to donate because I can and I don't mind it.
@The Everpresent Wordsnatcher I want you to know that I've always been super squeamish for some reason about being a donor (I've also never donated blood, but I never used to weigh enough until recently, sorry, whole different thread there) BUT! When I renewed my driver's license last week I marked myself as an organ donor thanks to the recent discussions on this here website!
@Lily Rowan As someone who can't donate because of rather irrational and extreme fear issues, THANK YOU for donating. Really.
@sox Hooray!
@The Everpresent Wordsnatcher Of course, now I realize I've been eligible for a couple of months and haven't gone in, but I will now!
@Lily Rowan And register as a bone marrow donor! marrow.org
@Lily Rowan Yes! I love donating blood, weirdly. I have done it only eleven times so far (last time only six days ago) and got a Bronze Award and a badge when I reached my tenth donation. If you are able, do it! It only takes a short amount of time, as is so worth it.
Also, stem cell donation: www.anthonynolan.org I'm on the register.
@sox
If you're still toeing the weight limit, you might get really giddy and shaky and excited after a donation! Anyhow, I'm right on the limit, and I always end up laughing a lot and feeling like what drunk is supposed to feel like and then I lie down. Do it, it could be really fun!
The Mercy Center in the Bronx. (http://www.mercycenterbronx.org/) A bunch of badass nuns (and supportive laypeople) run a center for women and their families in one of the poorest neighborhoods in the country. The Center and its community of supporters are effective, gutsy, inclusive, and humble.
Also, I second the support for Partners in Health and Doctors without Borders. I have great friends who I admire so much working in each of these organizations.
Don't forget local charities! My favorite in Syracuse is Francis House, the best place to die in New York State. It's a hospice run by awesome nuns and an army of volunteers.
At the risk of un-anonymizing myself, I'm going to pimp my nonprofit, Scholars at Risk (http://scholarsatrisk.nyu.edu/) because it is the best and I want everyone to know about it!
We are an academic freedom nonprofit that works with universities and other partners to provide sanctuary to professors, lecturers, researchers and other intellectuals who suffer threats in their home country due to their academic work and/or human rights activism. We also do advocacy work on behalf of scholars when direct involvement is not a feasible option. Scholars are often the first targets by those seeking power and control in a country/culture/community because ideas are powerful. We try to do something about that.
Not only do I love my job and all the people who work here, but I can assure you that *all* donations go to helping academics out of threatening situations so they can continue their work--whatever it is--in peace and safety.
@squishyface That...gave me goosebumps. For reals.
@squishyface <3
@squishyface We've hosted several Scholars at Risk at my university, and they've been very impressive! One was an Iranian dissident writer who published his most recent novel in English translation instead o Farsi, Knopf I think, and it did really well -- and you could tell it would have been very unlikely to happen if he hadn't come here! Plus, you know, saving him from imprisonment and possible untimely demise and so on.
Medical Students for Choice helps medical students obtain training in abortion procedures, advocates for retaining/adding abortion training in medical schools, and does general pro-choice work across the board.
MSFC all the way! We can debate choice all we want, but the reality is without people to do the abortions/insert the IUDs we will be in a tough spot.
OMG, you are all such the best!
Also, shout out to MayaD and the other Type-I-ers I know are here on account of insecure glucose strip discussions.
1) Homeboy Industries- violence intervention run by Greg Boyle SJ.
2) Planned Parenthood
3) NPR
4) Partners in Health
5) Positive Action in Housing, a poverty reduction/housing rights organization in Glasgow Scotland
6) American Diabetes Association Camp Needlepoint Camperships. Send a kid with no cash to canoeing and red hazardous waste camp with other diabetic kids! Woo hoo!
Chicagoans! Please consider giving money/support/time to Rape Victim Advocates, which supports survivors of sexual assault with trauma response and follow-up care. I volunteer with RVA, and they are doing such important work.
http://www.rapevictimadvocates.org/
I love this post! Created an account to talk about it. Some of my favorites are my local food bank, Kiva, Habitat for Humanity, Greenpeace, Heal Africa, PIH, SF Homeless Pre-natal Program, Blink Now, V-day and the City of Joy, Lead Uganda, and some other random donations as I can such as Water.org, Unicef, Pathfinders, etc. I am always amazed, when I go looking, by how many wonderful, on the ground non-profits are out there.
Also... how would Pinners Untie for Good?
@PistolPackinMama If there are other 'Pinners who are tied up in emotional knots, we untie them. See?
@Ophelia I'd be the first client. But I'm needy, so people would have to really donate.
@PistolPackinMama
Is it bad that I immediately thought of a corset?
Also if you guys want to do something for FREEEE you can sign up to be a bone marrow donor (if you're eligible) at bethematch.org.
@alpelican Yes! Was about to post this too. I signed up!
@alpelican I just registered on Monday! Hope my swabs turned out.
Boneshaker Books in Minneapolis! Collectively-run, nonprofit, all-volunteer independent bookstore. I'm a volunteer and we have a Kickstarter campaign going on right now to expand our kids' section and improve our meeting room.
@anise Thanks for the heads up! I love them.
The late, great Chicago Cub Ron Santo would always give to and promote JDRF. Donating to NPR can get you cool gifts like solar iPod docks and weather radios (I like my portable audio devices). Engineers Without Borders comes up with a bunch of good projects like water supply projects in South America. And yes/duh, Planned Parenthood!
Oh man de-lurked just for this. Going along with the theme this week of the problem with criminalizing bad mothers/parents who are occasionally stupid, the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform (nccpr.info) advocates for reforming the child welfare system by not taking kids away from their parents unnecessarily. Often a child is taken away simply because a parent is too poor to afford child care or even just doesn't have the time to clean the house.
The organization has been struggling to stay afloat and the director and only paid staff Richard Wexler (who I know) had to leave temporarily, here is an article on his exit and his contributions to child welfare: http://fosteringmediaconnections.org/2012/04/05/john-kelly-on-wexlers-exit/ He is back now to run things, at least as long as they have funding.
oh my goodness The Food Project does amazing work in the Boston area. It's a non-profit that works with youth in sustainable agriculture agriculture to foster social change. Basically, they hire kinds from the inner city and the suburbs to work on farmland in Lincoln and Roxbury for the summer. The food they produce goes to CSAs, local restaurants, and (best of all) a farmer's market in the inner city that takes food stamps and WIC, and provides fresh, sustainable, affordable produce in an area that doesn't have proper grocery stores. And they do so much to educate the kids about social justice and food and just being kind to each other and to themselves. I worked there the summer I was fifteen, and it changed my life. I can't say enough about how wonderful it is. If you live around Boston and want to get your hands dirty, they're always looking for volunteers to come help out in the fields and see what it's like, and they host community lunches every week where the kids cook with a local chef--it's so great, go learn about it, it's beautiful.
My amazing, fantastic friend (adopted from Nepal and raised in the US) has recently started a non-profit to give back to the orphanage she lived in as a baby. It's called The Kumari Project (http://www.thekumariproject.org/).
She has organized student service trips since college to raise funds and visit Nepal and meet the kids (mostly girls) and see what their needs are. Mostly they try to raise funds to pay for their education, but also bring books and clothes and basic hygiene products.
I had the opportunity to travel with her a couple years ago and organize activities for the kids. It was so great to meet them, they have boundless energy and kindness (as do most of the people I met in Nepal). My friend is trying to have her organization help for for education for the kids and eventually become a support network for finding future employment and easing their transition into adulthood, once they become too old to stay at the orphanage.
I really can't say enough good things about the work she's trying to do. Right now, she's lives at her mom's house, saving up her pennies to travel to Nepal three months at a time on a tourist visa, bringing whatever supplies and donations she has been able to raise. I really hope one day soon it can become a fully sustainable non-profit, but even now she does so much good, just as a one-woman-show.
The Heifer Project provides animals and trees to impoverished communities. They instruct recipient families on proper husbandry/forestry techniques, and part of the program is the requirement that part of the next generation of animals be gifted to other poor families within the community.
@wharrgarbl I love the Heifer International. They do great work, and their "pass it on" project ensures that your gift is helping a larger community. My family does Heifer gifts for Christmas and birthdays. I just "gave" my dad some geese and he was really pleased.
@wharrgarbl and @lauren.elizabeth Heifer FTW! I've been donating for years after visiting the Learning Center in Mass as a teenager and my husband and I made a donation instead of giving out wedding favors. I cannot say enough good things about what they are doing.
The International Rhino Foundation. It's not the only organization I support... I also support well-known groups like Kiva and Unicef... but it's really good. All species of rhinoceros are endangered, but the Javan Rhino (which is smaller -- and hairy!) is nearly extinct. No more than 200 are known to be alive. This organization runs two nature preserves which are keeping the Sumatran/Javan Rhinos from extinction. They also train and pay local people to be rangers and prevent poaching.
One of their young rhinos, Ratu, has just become pregnant -- and you can help support her if you donate! They are holding a big event right now called the Cinco de Rhino in order to raise money to keep up their preservation efforts.
They won an Independent Charities Seal of Excellence, so they are extremely legit and good at what they do. Here's a link:
http://www.rhinos-irf.org/
Blue Ocean Institute! Sustainable fishing (and, eating!) for all.
Oooh, I'm gonna have at this one as a professional fundraiser for years and years with some rules of thumb for my own donating that I wish more people knew. There are lots of awesome BIG non-profits doing super fabulous work, like Partners in Health, St. Jude's and Planned Parenthood-- but if your donation power is under the $1K range, I'm going to be daring and suggest that they don't really NEED you as much as something small and local does. Well, these big groups /need/ donations... but even PP is not about to close any time soon (and in the FR world, we all kinda know they are making out quite well with all that's been up lately-- I say this as a donor myself!). On the other hand, for a smaller organization with an annual budget of under $2,000,000, your $25 or whatever you can send will really be met with individual recognition and joy.
I've been at both types of orgs, and at the small ones we open every gift from a new donor with just GLEE. The whole development office is like, "Who is this angel, how did they find out about us, who do they know?" and your $25 goes into an unrestricted fund that can actually make a difference in the daily reality of the work. Plus, you'll probably get a personally signed thank you and follow up to connect in a more comprehensive way if you're local.
SO, my most heartfelt advice is to look local and invest in work being done in your own communities. Lots of these groups lost funding in the past few years as foundations and govt grants dried up, and are down on staff as a result. They would love to hear from you! And give unrestricted gifts-- people get stuck in this idea of only giving to certain programs, and forgetting that unrestricted funding is what makes those programs possible. In some ways, you're even more directly supporting the program you love by making sure the infrastructure to administer and support it remains-- this is one of the hugest misunderstandings of grassroots giving!
<3 this post, totally.
@zaharatish This is great advice, thank you!
@zaharatish Excellent, excellent point.
Do small individual donors actually make restricted gifts? I'm shocked!
@Lily Rowan allllllll the time. It makes it very difficult to do things like pay salaries and buy post-its.
@zaharatish Agreed! I posted something similar upstream, but your post describes why much better.
@Gertrude Good lord! I don't think any place I've worked would actually accept a restricted gift from a small donor. (For values of "small" that vary with the org's budget....)
I know the Red Cross has had to vague up their language so that when you're giving after a crisis, it's clear they'll be using your money where they need it, which I think is a good idea.
@zaharatish As a former fundraiser myself, I agree wholeheartedly! I've worked at places where a $25,000 check would keep us open for a whole a year, and others where that same check would be sneered at. Now I'm more inclined to give to the ones who will be psyched to get my (relatively paltry) sum.
@zaharatish Yes! Thanks for this. We literally dance when we get donations of any amount in the mail. It is the Donation Dance!
@Gertrude : I worked for a few small, local non-profits. I support restricted donations, no matter how small, in some cases. Sometimes the org is doing wonderful stuff for the community but is headed by incompetents or folks who are downright dishonest. Restriction is good in those cases, when the donor knows the administration.
I give dollars to and fundraise for the National MS Society. Not a very trendy/hip charity but my mom has MS so it's an important cause to me. This weekend I'm doing a half marathon and raised over $600 for National MS just by begging my small group of FB "friends" for money.
@Rebecs My sister has MS, and I support the National MS Society as well. My preference is to fund research - they keep getting so close to a breakthrough in understanding how it works, and I would really, really love it if there were one in my lifetime.
I seriously love Kiva. I know it's well-known, but I just got my first loan repayment last week and that launched me on, like, a full hour of researching my next recipient. Supporting small businesses, wheeee!
Commenting for the first time because this topic is ridiculously exciting to me. I donate on a monthly basis to Planned Parenthood forever and always, the Girl Effect fund (because I have a really hard time choosing between all the wonderful, deserving lady-centric charities out there), the Washington Area Women's Foundation, and Shining Hope for Communities (they run a school for girls in the Kibera slum of Nairobi and do a lot of holistically-minded work in the community). I do most of this through Global Giving, which I highly recommend if you want to find small projects to fund. Sometimes I spend hours looking at all the amazing work people are doing all over the world and get really angry that I can't help ALL OF THEM.
PS ALL OF YOU ARE AWESOME
The Mother's Milk Bank in Denver (both money and breastmilk). Planned Parenthood, and I Have a Dream Foundation. Although it is a small amount, I try to donate to one charity once a month.
Lots of good places! I give to Doctors Without Borders too, and Kiva (I'm on my third loan!), and have made donations through the Animal Rescue Site/Greater Good Network.
I haven't donated, myself, but the Hope For Wildlife society does amazing work rehabbing wild animals and re-releasing them, out in Nova Scotia. http://hopeforwildlife.net/ You can also go on a tour during their summer open house!
Closer to home, the no-kill shelter I volunteer at is called Katie's Place (www.katiesplaceshelter.com) and we are always glad of any donations. Very nearly 100% of the money we get goes directly to help the animals.
I work in development so charitable giving is a subject close to my heart! A few suggestions - local arts groups, the small ones that your friends drag you to see or that maybe you have friends who perform with? Anyway, these guys are really suffering - grants are smaller and way more competitive and lots of them don't have huge donor bases so a few bucks here and and there can mean they get to pay their dancers, actors, mimes, whatever. Also (but mostly cause I work for a college) consider making a gift to your alma mater - a small gift to scholarships can really help a kid out and for so many schools percent participation is the name of the game. I guarantee you will make some development lackey incredibly happy if you're a young alum who gives $25 in response to that latest annoying direct mail.
Specific to my NOLA hood:
1) The Sula Foundation - provides low cost vaccinations, training and fixing to pit bull type dogs (over 60% of ALL animals left behind after the storm were pits).
2) Women With A Vision - works with underserved/minority women to provide health care and legal care (their ED was the Queen of Krewe du Vieux this year and she got the 'crimes against nature' law repealed!).
3) NOAIDS Task Force.
4) Silence Is Violence.
5) Roots of Music (!!!) provides after school tutoring and a meal and is a marching band for elementary - middle school kids throughout the city. They just got invited to the Rose Bowl.
If you're looking for a smaller charity (and if you want to stay local and are in the Virginia area), I've volunteered with Transformation Retreats for several years and they are WONDERFUL. They have intensive retreats a few times a year for individuals with HIV/AIDS; it started as a Catholic deal but is now very "Higher Power, if you believe in that." I can't describe how meaningful the retreats are for the participants; I have heard direct feedback from several people that they feel the retreats saved their lives, that they gained back a sense of dignity and self-worth that they had lost.
Even though HIV/AIDS is thankfully very manageable with drug therapy these days, there is still a huge societal stigma against it (as well as many barriers for those who are poor/struggling with addiction/mentally ill/etc., since drug adherence is vital to surviving); I can't count the number of participants who have been shunned by family and friends, who have not been touched in years, whose own parents serve them meals on disposable plates so they don't "catch anything." It is heartbreaking and wrong, and I'm glad I can do my part in helping them feel normal and worthy of love. (There is a whole lot of hugging at these retreats, and a whole lot of tears.)
Anyway, that's my spiel; consider donating to them, or other HIV/AIDS charities/foundations in your area!
I have a question - from personal experience, I know that nurses in hospitals (and, really, everywhere) are just amazing and wonderful and smart and kind and hardworking and under appreciated. I would love love love to give money to some organization that does something awesome for nurses - scholarships for professional development, or I don't know, Nurse of the Year award? If I could, I'd give each and every nurse I come across a check and a cookie.
Are their any organizations like this? I contacted a hospital to ask if I could donate specifically to some fund for nurses and they told to me write "For Nurses" in the memo line of the check and that seemed....inadequate, at best. Any suggestions?
@Bebe Is there a university or college nearby that has a nursing program you could donate to? Pretty much every school has some kind of gifts/fundraising office that you could contact; they'll tell you what to write on the check so that it gets directed into the official fund for the program you want.
@Bebe I'm not sure when Nurses' Appreciation Week is, but hospitals tend to do stuff for nurses around then. My sister's a nurse and around that time there'll often be gifts for the nurses, sometimes 15-minute massages (which trust me, are a huge help.) The parents of her patients also come in sometimes with food or little gifts for them, which are always appreciated. (Some of the charities come in from time to time and have nice catered meals for the parents, that the nurses are allowed to crash.)
So I'm not sure if there are any specific rules about this in certain hospitals, but anything that shows nurses that you're thinking of them would be really nice! You could send them snacks or a gift card for a coffeeshop, or little tubes of hand cream since they have to wash their hands a million times a day, or some reading material for the nurses' lounge. Or some wine to drink at home (because if a nurse hasn't earned a glass of wine after a 12-hour shift, I don't know who has.) Off the top of my head, those are a few things that might be a good idea.
But I'll try asking around to see if any organizations help nurses directly!
I work here. We work with victims of domestic abuse (women, children and gay/bi/trans men) and run two refuges for clients who have to flee their homes. We're not doing badly, but are on the small side (our fundraising team consists of only two people. I share an office with them!), and any support is always welcome.
@Verity (Does it make me sound awful if I suggest my own workplace? I doubt very much that getting donations will mean they raise my salary!)
@Verity I mentioned mine. There's no shame, if you ask me, in working for a place you also believe in supporting!
@Verity I mentioned mine upthread (but under a different username in a halfhearted attempt at online privacy.) I *know* that donations won't raise my salary. :) Also, after I am done working here, I will totally donate, which is my measure for how comfortable I feel telling people about it.
@Verity Also, your organization looks awesome.
@dj pomegranate Thanks! I'm really happy to work for them.
Haven't commented in forever...but I used to be a sexual assault advocate at The Turning Point! I am not longer in North Texas, but they are always in need of funds or donations of new clothing to give to the survivors when they are in the hospital and their clothes must be taken for evidence in a rape kit exam. Try to donate time and money when I can, but with medical school in the fall...no time, no money.
Planned Parenthood and JDRF! Also MS Society.
Riverkids! They provide support for children and families in danger of trafficking in Cambodia. http://www.riverkidsproject.org/
How could I forget Habitat for Humanity? Shame on me! I met my husband there. We were both volunteers in hard hats and safety goggles, filthy dirty, demolishing old condemned row houses so new ones could be built. I was worried we might not recognize each other when we agreed to meet at the venue for our first date. I told him I would wear a red dress and I eyed every tall man I could see, trying hard to imagine what he would look like without a tool belt or 4 layers of clothes.
@Rose Camelia This is the best story ever.
H4H is awesome. They run an architectural salvage store in my town and have a TOOL LENDING LIBRARY which is awesome for me as I'm fixing up my '50s mid-century modern li'l house.
If you are inclined to support a Seattle charitable organization, I highly recommend supporting Childhaven. They specialize in intensive therapeutic intervention for young kids (0-5 years) referred by child welfare (e.g. babies removed from the home for reasons of severe abuse and/or neglect, drug addicted infants, etc.).
What this organization does for these kids is so critical, and so vital to saving kids that will otherwise end up in prison or dead as result of all of the early trauma. Some of the best people on the planet work for this organization, and what they do should be a model nationwide.
@karion <3 sniff. My BFF is exploring the possibility of adopting a kid from our state's Waiting Children program. The things young people suffer through, before they have the agency to bail out, can be horrifying. It's tear inducing, every time.
A coworker recently recommended GiveWell, an org that evaluates charities based on their track record, cost-effectiveness, room for more funding, and transparency/accountability -- if you're worried that your $$ maybe aren't being used efficiently, or just looking for an objectively useful charity, it might be a helpful resource.
@tibia Also, Charity Navigator is helpful for this: http://www.charitynavigator.org/
And y'all, if any of your nonprofits are based in the great Northwest, TODAY you can donate to your cause via the Seattle Foundation, and they will grow your gift with funds from their own operations! Everyone wins! Find our more here: http://www.seattlefoundation.org/GivingCenter/GiveBIG/Pages/Default.aspx
As for myself, I will be supporting Recovery Cafe, a community center in Seattle that offers substance recovery and mental health support for all who need it.
@Nichole Poinski@facebook YES! I just gave to Rainier Scholars through the Seattle Foundation's website--they are trying to level the playing field for students of color (the majority of whom are low-income as well) in Seattle schools.
And Recovery Cafe is great--I know someone who has received help from them. Thanks for reminding me I should give to them too!
Okay, this is beyond narrow, and I'm not even sure it really counts, but this is what's closest to my heart right now. My friend Sarah's play has been accepted into a festival in London. I am so proud of her I could scream. She needs money to fund parts of this, but only a little more, and she has two more days to do it. She's feisty and fun, but also the kindest person you could ever meet. More importantly, she's amazingly talented and creative. In college, she put on a musical about our school and set it IN the school, so on the day of the production, people would randomly burst into song in the hallways or choreographed musical numbers on the quad. It was like being in a musical for a day. Completely magical. She moved from Cincinnati to New York to work on being a playwright, and I want her to succeed more than anything. Also, I once shaved her head with some Rite-Aid clippers in a dorm bathroom, and for some reason, that makes me feel like I need to support her for life.
If anybody has an extra dollar or five, please consider sending it her way. I know I don't have a lot of evidence to back this up, but I swear she is amazing and, even though it's not saving the world or anything, it's a great cause. Here's the link to her kickstarter:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/955111013/pamela-the-musical-in-london
Jewish World Watch (www.jww.org). We fight genocide and mass atrocities - focusing primarily on Sudan and Congo, and on genocide prevention and risk assessment as well. Right now there's a fourth genocide unfolding in Sudan (South Kordofan/Blue Nile), North and South Sudan are poised to return to full-scale war, and insecurity is mounting in eastern Congo - where 1100 women and girls were already being raped each day. Full disclosure - I work at JWW, doing policy and programming work. I've worked at a lot of nonprofits, and there's a reason I've been here now for five years - it's a commendable, innovative organization that has become a leader in the anti-genocide movement.
I like to donate to a local community health clinic. There are small organizations all over. For people without health insurance/with high deductibles, CHC's can be literally the only thing that keeps them out of the emergency rooms.
Some people just aren't at a place in their lives where they have insurance and they deserve to stay healthy too.
@adela My friend used to work at a CHC and her work sounded just amazing. Everyone deserves to stay healthy.
Appalachian Voices (an anti-mountaintop-removal org) and Appalachian Sustainable Development are my fav local charities.
Even though I have no love left for the Catholic Church, I DO still love the Catholic Worker. I've volunteered at a couple of different Worker houses, and they're awesome folks who walk the walk.
Also, Southern Poverty Law Center.
Ha, I missed this post because I was off learning about planned giving. I've spent my entire adult life in non-profit admin, communications and fundraising. Right now my clients, to whom I also give and serve as a volunteer, are the foundation that supports our local public schools, a local land trust and our watershed association.
Y'all are amazing. If you can't comfortably give, be a volunteer. Having volunteers who can do even a few hours of real work can make all the difference to an npo and volunteers are the best ambassadors to the community at large. xoxo
Every year we write a big check to the Nature Conservancy, and slightly smaller ones to our local arts powerhouses: Boston Ballet, BSO, the nearby repertory theater. I make a point of giving at least a little something to every friend/family member who's doing a walk for breast cancer research/bike ride for MS/etc.
Gay-Straight Alliance for Safe Schools, yo! Help keep the next generation safe from bullying.
Rett Syndrome is a genetic disease that affects only girls. A friend's daughter has it; she will never speak or walk unless a cure is found. There are several RS charities, but the biggest is at www.rettsyndrome.org.
@piggie Also, the National Abilities Center. They get kids like my friend's daughter out on skis and horses and help them have thrilling life experiences, in addition to physical therapy. Everyone deserves that!
Australian 'Pinners! Frustrated with the stupidity of both parties response to the asylum seeker issue? I am, and I believe we can be better than that!
"The Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA) is the national umbrella body for refugees and the organisations and individuals who support them… RCOA promotes the adoption of flexible, humane and practical policies towards refugees and asylum seekers both within Australia and internationally through conducting research, advocacy, policy analysis and community education."
Donations are tax deductible! Or check their website for other ways to be involved.
Pimping my NFP:
I volunteer with a little Australian organisation called Right Now, which is a website and radio show (and now a book club!) that aims to put human rights into everyday conversation, focusing on these issues in Australia (sometimes we Aussies forget to reflect on our own issues, so consumed as we are by the rest of the world).
It's a pretty website, check it out:
www.rightnow.org.au
Also we look at the connection between Art and Human Rights, so, "issues" art. Which is so gauche at art school, but maybe needs a bit more play.
http://rightnow.org.au/artwork/art-prisons-in-queensland/
@capnguinness I love this so much. Yay! Also... issues art. Like paintings for the glory of the Medici weren't issues paintings. Right.
So fab.
@PistolPackinMama Thanks!
Legal Services Corporation! LSC is a 501(c)3 nonprofit and provides civil legal aid for low income clients (http://www.lsc.gov/about/what-is-lsc). I've worked at LSC-funded organizations all throughout law school and during my first two years of practice. LSC-funded organizations are usually called Legal Aid of __Fill in the Blank__ and in a nutshell, they fund lawyers for poor people. These are people who could NEVER afford legal representation on their own.
LSC organizations allow people to get orders of protection in situations of domestic violence, get divorced, get paternity established and child support/custody arranged, get SSI and SSD benefits they have been wrongfully denied, fight wrongful evictions from shady landlords, and stop debt collection lawsuits that don't meet statutory requirements. Also? LSC federal funding was cut 15% this past year and we'll probably have more cuts next year. These funding cuts remove resources from people who already have very little.
Please donate to your local Legal Aid organization if you can. Poor people need lawyers too!
@jamielee This is awesome--I had never heard of this!
Okay, so I'm going to take this in a little different direction so folks (like me) who don't have an excess of cash can find some ways to participate too. So here are a couple suggestions in case you have more Things than Money:
If you have old, gently used clothing you'd like to get rid of, consider taking it to the local YWCA or to a shelter -- the items will go directly to residents who need them in most cases. The YWCA in particular is a good place to take business clothing, as they'll distribute it to women who are going on job interviews. (There are other organizations that take professional attire, too, like Dress for Success.) Shelters may also take all those little bottles of hotel shampoo you've collected over the last five years of business trips.
If you have books you know you won't read again, your local public library may take them either as acquisitions (if they're recent and in good condition) or as donations towards their next "Friends" booksale. (There are also organizations that send books to developing nations, but be careful: some will coordinate the donation but expect you to pay a portion of the shipping.) Depending on what the books are, sometimes nursing homes/eldercare facilities will take them for residents.
If you have leftover craft or art supplies (because, if you're like me and you're mildly crafty, you always have half-skeins of yarn and odd bits of fabric lying around), call the nearest elementary school and ask if their art program can use the stuff. Ditto children's programs at public libraries and eldercare facilities. Alternately, ask a friend with little kids if they know of an after-school program that can use extra supplies.
If you have office or school supplies you need to clear out, ditto with the schools; enough schools are operating on slashed budgets that even simple things like manila folders are happily received. Also consider calling the charity to which you wish you could donate cash and ask if they can use your stuff in their office; you might as well be giving them the $15 you spent for that box of file folders you'll never use.
If you have school supplies or gear (things like backpacks) that are still in good condition, consider calling the district's main office and asking if they have a program that collects supplies for homeless or low-income students. I took a bag of art supplies to the elementary school down the road last year, and when I opened the hatch to get the bag, the secretary saw a backpack I was going to take to Goodwill and asked if she could have that, too - to give to a new student who was homeless.
If you have kids who have grown up and left behind toys that are in good condition, consider the YWCA again, local clinics that provide pediatric care for lower-income areas, specialized kids' medical services (like children's hospitals), or your local public library. Organizations that serve runaway or disadvantaged teens will often take more advanced books or games.
Finally, keep an eye on the local news for disasters that might prompt agencies to call for donations for the victims - clothing and furniture are sometimes in demand after fires, for example.
In all cases, call first and ask just to make sure you don't drop off something the organization can't use - sometimes that's worse than no donation at all. But if you don't have room in your budget for donating cash, think about whether you have unwanted things that other people could use instead.
@Xanthophyllippa Yes, a thousand times yes! I'm a social worker who works with all sorts (but particularly kids in foster care), and really, these things help SO GODDAMN MUCH. Whenever someone brings in donations that aren't clearly trash (yes, that happens) I pretty much want to cry.
Holy cow you guys are awesome. Why is the world not already changed? Never stop being forces for goodness. Thanks.
I support Heifer.org. You can buy a domestic animal or animals (or even just a share of an animal) for a family in need of a livelihood, such as selling eggs, or goat milk, or rabbits and ducks... I know it's not for the vegetarians out there -- but you can also buy a tree, or a beehive. I've always offered to give a drawing of an animal from my "heifer.org collection" to anyone who sends me their confirmation email after a donation. This is where you can see the drawings: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.36946314530.47574.726599530&type=3&l=db6e906780
Some are claimed, but there are some left.
Why do I like it? I don't know, maybe because I love goats, and as a wise-ass cartoonist, I also like the idea of getting someone's goat, ha ha.
@carolita Those are ahhhmaaazing! My donation budget is maxed out for the quarter, but if they are still around when I have some spare cash, I will be back. I love Heifer, too.
@PistolPackinMama don't worry, they'll still be there! I usually get more requests around the holidays. So it's slow now. I only really "advertise" when I'm not too busy, myself. I'm not the most organized person, when it comes to going to the post office! :)
Austin Pets Alive! I do it out of guilt because I got my dog from a breeder (which I don't regret) but figured I'd donate to APA consistently during his life. They're trying to keep animals from being killed, and I can get behind that.
Lineage Project! Teaching mindfulness practices (yoga, meditation, etc.) to at risk and incarcerated youth. It's run by passionate amazing people and does really good work in the field. http://www.lineageproject.org/
This is pretty wonderful!
I agree with donating time, gently used goods, or blood when you don't always have extra cash lying around. (I'd like to also point out that I really refuse to stop using oxford commas, and that in this case, gently used blood is making me giggle)
When I do have the dollars to give, I think Jesuit Volunteer Corps is a great place to send it! I also like Habitat for Humanity, NPR (particularly WHYY- what up Terri Gross) and Victors Vision , which is my friend Emily's WONDERFUL organization helping kids in rural, impoverished Peru to go to school. Check it out: http://www.victorsvision.org/
So many comments! Sorry if this info is a repeat of something above, but I spent last year doing research for a philanthropist on the funding of woman-oriented national nonprofit organizations, and I cannot stress enough how important it is to use a site like Charity Navigator to tell you how your organization spends its money. There are lots of great causes out there, but some of them use minuscule percentages of each donation to actually provide the services they tout, while others do a much better job putting your money where their mouth is.
All of that being said, check out Spark (sparksf.org), whose mission is to "build a community of young, global citizens who are invested in changing patterns of inequality that impact women throughout the world." They focus on community building, advocacy, education, and grant-making, and their decision making process is highly democratic!! And if you live in New York or San Francisco you should drop by a meeting and see what they're all about, or go to one of their "Cocktails for a Cause" fundraisers. It's a great way to meet new people and see how small donations can add up to a significant amount of funding for grassroots organizations helping women in local communities as well as abroad!
I work at an amazing nonprofit program called the Family Sexual Abuse Treatment Program (FSAT) in Portland, OR that runs art and drama therapy groups with kids that have been sexually abused. It is so wonderful to see a kid walk into a group for the first time and realize that they are not alone and that there is hope for them to heal. Our funding just got cut, which is really rough because a lot of the kids we see are undocumented and have no other way of getting help. We always always need donations of money or art supplies! http://www.morrisonkids.org/family+sexual+abuse+treatment.aspx
@quickbrightthings Hey fellow 'pinner, I work in your area and want to vouch for the great work you do. You've done so much for so many kids. And ugh, funding in Portland.
Late to the game, but the Henry Viscardi School. It's a school on Long Island for students with mental and physical disabilities. There are so many other charities I could list, but that one has been on my holiday list for years upon years.
A SUPER EASY THING YOU CAN DO:
Underwear! Jammies/sweats! Socks! Flip flops! Hit your local box store and buy up a whole bunch of these things in a variety of sizes, especially kid sizes. Take them to your local family shelter or child welfare office. It's something people often forget kids need and are a SUPER bummer to get used. Undies and socks-- it goes without saying. Don't forget the training bras. Jammies, sweats, and flip flops are great emergency clothes if everything is gross and needs a wash or if you are in a bad place and don't have a change of clothes until the next day. When you're in a shelter or foster care situation, nothing helps more with the dignity than having some decent jammers and a clean pair of shorts. They're also fairly cheap and fun to buy up at the store. I like to satisfy my inner six-year old by buying all the Disney print underwear my mom never let me have as a little girl. NOW I CAN BUY THEM ALL.
@cardiganboots As an ex-foster kid, this is one of my favourite responses here. <3
www.zienzele.org
supports AIDS orphans and their caregivers in rural Zimbabwe by helping the ladies establish self-sustaining projects (community gardens, basket weaving, sewing) and supporting child-headed households.
super-small, which means they can operate in Zim (and have been for over 10 years). They send over 3000 kids to school through basket sales, and support hundreds of child-headed households through direct donations. Plus, the Grannies' projects are now fully self-governing, self-running, profitable projects- which has shifted local power in many of these villages, more into the hands of these ladies, who had been relatively voiceless. the kids under the Zienzele umbrella form clubs where they meet and talk and support each other, and once a year there is a big gathering where all the zienzele kids come together for workshops on lots of great things: from 'guard your body' type things, to how to talk freely about how you feel, ways to physically express feelings in a way that maybe helps work through them, to reproductive health, to how to articulate hopes for yourself, things like this. and of course, they hang out and get to see that they are not alone in what they are experiencing, and have fun. because they are kids.
There are SO MANY GREAT ORGANIZATIONS. I have worked in the mental health/non-profit field for awhile now. I switch it up, donating to my local rape crises center and domestic violence shelter. I also try to donate to local community centers because they often do great work and it is very accessible to all people in the community. I love St Jude's, public or school libraries, and the 4-H Program which does some amazing work in youth development.
OH! Shoutout to Montreal 'Pinners! There's an awesome event going on tonight, hosted by Association Burkina Canada (abccanada.org), 7pm to 8:45 pm, at the Centre Afrika, 1644 St-Hubert. It is FREE and there will be FOOD and a storyteller-- it's just an info night about what's going on with the association. AND I WILL BE THERE YOU COULD MEET ME and my awesome sister, who works with ABC!
@sniffadee noooo I only just saw this now! It sounds awesome. Scroll down for another, unrelated Montreal event this weekend!
@Rookie It was super amazing! But I will check out the other event :)
Looks like most people have given good advice so far, I just want to drop in here to say that if you're thinking of donating to an organization that purports to help people in developing countries, PLEASE do you research. While there are lots of good organizations working in this space, there is also the very real possibility that your donation could go towards a badly-designed program that does actual harm. Good Intentions are Not Enough is a great site designed to help educate donors about the many issues involved, I'd encourage you to check it out, especially if you are considering donating to an org that does "gifts in kind," e.g. handing shoes or clothes.
Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. Pancreatic cancer is the 4th leading cause of cancer deaths and has incredibly low survival rates, largely because of the difficulty of diagnosing it in early stages. Research is poorly funded and unlike most other cancers, survival rates haven't really gotten any better of the past few decades.
This is awesome. Anyway, I usually give to Doctors Without Borders, and this program, run by a friend of mine: http://apparentproject.org/ It's an amazing job training nonprofit in Haiti that aims to teach skills to parents so that they have the money to support their families. They're incredibly focused on the needs of Haitians and responsible aid work that doesn't just make First World people feel better about themselves. It's amazing.
On a local level, I only moved here recently, so I've only donated to my church. They're really conscious of social justice issues, and focus intensely on the local level--they're pretty involved with some poverty reduction programs in the area. Neat stuff.
Despite not being religious anymore, I grew up doing Clothe a Kid for Love INC. They give you a kids clothing size and you buy a few things for the beginning of school. I still love doing that.
I also "adopted" a kid for the last 6 years.
If you're in SoCal, St. Bonnie's (part of the Lange Foundation) is a wonderful animal shelter to donate to. They take in animals that are widely considered "unadoptable" and provide them with care. They have dogs and cats for adoption as well as ones with severe behavioral problems that are permanent residents of the sanctuary. They also have horses, minis, and donkeys! My finance and I adopted our little dog from them. He had been there for a year and a half and came to them from a high kill shelter. When they rescued him, he had really terrible aggression problems and they figured he would be there for life, but with proper care he became the most gentle dog I've ever met. They really do great work.
@Nutellaface Or, on a national scale, Best Friends is wonderful as well if you're considering donating to an animal welfare group. They have many networked shelters around the country.
Got excited about the Heifer Project up in the comments, but also want to give a shout out to Sevenly.org. A new t-shirt design each week to support a different charitable organization. This week it's sexually exploited girls in the United States.
I want to also say YES to donating your clothes, as well! My local St. Vincent de Paul Society has been the recipient of many of my old clothes.
All the money I can spare will go to promoting the male contraceptive that was on Hairpin awhile ago. Here's their facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Vasalgel/247731291917372
Man. I don't comment enough, but this thread reminds me how much I <3 U, Hairpin.
Okay for some reason the site isn't working for me right now, but pineapplechallenge dot ca is a fundraising event happening in Montreal (or technically, Parc Jean-Drapeau) this Saturday! Teams who raised money have to run through an obstacle course holding a pineapple. And they CANNOT let go of the pineapple.
Funds raised go to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, which is oncology nurse-approved, since my nurse sister already reached her fundraising goal and is currently fashioning herself a fruit-adorned headband to wear during this race.
And they need volunteers to help out at the event, if anyone's interested!
@Rookie THAT IS SUCH AN AMAZING IDEA
Gotta rep the non-profit I work for, ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform, Now) Canada - acorncanada.org. We are a national, member-driven organization that does true grassroots community organizing. We basically go door-to-door in low-income neighbourhoods, ask people what changes they want to see, then give them the tools they need (leadership workshops, phone banking, etc.) to organize within their own communities. We work on principles like training the trainer (ie empowering community leaders to build power within their own neighbourhoods), power in numbers, and most especially being member owned and directed. We have run diverse campaigns like living wage, landlord licensing, payday lending regulations, and currently our big national campaign is remittance regulation.
We have no corporate funding, CEOs, huge salaries or any of that. Our funding comes directly from member dues, private donations and some grants. We have a tiny staff that stretches every penny - our Toronto office is a two bedroom apartment whose bathroom floor just caved in. I promise your donation, no matter how small, is necessary and will go a long way, directly towards the organizational goals determined by our membership of low income families.
I donate to Catholic Charities, Catholic Relief Services (which is more disaster aid), my church on a local level, my alma mater, and the Sisters of Life.
this- not quite a nonprofit, but I'll shameless plug it in case anyone is out there listening. A friend's son was in a car seat and their car was t-boned by a driver running a red light. He's 3 years old and is now quadriplegic. She's a single mom and there was never much money in the first place and now she needs even more to get by and take care of things. If anyone wants to help - https://www.wepay.com/donations/42901?fb_comment_id=fbc_10150580523819268_21333539_10150596167484268#f18e0dad94
In the mid-atlantic there's a nonprofit called Advocates for Survivors of Torture and Trauma (ASTT). ASTT provides comprehensive mental health care and social services to survivors of torture and war trauma. ASTT is an independent, nonprofit organization whose mission is: to alleviate the suffering of those who have experienced the trauma of torture, to educate the local, national, and world community about the needs of torture survivors, and to advocate on their behalf. They do some really impressive and life-changing work- learn more at www.astt.org!
Wow, I'm just so late to this... But, National Network of Abortion Funds (you can donate both locally and nationally), who help you out if you need an abortion but can't pay for it. Also, Jane's Due Process in Texas, where apparently parental consent laws are so strict that there are no exceptions for rape, incest, and abuse - that's right, if your father rapes you and gets you pregnant, you still have to get his permission to get an abortion, so JDP helps minors get the judicial bypasses they need.