Author Topic: What charities do you give to?  (Read 9105 times)

MM_MG

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What charities do you give to?
« on: December 29, 2016, 06:34:17 PM »
I'm sorry, as this has probably been covered before, but I am too lazy/busy to search. 

We have had a great year finacially and want to increase our giving.   Sadly we don't really know where to give and would like some more ideas on places to give.  If you have a favorite place please share it and why.

Current giving:
1) Our alma matter university
2) Local humane society
3) Heifer international
4) Local library
5) We've been buying "essentials" and bagging them up and giving them to homeless people when we see them
« Last Edit: December 29, 2016, 09:57:41 PM by MM_MG »

LeRainDrop

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Re: What charities do you give to?
« Reply #1 on: December 29, 2016, 06:54:08 PM »
Same as you, except that for #5, I've been bringing my clothing donations to Goodwill.  This year, I will instead bring them to a local organization that helps homeless LGBTQ youth in my city, as they also have a thrift/consignment shop.  In addition, I give to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (because my mentor's son suffers from this life-threatening, genetic disease that affects the lungs and digestive system) and to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (because my cousin suffers from this and has personally dedicated a lot of time and effort to this cause).
« Last Edit: December 29, 2016, 07:00:06 PM by LeRainDrop »

WSUCoug1994

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Re: What charities do you give to?
« Reply #2 on: December 29, 2016, 06:57:27 PM »
My wife has MS so we donate annually (as well as raise additional money through various events) each year.  The last couple years we have also given money to our friends whose daughter is battling leukemia to help pay for some of the medical bills. 

We have given to a wide variety of different charities over the years including my University (where I have an unusual sense of pride associated with) but nothing makes us feel better than giving to medical causes.

Psychstache

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Re: What charities do you give to?
« Reply #3 on: December 29, 2016, 07:09:18 PM »
Planned parenthood for all their work with getting working poor/low income women support with health care needs.

Donorschoose because my wife and I are educators and like supporting other educators.

Our temple because they do a lot of work with our local food bank.

We usually provide some towards charitable efforts of our friends. For example, we have a friend opening a charter school and we have donated to them.

Edited to add Wikipedia because it is amazing.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
« Last Edit: December 29, 2016, 07:14:05 PM by Psychstache »

TFTF

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Re: What charities do you give to?
« Reply #4 on: December 29, 2016, 07:11:07 PM »
Typically, I give to:
- a local homelessness charity
- a local education charity
- Planned Parenthood
- my alma mater's scholarship fund, which paid for much of my education

This year, I am adjusting to incorporate some combination of the ACLU, Southern Poverty Law Center, Natural Resources Defense Council, and 350.org. My alma mater - which has a ridiculous endowment in any case - is going on hold for four years.

SwordGuy

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Re: What charities do you give to?
« Reply #5 on: December 29, 2016, 07:15:31 PM »
Typically, I give to:
- a local homelessness charity
- a local education charity
- Planned Parenthood
- my alma mater's scholarship fund, which paid for much of my education

This year, I am adjusting to incorporate some combination of the ACLU, Southern Poverty Law Center, Natural Resources Defense Council, and 350.org. My alma mater - which has a ridiculous endowment in any case - is going on hold for four years.

Very good choices!  (Except possibly the alma mater, who may not really need it).

I try to find people who need more income and find a job I can pay them to do for me, preferably one that will give them additional skills so they can make more income on their own.

That and educational funds for kids whose parent(s) died serving their country.

MonkeyJenga

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Re: What charities do you give to?
« Reply #6 on: December 29, 2016, 08:24:20 PM »
The ACLU
Planned Parenthood
The Innocence Project, which overturns wrongful convictions
NRDC
Represent Us, which gets money out of politics: https://represent.us/

I donate a lot of stuff to Housing Works, a NYC group fighting AIDS and homelessness.

TFTF, thanks for posting about 350.org. I hadn't heard of it.

southern granny

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Re: What charities do you give to?
« Reply #7 on: December 29, 2016, 08:38:14 PM »
St. Judes Children's Hospital
Red Cross
Local Humane society
Local soup kitchen - sponsored by our church

ysette9

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Re: What charities do you give to?
« Reply #8 on: December 29, 2016, 08:46:18 PM »
After the unfortunate events of last month, I now donate regularly to the ACLU and Planned Parenthood. We also regularly donate to our local NPR station and sometimes donate to our alma maters.

Guava

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Re: What charities do you give to?
« Reply #9 on: December 29, 2016, 08:52:49 PM »
Donorschoose.org
Monetary gifts to a regional food bank
Leukemia and Lymphoma Society

Also some other small things throughout the year to various causes such as local food banks with time, in kind donations, or cash. But those are not regular donations.

t5inside

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Re: What charities do you give to?
« Reply #10 on: December 29, 2016, 08:56:40 PM »
ACLU
EFF
CarbonFund.org
Sierra Club

I set up a recurring monthly donation for each through my employer, who will match it.

Other replies are making me feel like I should pick something more local... But after the election I decided to donate to organizations who I feel will defend some targets of the upcoming administration.
« Last Edit: December 29, 2016, 09:00:48 PM by t5inside »

jodelino

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Re: What charities do you give to?
« Reply #11 on: December 29, 2016, 10:00:38 PM »
"Other replies are making me feel like I should pick something more local... But after the election I decided to donate to organizations who I feel will defend some targets of the upcoming administration."

After the election, I felt the same way, and added recurring monthly donations to several national organizations, including Planned Parenthood, Southern Poverty Law Center, ACLU, and the Center for Constitutional Rights (already give to two local animal shelters, Camfed--which funds girls' education in Africa, and various independent news organizations that I value).

Then I went to a meeting in my town, where local organizations each had 5 minutes to present what they did, what they were going to do in the wake of the election, and how we could help. It was a very valuable meeting. I chose two small, local organizations that are doing terrific work. Maybe you can find similar organizations in your area, but I can vouch for these organizations staffed by truly dedicated people, working on small budgets, grateful for any help:

Somos Un Pueblo Unido, an immigrants's rights organization working in New Mexico.
http://www.somosunpueblounido.org

Santa Fe Dreamers Project, provides legal advice to young Dreamers (brought to the US as children, they have grown up here, identify as American, but lack legal status and may now be threatened with deportation).
http://www.santafedreamersproject.org

Poundwise

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Re: What charities do you give to?
« Reply #12 on: December 29, 2016, 10:35:47 PM »
We support the local food pantry and homeless outreach through our church, as well as Oxfam America, Doctors without Borders, Save The Children, Donorschoose, and just started giving to Planned Parenthood this year.

More unusually, I support a couple of small charities: Solar Cookers International, and Liberty in North Korea

I like Solar Cookers because it helps not just the environment, but fights poverty and disease (through solar pasteurization of water, and reducing smoke-related illness from cooking fires) as well.  In a past project, they partnered with Jewish World Watch to provide solar cookers to refugees in Darfur, at the time saving girls and women the dangerous trips out of the camps to find firewood. http://www.jww.org/projects/past-projects/solar-cooker-project/

Liberty in North Korea (LiNK) helps smuggle defectors out of North Korea and resettle them in South Korea and the U.S.
« Last Edit: December 30, 2016, 07:59:58 AM by Poundwise »

etselec

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Re: What charities do you give to?
« Reply #13 on: December 29, 2016, 10:52:54 PM »
I give regularly to a number of places (including ACLU, SPLC, Planned Parenthood) but the biggest chunk by far goes to charities recommended by Givewell. They're an extremely rigorous charity evaluator that actually tries to measure how efficient a charity is/how much good they can do with your money (which isn't the same as % spent on overhead). This means they mostly recommend health and anti-poverty charities in the developing world, because money goes so much further there, and there's a lot of "low-hanging fruit" of cheap, high-impact interventions (like anti-malaria bednets).

I'm surprised more Mustachians don't follow Givewell and similar organizations — we're so efficient and strategic with our own money, why wouldn't we want to pick charities that are as efficient as possible?

Of course, the "warm fuzzies" of giving more locally, or to a cause you have a personal connection to, are very real. But when I give to somewhere like my alma mater, or the local food bank, I have to be honest with myself that I'm "paying" for the warm fuzzies, in that my dollar likely isn't doing nearly as much good as it could be.

It's tempting to give locally, but I don't do a lot of it. People who live near me aren't inherently more deserving than people in other places, and if everyone gives locally, poor people who happen to live near rich people are a lot better off.

Playing with Fire UK

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Re: What charities do you give to?
« Reply #14 on: December 30, 2016, 02:46:02 AM »
Etselec! Me too!

Cross post from Sailor Sam's Charity thread:

Great idea Sailor Sam. I've just had a pay bump so this is perfect timing as I needed a kick to update my giving.

I'm a huge fan of The Life You Can Save and Giving What We Can. I understand the preference lots of people have in donating in their own country (or to their family), but the idea that I can help more people who need it most speaks to me more. There is poverty on my doorstep, but just because I can see it doesn't mean it is more deserving. Maybe my relentless quest for value-for-money extends to charity too?

Anyway, I'm doubling my donations to Schistosomiasis Control Initiative. Deworming, keeping kids in school and getting more from nutrition.

In the absence of other information, I consider all lives equally valuable. If you can save 1,000 lives from Malaria prevention that is more valuable that paying for higher education for one American.

davisgang90

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Re: What charities do you give to?
« Reply #15 on: December 30, 2016, 03:46:48 AM »
1. A Child For All, charity founded by a friend who was a Malian orphan herself.  Charity provides a home to abandoned children in Mali, I'm on the board of directors.  http://www.acfacorp.org/en

2. Jill's House, a respite center for children with special needs.  Founded by our church.  The pastor has a daughter (named Jill) who is profoundly disabled.  Center provides overnight respite care to give parents (and siblings) a break and provide a fun atmosphere for the disabled child.  http://jillshouse.org/

3. Compassion International.  We have sponsored 3 children from Ethiopia over the years.  https://www.compassion.com/

4. Mission Aviation Fellowship.  Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) is a Christian organization that provides aviation, communications, and learning technology services to more than 1,000 Christian and humanitarian agencies, as well as thousands of isolated missionaries and indigenous villagers in the world's most remote areas. https://www.maf.org

Jaguar Paw

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Re: What charities do you give to?
« Reply #16 on: December 30, 2016, 05:17:14 AM »
Coreluv- sets up orphanages, schools and hospitals for children in Haiti.

The landing - a local organization that helps rehabilitate women out of prostitution.

TightFistedScot

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Re: What charities do you give to?
« Reply #17 on: December 30, 2016, 07:54:14 AM »
This xmas I gave to:

an LGBTQ human rights organization
a substance abuse rehabilitation home
a school for youth with behavioural issues/learning disorders
Oxfam to support crisis in Syria.

I also support friends when they are fundraising for various causes, if they are doing a run for example.

I also am a volunteer coach with Special Olympics
And I volunteer a bit of my time sitting on a couple of advisory boards
I was a Big Brother to a youth for a couple years as well

Poundwise

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Re: What charities do you give to?
« Reply #18 on: December 30, 2016, 07:57:01 AM »
I give regularly to a number of places (including ACLU, SPLC, Planned Parenthood) but the biggest chunk by far goes to charities recommended by Givewell. They're an extremely rigorous charity evaluator that actually tries to measure how efficient a charity is/how much good they can do with your money (which isn't the same as % spent on overhead). This means they mostly recommend health and anti-poverty charities in the developing world, because money goes so much further there, and there's a lot of "low-hanging fruit" of cheap, high-impact interventions (like anti-malaria bednets).

I'm surprised more Mustachians don't follow Givewell and similar organizations — we're so efficient and strategic with our own money, why wouldn't we want to pick charities that are as efficient as possible?

Of course, the "warm fuzzies" of giving more locally, or to a cause you have a personal connection to, are very real. But when I give to somewhere like my alma mater, or the local food bank, I have to be honest with myself that I'm "paying" for the warm fuzzies, in that my dollar likely isn't doing nearly as much good as it could be.

It's tempting to give locally, but I don't do a lot of it. People who live near me aren't inherently more deserving than people in other places, and if everyone gives locally, poor people who happen to live near rich people are a lot better off.

You are absolutely right, and when I give or volunteer locally, I think of it as being part self-interest.  I don't want to be surrounded by miserable people!  It's also inefficient when I drop off a bag of groceries for the food pantry than when I write a check: I don't get a tax break, and they probably could use the money to buy more efficiently (though it's a good way to offload items like my occasional Costco overbuys, and the oatmeal with Splenda that my husband bought by mistake).

On the other hand, I think of my local giving as having a multiplier effect that can't be measured by Givewell.  The most important aspect is that I'm trying to raise my kids to be socially responsible, and they learn compassion from personally assembling and handing out lunches to the needy. Also, there's a chance that local beneficiaries of compassion will someday get back on their feet and have the resources to be compassionate in their turn (of course, so can the community we save from malaria by buying 10-cent bednets, and I haven't done the math to figure out whether helping one 1st-world family a year back to their feet would be better than helping 100 3rd-world families, if each family that I help goes on to help other families subsequently.)

As for the two small charities that I support, LiNK is extremely inefficient, costing $3K to save a single refugee.  However, having read about conditions in North Korean concentration camps, I felt that somebody had to do something so as not to abandon these people entirely. Solar Cookers is much better, and although they were not chosen by GiveWell, I feel that they have a lot of potential.

Your post reminded me of the following blog post from LessWrong, which also advocates for cost effective giving.

[edited to add this link]  Here's also a very interesting discussion: Purchase Fuzzies and Utilons Separately
« Last Edit: December 30, 2016, 11:50:40 AM by Poundwise »

StarBright

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Re: What charities do you give to?
« Reply #19 on: December 30, 2016, 08:02:01 AM »
Adding one that I haven't seen mentioned:

Modest Needs Foundation - they cover small grants to people for things like car repairs, emergency medical bills etc to help keep them out of poverty . The idea is that so many people are one bill away for going under. Modest Needs helps take care of that bill. You can donate to a general fund or help fund a specific request (sort of like DonorsChoose).


citizen24128

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Re: What charities do you give to?
« Reply #20 on: December 30, 2016, 09:31:50 AM »
My thoughts on giving have changed a lot since I learned about Peter Singer and the concept of effective altruism (giving in such a way that your donation does the most good and has the greatest impact). I used to donate primarily to organizations that serve my region of the USA, but I now feel a responsibility to also support groups that address the worst poverty, in the poorest parts of the world.

Millions of people die every year from diseases that are preventable (diarrhea, malaria). Donating a few hundred dollars to UNICEF or Against Malaria could literally save one or more lives.

For more information on effective altruism, see this 15-minute talk by Peter Singer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Diuv3XZQXyc. He has also written several books on this topic, including The Life You Can Save: https://www.amazon.com/Life-You-Can-Save-Poverty/dp/0812981561/. He discusses how to choose the organizations you donate to, and he also endorses Givewell, which others have already mentioned.

iamlindoro

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Re: What charities do you give to?
« Reply #21 on: December 30, 2016, 09:37:59 AM »
Our list:

The International Rescue Committee
Planned Parenthood
The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society
Our local animal shelter and the rescues our dogs came from

Vanguards and Lentils

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Re: What charities do you give to?
« Reply #22 on: December 30, 2016, 10:42:29 AM »
I'm surprised more Mustachians don't follow Givewell and similar organizations — we're so efficient and strategic with our own money, why wouldn't we want to pick charities that are as efficient as possible?

Of course, the "warm fuzzies" of giving more locally, or to a cause you have a personal connection to, are very real. But when I give to somewhere like my alma mater, or the local food bank, I have to be honest with myself that I'm "paying" for the warm fuzzies, in that my dollar likely isn't doing nearly as much good as it could be.

I've thought the same question. I speculate that there is no contradiction. People on this website are ruthlessly strategic with their own money, toward their OWN ends. So even money donated is (in part) spent to improve MY life. For me, donating to effective charities helps me feel like I behave as a pragmatic person, with an egalitarian view of people's value. For others, donating helps them feel that they are modern, progressive people who support women's rights to choose, trans access to bathrooms, etc.

Slow&Steady

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Re: What charities do you give to?
« Reply #23 on: December 30, 2016, 11:04:41 AM »
My wife has MS so we donate annually (as well as raise additional money through various events) each year.  The last couple years we have also given money to our friends whose daughter is battling leukemia to help pay for some of the medical bills. 

We have given to a wide variety of different charities over the years including my University (where I have an unusual sense of pride associated with) but nothing makes us feel better than giving to medical causes.

My husband also has MS, so we donate to a couple different MS charities
My daughter has FPIES, so we donate to FPIES charities
All of our animals are shelter rescues, so we donate to local animal shelters
We are working to become foster parents, so we donate to foster charities

I often feel guilty because the dollar amount we are currently able/willing to donate is low but we do things like ordering through smile.amazon.com to help contribute a little extra on items we need to purchase anyways.

Sailor Sam

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Re: What charities do you give to?
« Reply #24 on: December 30, 2016, 11:10:12 AM »
Thanks for the thread MM_MG. I'm interested in charity, and always like to see it pop up on the forum. I give to:

1. Scholarship fund of my alma mater. I sucked off the scholarship teat pretty heavily, and I want to replace what I used.

2. St Jude Children's Research Hospital. Kid's shouldn't get cancer. Let's figure out how to stop that.

3. Local foodbank. Hunger sucks, let's supplement.

4. Local org helping poor folks get bikes.

I'm surprised more Mustachians don't follow Givewell and similar organizations — we're so efficient and strategic with our own money, why wouldn't we want to pick charities that are as efficient as possible?

Of course, the "warm fuzzies" of giving more locally, or to a cause you have a personal connection to, are very real. But when I give to somewhere like my alma mater, or the local food bank, I have to be honest with myself that I'm "paying" for the warm fuzzies, in that my dollar likely isn't doing nearly as much good as it could be.

I've thought the same question. I speculate that there is no contradiction. People on this website are ruthlessly strategic with their own money, toward their OWN ends. So even money donated is (in part) spent to improve MY life. For me, donating to effective charities helps me feel like I behave as a pragmatic person, with an egalitarian view of people's value. For others, donating helps them feel that they are modern, progressive people who support women's rights to choose, trans access to bathrooms, etc.

This is always a tough argument. How do we value a human life? I've dedicated my working life to service, and while my overhead is incredibly high per-life-saved, I also have the knowledge that I've personally saved 6 lives, and indirectly saved oodles of others through support roles. Should my salary be directed overseas, in order to do more good? There's legitimate and heartfelt arguments on both sides.

I always come to the conclusion that it takes all types. Some people emphasis international, some national, and some local. It kind of evens out, and that's good.

iris lily

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Re: What charities do you give to?
« Reply #25 on: December 30, 2016, 11:13:41 AM »
My ongong support goes to animal and architecture interests, and to a lesser extent, arts organizations.

This year was typical:

Bulldog Rescue
Elephant Sanctuary
Campbell House (historic home here)
Lafayette park Conservancy, fence fund


One time contributions: two political campaigns, a GoFundMe effort for a young widow (not my usual thing, it was guilt money,) an arts group collecting for AIDS efforts, National Review's foundation campaign.

I don't know if memberships to arts and etc. organizations  are included here, probably not since
I get benefits, but I donate at the basic membership level for about 8 organizations.

These are cash donations. If we are talkng anout volunteer hours, that is a different animal and very important! There is seldom a day going by where DH or I are not involved in a volumteer tasks for our neighborhood, plant societies, or dog rescue.

Our neighborhod organization is large and complex, and I volunteer for three committees: crime patrol, historic recrods and archives, and beautificatin (gardenng.)
« Last Edit: December 30, 2016, 11:21:51 AM by iris lily »

Alenzia

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Re: What charities do you give to?
« Reply #26 on: December 30, 2016, 11:26:19 AM »
We have a few that we give to every year:

- local food bank. I prefer to give them money instead of food because they can stretch their dollars SO much more than I can.
- local adolescent birth control clinic through our children's hospital
- leukemia and lymphoma society

New ones this year:

- Natural Resources Defense Council
- International Rescue Committee

sol

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Re: What charities do you give to?
« Reply #27 on: December 30, 2016, 11:38:55 AM »
While I give some to several universities, some reproductive health organizations, a bicycle advocacy group, third world health and sanitation projects, one specific medical research effort with a personal connection, and several youth development organizations, most of my giving this year will be to the American Humanist Association and related groups.

Why?  There are lots of different ways to evaluate the effectiveness of charitable giving, but as I age I find myself less inclined to relieve immediate suffering and more inclined to support long term structural changes in society.  And I think that the continued spread of ridiculous ancient superstitions and magical thinking to be the single greatest threat to the survival of our species.  Humanity needs to abandon religion as anything but interesting cultural mythology.  I am terrified by the fact that modern nation states with nuclear weapons are being run by people who seriously believe in talking animals and miraculous zombies and Armageddon-as-salvation.

As a country, as a global society, and as a species, we need to recognize that our successes have all been built on science, reason, cooperation, and effective organization for the common good.  Religions have systematically undermined every one of those for thousands of years.  In an age of global communications and interplanetary exploration, there can be no place for people who perform human sacrifice to control the weather, or ask chicken entrails how to run their businesses, or refer to ancient scrolls to dictate which legislation to pass.

I'm totally in support of religious customs as cultural heritage and personal identity.  And most of the personal ideology is good, too.  But like Zeus and Thor, all modern religions need to be firmly placed in the realm of mythology, not policy. 

Magic isn't real.  Using magical thinking to make decisions is dumb.  Using magical thinking to control people is evil.  Most religions specialize in both. 

Basically every other cause I believe in is also helped by getting religion out of the way of good decision making.

Shinplaster

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Re: What charities do you give to?
« Reply #28 on: December 30, 2016, 01:14:25 PM »
War amps of Canada.  They do good work with child amputees as well as vets, supplying prosthetics, aids, etc. for free, and rate highly for effective use of donated funds.

Victorian Order of Nurses, providing non-profit home nursing care and physical therapy, plus rental of equipment at very low cost.  They were lifesavers when my Dad was dying of lung cancer.

A local church's breakfast program.  We are non-religious, so don't usually donate to religious institutions.  But this program is strictly volunteer staff, so every dime donated goes to buying food for low income children's breakfasts.  They serve a great breakfast, with smiles and laughter all around.
« Last Edit: December 30, 2016, 01:22:04 PM by Shinplaster »

iris lily

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Re: What charities do you give to?
« Reply #29 on: December 30, 2016, 03:43:36 PM »
War amps of Canada.  They do good work with child amputees as well as vets, supplying prosthetics, aids, etc. for free, and rate highly for effective use of donated funds.

Victorian Order of Nurses, providing non-profit home nursing care and physical therapy, plus rental of equipment at very low cost.  They were lifesavers when my Dad was dying of lung cancer.

A local church's breakfast program.  We are non-religious, so don't usually donate to religious institutions.  But this program is strictly volunteer staff, so every dime donated goes to buying food for low income children's breakfasts.  They serve a great breakfast, with smiles and laughter all around.
Does your  government not supply breakfast to low income children at their schools?
« Last Edit: December 31, 2016, 10:40:00 AM by iris lily »

Shinplaster

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Re: What charities do you give to?
« Reply #30 on: December 30, 2016, 04:25:11 PM »
Maybe some provinces or cities do, but mine does not as a general rule (as far as I know).  Some schools' PTA get together to offer breakfasts, but it's pretty hit and miss.

MM_MG

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Re: What charities do you give to?
« Reply #31 on: December 30, 2016, 06:05:13 PM »
Thank you for all the replies!  I've read every post and there is definitely some great work being done by people on here.   


Spork

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Re: What charities do you give to?
« Reply #32 on: December 30, 2016, 06:18:55 PM »
* Planned Parenthood. 
* Local food bank
* several ad-hoc local animal charities, mostly based on event.  I.e. "We're trying to raise funds for a particular abused animal"
* local humane society
* a very very very very small cat charity.  It effectively consists of one extremely dedicated person and a handful of volunteers around her.  It's very small and we can actually see our dollars do things.  We volunteer both time and money to them and are a foster home.  We get the most "feels" for our dollars from this one than the rest.
* ACLU

considering, but haven't yet
* EFF
* Libertarian Party (We've given a little bit to them, but not enough to amount to much)

gaja

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Re: What charities do you give to?
« Reply #33 on: December 30, 2016, 06:45:32 PM »
My children's Christmas giving went to Deaf Aid and UNICEF, my went in support of a South African winefarm worker's union. This is our "feelgood" giving.

Our regular giving is more logical; I believe building social structures, educating people, and fighting corruption, is important to get a lasting change. We send regular donations every month to Doctors without borders, SOS children's villages, and Norwegian People's aid (https://www.npaid.org/). I tried KIVA for a year or so, before I discovered the horrendous interest they were charged by local "partners".  My two favorite charity efforts, however, I can only support through my taxes;
-My country has been paying the salaries of local Somali bureaucrates, to try to build a functioning administration there: http://www.somaliaonline.com/the-norwegian-government-directly-pays-the-salaries-of-380-public-employees-in-mogadishu-through-pricewaterhousecoopers-a-financial-accounting-firm-due-to-fear-of-corruption/
-A couple of years ago we sent tax collectors to Greece, to see if something could be done to their system: http://www.newsinenglish.no/2011/10/20/norway-may-aid-greek-tax-collectors/

NewPerspective

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Re: What charities do you give to?
« Reply #34 on: December 30, 2016, 06:59:06 PM »
Monthly:

NPR
ACLU
local animal rescue group
United Way

Sporadic/One off:

The Satanic Temple - I consider myself fairly well informed but I didn't realize the good work they are doing for more progressive causes.  Unfortunately I'm not sure how efficient they actually are with donations (they aren't listed on Charity Advisor)
Democratic National Committee (prob not the best use of money)
Hillary Clinton

Playing with Fire UK

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Re: What charities do you give to?
« Reply #35 on: December 31, 2016, 03:19:32 AM »
I'm surprised more Mustachians don't follow Givewell and similar organizations — we're so efficient and strategic with our own money, why wouldn't we want to pick charities that are as efficient as possible?

Of course, the "warm fuzzies" of giving more locally, or to a cause you have a personal connection to, are very real. But when I give to somewhere like my alma mater, or the local food bank, I have to be honest with myself that I'm "paying" for the warm fuzzies, in that my dollar likely isn't doing nearly as much good as it could be.

I've thought the same question. I speculate that there is no contradiction. People on this website are ruthlessly strategic with their own money, toward their OWN ends. So even money donated is (in part) spent to improve MY life. For me, donating to effective charities helps me feel like I behave as a pragmatic person, with an egalitarian view of people's value. For others, donating helps them feel that they are modern, progressive people who support women's rights to choose, trans access to bathrooms, etc.

This is me. I get so much from giving. I personally get more from giving effectively, but it took me a while to find out about Givewell and TLYCS (which is why I go on about them in places like this). People giving thoughtfully and in a way that is right for them mean more donations overall.

Tjat

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Re: What charities do you give to?
« Reply #36 on: December 31, 2016, 08:28:40 AM »
My employer fortunately has a great 50% matching program, so I donate exclusively through them. Currently, my two selected charities are Dana father/jimmy fund and the national Down syndrome society.

mountains_o_mustaches

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Re: What charities do you give to?
« Reply #37 on: December 31, 2016, 09:35:04 AM »
We try to split between local and international charities.  We pick a charity (or 2) through The Life You Can Save (https://www.thelifeyoucansave.org) for international charities (currently giving to Oxfam).  We also give to 1 or 2 local charities (currently giving to the local housing first initiative in our city and a local immigrant rights organization).  The only consistent giving we do every year is to our church, which helps run a great community focused on social justice in our community.

Each year around Christmas we think about what charities we want to support and figure out amounts given our finances for a given year.  We try to be intentional about it.  We also tend to give randomly throughout the year to other causes as we see fit - anything from supporting local school fundraisers to sending money for the Syrian crisis.  Those are one-time gifts, where as the above are recurring monthly donations for a year.

Physicsteacher

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Re: What charities do you give to?
« Reply #38 on: December 31, 2016, 11:40:41 AM »
Scheduled monthly contributions:
Doctors Without Borders
Givewell- to be distributed as they see fit since I trust them to allocate my donations wisely
My school district's fund for students with urgent needs
Local NPR and PBS stations
ACLU
United Way- a trivially small donation given due to peer pressure

I also sporadically give to Donors Choose projects and am still relending money on KIVA from my 2008 tax refund. I'd like to develop a more systematic approach for our charitable giving; I started with a monthly donation to Doctors Without Borders in 2008 when I graduated and got my first full time job and have just added organizations when they strike my fancy ever since.

Tris Prior

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Re: What charities do you give to?
« Reply #39 on: December 31, 2016, 12:03:31 PM »
Since the election I've started making a monthly donation to a charity that helps those who are going to be hit hard by a Trump administration. So far I have donated to Planned Parenthood and ACLU. Next on the list are Southern Poverty Law Center, a local org that provides healthcare to LGBT folks, and a local LGBT legal defense fund.

I need to add an environmentally-focused org to this list so I'll look through this thread for some recs.





greengardens

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Re: What charities do you give to?
« Reply #40 on: December 31, 2016, 12:18:46 PM »
This year we focused on giving bigger gifts to fewer organizations instead of a lot of small donations to a lot of organizations:
- my sorority's foundation
- the state ACLU
- the local county conservation board

we also rotate and give to our state's indigent legal fund, local habitat for humanity, and local animal shelter

kenner

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Re: What charities do you give to?
« Reply #41 on: December 31, 2016, 11:37:10 PM »
A couple local--
Organization providing transition help for kids coming out of foster care.
Organization helping low income parents work their way out of poverty, usually through college or job training.
No-kill animal rescue that also provides low cost spay/neuter services and vaccinations.  Also where my cat is from :)

A couple US-based but slightly less local--
ACLU
Planned Parenthood

One international--
Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres

My workplace has a fairly generous matching program so I try to max that out, and the local charities are also the ones that I do volunteer work with.

GetItRight

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Re: What charities do you give to?
« Reply #42 on: January 01, 2017, 04:51:15 PM »
I give annually to the Libertarian Party and my state Libertarian Party, as well as CASAA.

aetherie

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Re: What charities do you give to?
« Reply #43 on: January 01, 2017, 08:16:14 PM »
My current monthly donations are to:
- The Nature Conservancy
- Blue Water Baltimore
- Planned Parenthood
- UNHCR
- NRDC

And my fiance gives to:
- Against Malaria Foundation
- MIRI
« Last Edit: January 06, 2017, 10:46:16 AM by aetherie »