We just paid off our student loans last fall and were thrilled to be able to begin regular charitable donations. We talked a TON about which charities to pick, but finally landed on the following:
Monthly recurring donations:
1. Give Directly. $100 means so much more to those families than it does to me.
2. Against Malaria. I have a background in public health, and malaria kills an absurd number of people, and a little money here can make a lot of difference.
3. Planned Parenthood. I'm devout feminist, and feel like this is a little way to fight back against the way women's rights are being eroded in other states.
4. Health Care for the Homeless. Local charity working on providing care and resources to our considerable homeless population. Doesn't feel right to leave people in the street in my own figurative backyard.
We intentionally did 2 global, 1 national, and 1 local charity. Give Directly gets by far the most because I believe it is the most effective, the others are more nominal amounts.
Then we also set aside money each month to be distributed at the end of the year. The current plan is to divide it among local, state and national bike advocacy organizations, because down with cars, but we are staying open to other ideas that may arise as well.
Plus then there's also irregular donations to charities that friends are collecting for, Goodwill donations, and our pets are both rescues.
I struggle a bit with our lack of giving to environmental/animal protection groups, or human trafficking, or clean water, or local food banks.....there's no end to causes that need help, to my mind. I did a lot of research to identify the most effective organizations but it was a struggle to narrow down the list.
