<p>The organic food thread gave me the idea for a thread where you can plug your favorite cause or charity. It can be hard to find a safe place to put your money responsibly. Here are my two:</p>
<p>THE NATURE CONSERVANCY (<a href=“http://www.nature.org):%5B/url%5D”>www.nature.org):</a> Among other things, they have a straightforward and relatively non-political way of protecting wildlifeby purchasing the land.</p>
<p>CATHOLIC RELIEF SERVICES (<a href=“http://www.crs.org):%5B/url%5D”>www.crs.org):</a> They have one of the lowest administrative rates of any charity. A few years ago either US News & World Report or NewsweekI forget whichreported that something like 95% of the money donated to CRS goes directly to the needy in the form of food, clothing, education, etc., as opposed to fundraising, lobbyists, marketing, etc.</p>
<p>I look forward to learning more about your own favorites.</p>
<p>Ronald McDonald House Charities–provide very low cost (or free) lodging for the families of children requiring extended stays in hospitals far from home. I’ve met some of the recipient families, and when I was a Girl Scout leader our troop did a few projects to help out at one of the houses. </p>
<p>[Ronald</a> McDonald House Charities](<a href=“404”>http://rmhc.org/)</p>
<p>I also like to support local cultural and literary groups, because this town is not large enough to garner significant corporate donations, and if individuals don’t step up, we won’t have anything.</p>
<p>Instate I give money to a fund of Minnesota Orchestra. It provides elementary children the opportunity to hear a world class orchestra as well as funds other outreach opportunities. Locally, I belong to a women’s philanthropic group that focuses on providing resources to women and children. This year alone we disbursed over $48,000 into our community.</p>
<p>International giving is done for a charity called Maragoli. It works for sustainable development in a region of Kenya.</p>
<p>“The primary goal of the Maragoli Community Development Foundation is to assist the Maragoli people of Western Kenya in improving their quality of like through the funding of sustainable development projects that they themselves conceive and implement.”</p>
<p>This group has a lot of ties to Earlham College and College of Wooster.</p>
<p>[Meals</a> On Wheels Association of America](<a href=“http://www.mowaa.org%5DMeals”>http://www.mowaa.org)
H drives a route twice a week and his visits have an enormous impact on his clients lives–both nutritionally and spiritually.
<a href=“http://www.redcross.org%5B/url%5D”>www.redcross.org</a>
They have come to our rescue in two natural disasters. (an earthquake AND a hurricaine) We volunteer twice a month for emergency training.</p>
<p>We don’t have a lot of extra funds to donate at this time, but we still have ourselves to give.</p>
<p>For us, its our S’s HS band program. We are constantly donating/raising funds for a program that would surely fail without outside funding. Sad reality that music and art are not important in the schools.</p>
<p>I started a non-profit corporation, so it’s near & dear to my heart. We provide free breathing testing, education and support to the public at pharmacies throughout our state. We also work to improve diagnosis and treatment of emphysema and chronic bronchitis (collectively called called Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, COPD). </p>
<p>COPD is the 4th leading cause of death in the US, with 12 million in the US diagnosed and another 12 milliion who have COPD and don’t know it. It is the 6th leading cause of death worldwide. More info about COPD is at learnaboutcopd.org.</p>
<p>Our organization is called Hawaii COPD Coalition and the website is [Hawaii</a> COPD Coalition](<a href=“http://www.hawaiicopd.org%5DHawaii”>http://www.hawaiicopd.org). We collaborate with individuals and organizations throughout Hawaii, the US & world.</p>
<p>In NJ, I support New Jersey Environmental Federation, the local Clean Water Action Affiliate, because of their environmental advocacy in local, state, and national issues.</p>
<p>Like most, our philanthropy is dictated by personal mindset. </p>
<p>We tend not to give to political or faith based groups.</p>
<p>We support national, regional, and local causes in the performing arts and animal care, rescue and related services. We donate to targeted causes in direct support of first responders, to children’s causes in a variety of forms.</p>
<p>Other than supporting the various guide dog foundations regularly, contributions to specific disease, health organizations and the like are normally limited to a personal occurrence, such as the death or illness of a relative, or friend.</p>
<p>I’ve often wondered if it makes sense to send a larger check to one body, or spread the money to a broad spectrum. The recent economy has cut our level dramatically.</p>
<p>Son is a performing musician, and d is involved in an animal care specialty. I’m not considering that our choice of contributions influenced their career paths, but we do find ourselves now giving a bit more to the causes that may keep our kids gainfully employed within their respective fields.</p>
<p>We help any of the animal rescue groups that we can. The one my D and I have been most involved with is Mylestone Equine Rescue. From their website, their mission statement says:</p>
<p>" Mylestone Equine Rescue (M.E.R.) is dedicated to abused and neglected horses. M.E.R. works to educate the general public about these unspeakable sufferings and promotes the plight of unwanted horses.</p>
<p>Our goal is to place these once magnificent creatures in homes that will give them the true love and care they deserve. If suitable homes are not found, M.E.R. will be a permanent home for these horses."</p>
<p>The woman who runs this organization is amazing. She lives and breathes it 24/7. She and her family live on the property with the horses, so she is ultimately responsible for everything. If a volunteer worker doesn’t show up, she and her husband do whatever work that worker would have done. D and I have volunteered there, but we live over an hour away which makes it tough. We do donate items needed and cash regularly though. Their website is [Mylestone</a> Equine Rescue](<a href=“http://www.mylestone.org%5DMylestone”>http://www.mylestone.org)</p>
<p>[Welcome</a> to Breakthrough Collaborative](<a href=“http://www.breakthroughcollaborative.org/]Welcome”>http://www.breakthroughcollaborative.org/) - D has interned with the Breakthrough program for the past two summers, and it is an exceptional privately funded education program to get and keep high potential, low income kids on the track for college.</p>
<p>I’ve been contributing to [Save</a> the Children](<a href=“http://www.savethechildren.org/]Save”>http://www.savethechildren.org/) since the early 1980’s (long before I was a parent myself!), sponsoring a series of young children, mostly in Nepal. It’s not much money to give every month, and it really does, I think, help the children and the communities they live in. From everything I know, Save the Children has a very good reputation for using most of the contributions it receives for direct charitable purposes, rather than for overhead, administrative costs, etc.; there’s some more specific information at [Ratings</a> and Evaluations: Save the Children](<a href=“http://www.savethechildren.org/about/ratings-evaluations.html]Ratings”>Our Nonprofit Organization's Ratings | Save the Children)</p>
<p>Another organization I’ve been contributing to regularly for the last six or seven years is the [Callen-Lorde</a> Community Health Center](<a href=“http://www.callen-lorde.org/]Callen-Lorde”>http://www.callen-lorde.org/) – where I’ve also been a patient during all that time. As I’ve written elsewhere, I think they’re wonderful, and basically irreplaceable, as the only general medical clinic in New York City dedicated to serving the LGBT community, regardless of ability to pay. </p>
<p>I love Kiva [Kiva</a> - Loans that change lives](<a href=“http://www.kiva.org%5DKiva”>http://www.kiva.org) . This organization allows you and others to make microloans directly to individuals that allow then to run businesses that feed their families. When the money comes back (and it usually does) you can ask for it to be returned to you or reloan it. So far I have made 32 loans of $25-$50 and only one has defaulted. Rather than pull the $$ out when it is paid back I usually relend it, so I have a pretty active lend and relend account.</p>
<p>I like the fact the these people are willing to work hard and to commit to their local communities to pay back their loans. They get an A for effort and trying.</p>
<p>In a similar vein, the Heifer project [Charitable</a> Gift Giving that Makes a Difference | Heifer International](<a href=“http://www.heifer.org/]Charitable”>http://www.heifer.org/) provides animals to families that allow them to eat or farm (think chickens to lay eggs for eating, or an ox to plow). The requirement is that they must breed the animals (Heifer provides animal husbandry assistance). Then the family is required to pass along some of the offspring to the neighbors. Then they must agree to breed and pass along some of the offspring. The net effect is a large multiplier of income and good food for the community.</p>
<p>I like these because they provide not only immediate benefit but an ongoing source of income to these industrious people.</p>
<p>And of course, Doctors Without Borders, every month, for those living in such desperate situations that they are just trying to survive. </p>
<p>And America’s Second Harvest (now known as Feeding America) that provides much of the food that appears on food bank shelves. If you are hungry it is hard to do much else.</p>
<p>Leukemia and Lymphoma Society [The</a> Leukemia & Lymphoma Society](<a href=“http://www.leukemia.org/hm_lls]The”>http://www.leukemia.org/hm_lls) funds research into cures for blood cancers. Then they help people pay for them. They raise a lot of money through athletic training programs that help people train for marathons, bicycle centuries, triathlons and other events. </p>
<p>The Lance Armstrong Foundation [Lance</a> Armstrong Foundation: Home](<a href=“http://www.livestrong.org/site/c.khLXK1PxHmF/b.2660611/k.BCED/Home.htm]Lance”>Livestrong) is the only cancer organization trying to improve quality of life for those who are dealing with the aftermath of cancer treatment. Lots of research has focused on cures; not much on how to regain your health and stay healthy once you’re cured.</p>
<p>“In a similar vein, the Heifer project Charitable Gift Giving that Makes a Difference | Heifer International provides animals to families that allow them to eat or farm (think chickens to lay eggs for eating, or an ox to plow).”</p>
<p>The $120 goat that Heifer Project offers I can do for $25 in India, or $43 in Burundi. The rest is marketing, overhead, and first-world salaries. For India, try:</p>
<p>My two favorite charities are FINCA and Oxfam. FINCA is an organization that gives loans to low-income entrepreneurs in developing countries. The thought being by loaning money to small business men (actually most are women), people learn to support themselves and raise their families out of poverty. I also like Oxfam. Oxfam is a confederation of thirteen organizations that fight poverty and injustice. </p>
<p>One thing I like to do when considering a new charity is to go to Charity navigator.org. They show how the organization is spending their money. Some charities are very inefficient.</p>
<p>By the way, how do you make clickable links?</p>
<p>With a similar mission to the physicians without borders organization, Engineers Without Borders [Engineers</a> Without Borders USA > Home](<a href=“http://www.ewb-usa.org/]Engineers”>http://www.ewb-usa.org/) provides much needed engineering projects (development and installation of electrical systems/supplies, water supplies, water purification, bridges, etc etc) to remote villages in third world countries.
<p>I’ve been to Heifer International’s headquarters in Little Rock, Arkansas. It’s a neat experience if you happen to be traveling from, say, Missouri to, say, Texas. (Not a lot of reasons to go to Little Rock otherwise.) Their main building was designed to be “green”, and you can take a guided tour in which they explain all the ways they made the building energy-efficient, some of which are really ingenious. There’s also Heifer Village, a museum/store/movie theater with a sustainable agriculture theme. A nice two- or three-hour break for the family in the middle of that long drive.</p>
<p>For many years I’ve sponsored children through CFCA (Christian Foundation for Children and Aging). I believe this is the highest rated/most efficient child sponsorship program on Charity Navigator. (95% funds go to programs). </p>
<p>Also, Catholic Medical Mission Board (97% funds go to healthcare programs)</p>
<p>Local public TV/Radio stations because we like their programs.</p>