What charities do people give to?

[BarbaraAnne]

We believe in the work the Salvation Army does, and their low overhead is a major factor in why they get a large percentage of our contributions.

Other charities we contribute to are Humane Society and scholarship funds at our respective universities.

I think this year we will contribute to the The Nature Conservancy as well.

 

[Bikerdude]

I give to CARE and the Salvation Army. They are very efficient and more than 90% of the dollars go to the cause.

 

[Moemg]

Clothes & household goods go to goodwill. Money goes to also out youth .For teenagers struggling with their sexuality.

 

[gandalf42]

church
Nature Conservancy
Cousteau Society

 

[samclem]

- Salvation Army (I'm not religious, but this is a good charity. They help folks who really need it, and they are faster out of the blocks for big disasters than the Red Cross in many cases, and cetainly more efficient with the aid they provide. They did a really good job during Katrina)

- Boy Scouts: Ever since they were de-listed from the United Way I've given them something. No, I don't like everything about the organization, but I support their work overall.

- Accion International (Microfinance in poor countries)

 

[d]

So you are supporting ALL the United Way charities. The option to "direct" your contribution is only there to make you feel better, but it doesn't change this basic fact.

gumby:
thnx for the info.
d

 

[youbet]

My oldest grandson just turned 6 yo and is disabled due to cerebral palsey. It's been a challenge for him, my son and DIL, DW and myself and the extended family. We receive much help from the Easter Seals organization.

Little youbet III receives speech and occupational therapy. Since retiring last June, I'm the chauffer, picking him up from school and taking him to the local Easter Seals facility twice a week. I've really learned a lot and can say that I'm impressed with the services they deliver and the efficiency with which they deliver them. It's really a great organization.

Despite the name, there is no religious agenda I've ever noticed. The clients are racially diverse. Other parents and grandparents I've met seem to come from all walks of life.

If you're looking for a way to help disabled children, Easter Seals would be a good bet. Our local organization is at PO Box 7080, Villa Park, Ill. 60181, and their 2007 annual fund drive is just getting under way.

(I have no financial interest in this. Our family private pays for over 100 therapies a year because others need subsidies much more than we do. But many other children's families do need help paying for therapy and other services.)

 

[loosechickens]

Of course, like many of you, we give to local charities in areas in which we spend time, but when we plan our giving to national charities, we depend on the American Institute of Philanthopy and their research on charities to help us make decisions as to which charities will do the best job with our money.

The AIP website is www.charitywatch.org

Your donation to them for a membership (around $35) helps you decide which charities deserve your support. The AIP researches large number of charities and three times a year publishes a booklet they send you that rates each charity on various items, such as percent of money raised spent on program services, their costs to raise $100, salaries of officers, endowments and years of available assets available, etc. It makes it easy to see which charities benefit people and which seem to benefit their officers and overhead expenses.

Often in a given area, say cancer, there will be a number of different organizations, but when you look at the AIP tables, it is easy to see which ones make the best use of your money.

It is a great tool. They do good work. Hope this is helpful to some.

LooseChickens

 

[ERD50]

Small world department. Our family farm was adjacent to Dan West's farm, who was the founder of the Heifer project. His wife was a grade school teacher in the local school. ...

John, I was wondering if you could give a bit more background on this. Heifer.org is our primary charity, I like the 'teach a person to fish' philosophy. But I'm a skeptic, and I wonder if it really is effective most of the time (I can't expect perfection).

I've done a fair amount of searching on the internet, and have not really found anything negative.

But I can't help but wonder - do they deliver the animals and the next day the local bad guys steal them all, etc, etc. I *want* to believe my modest donations are doing some good, but it keeps nagging me. Can you offer any encouragement?

-ERD50

PS- my understanding of United Way is the same as some others. They claim they are 85% efficient, but all they do is distribute the funds to other charities (and keep 15 cents of every dollar to cover their costs). So your $ would go further if you contribute directly to the charity.

 

[Khan]

Local no-kill animal shelter
Local LGBT advocacy group
Local Planned Parenthood
Local feed the poor (House of Bread)

 

[MooreBonds]

Made a large contribution last year (and will again this year) to the Vanguard Donor-Advised Fund (vanguardcharitable.org) Once it grows for a few years, the main recipients will be (in order of amount)

local Catholic parish/Archdiocese
EWTN
local Catholic radio station
probably a mix of Sunshine Mission (local homeless shelter that serves meals and helps homeless men find work) and possibly Easter Seals (thanks youbet for letting me know about them ), and perhaps the annual "100 neediest cases" that the St. Louis Post-Dispatch publishes each year around early December.

 

[John Tuttle]

John, I was wondering if you could give a bit more background on this. Heifer.org is our primary charity, I like the 'teach a person to fish' philosophy. But I'm a skeptic, and I wonder if it really is effective most of the time (I can't expect perfection).

I've done a fair amount of searching on the internet, and have not really found anything negative.

But I can't help but wonder - do they deliver the animals and the next day the local bad guys steal them all, etc, etc. I *want* to believe my modest donations are doing some good, but it keeps nagging me. Can you offer any encouragement?
-ERD50

I really don't know more about the project then what I read. I don't think you will ever find much negative about Dan He was an older gray haired man and I was a small boy when I knew him. In the 1950's he and his wife had sponsored a DP family as we called them (Displaced Person) from Germany who were living in a second home on their farm. My parents speak Pennsylvania Dutch which is close enough to Low German that they could act as translators for the family.

I found this article on the web which I thought was interesting.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,791576,00.html?iid=chix-sphere

Wish I could help, but I really don't know anymore than you do about the present organization.

 

[bosco]

Oxfam
Doctors without Borders
Mennonite Central Committee (they have a program where you can buy goats, chickens, school uniforms, etc. for people in Africa or Asia)

 

[loosechickens]

some years ago, we had a friend who was a large animal vet. She went several different times as a volunteer for stints in Africa for Heifer Project.......working with recipients of animals, dealing with medical problems, doing research for the program, etc. I don't think it's something where they just dump off some animals to folks and then they're on their own. At least when she was involved with them, they definitely had ongoing program work with the people who had the animals, I know.

They have a decent rating with American Institute of Philanthropy. They have a B rating, meet AIPs targets for cost of fund raising, percentage of donations used for program (as opposed to overhead), etc. 68-72% of their donations are used for programs, the AIP target is 60%. Their costs to raise 100% is 20-23 dollars, and the AIP target is less than 35, and their executive salaries seem in line.

Hope this helps.

LooseChickens

 

[Calgary_Girl]

We give monthly to the local Humane Society since we're both animal lovers. I'm a firm believer in helping the furry critters in the world

Other than that, we tend to drop a few bucks here and there to the Cancer society.

Oops...forgot that we also give money to our Catholic church

 

[Calgary_Girl]

What's the consensus on United Way as a broad based charity ??

They get some of my money.

I stopped giving money to the United Way through work after it was literally almost rammed down everyones throats to GIVE, GIVE, GIVE. As a result, I know a LOT of people who don't give to the United Way anymore as a result of the pushy tactics.

My company supports a charity dedicated to helping the homeless so I also give to that.

DH and I also sponsor a child in Sri Lanka through Christian Children's Fund of Canada.

Wow...I can't believe I forgot all of these charities.

 

[DangerMouse]

Salvation Army is the biggest recipient of my donations. I think they do a fantastic job without ramming a religious message down the throat of beneficiaries.

I try and give to the local food bank, heart association and cancer research. Care is now off my list because I got so sick of them sending begging letters every week. Any organisation that turns around and uses my donation to hound me endlessly never gets another cent from me.

 

[kaudrey]

I give to a variety of wildlife and national park conversation organizations. A few cancer societies. And the Smithsonian and National Zoo here in DC.

I donate "stuff" to the Salvation Army.

I donate my time to local animal organizations, a food bank, and several annual charitable events.

Karen

 

[simple girl]

Goodwill
local center for abused women
Alley Cat Allies (national organization that supports trap-neuter-release of feral cats and feral cat colony management instead of killing)

 

[sweetana3]

I give to charities that I can see, touch, work with, understand and want something from me other than just money.

I study the admin expenses and fund raising costs.

I think the whole charity game in this country is run to provide jobs for the administrators and protect their turf. So I am careful to make sure that the services are provided and something I want to continue in the few organizations I support.

 

[bbbamI]

I don't consider our parents as charities, but we give them money each month. What we have left is contributed to:

United Way (kind of a political thing at DH's job)
Local college music dept.
Salvation Army
Local Resale Shop
Local Food Bank
American Cancer Society
Humane Society

 

[ERD50]

I study the admin expenses and fund raising costs.

Usually a good idea, but I think it can be misleading at times. IIRC, by some measures heifer.org does not look good 'on paper' using these metrics. But, that is because they use a significant amount of their $$ in training their workers, so that they can pass this training on to the people that get the animals. So, they might look like they spend a lot in 'overhead', but it may be a good long term investment, overall.

-ERD50

 

[Darryl]

Stuff to
Goodwill
Salvation Army

Money
United Way - Work
American Cancer Society
American Heart Association
American Diabetes Association

 

[Sue J]

We donate stuff to Goodwill and Salvation Army for the Thrift Store.

We have a payroll deduction for United Way (interesting to read all the posts about United Way).

We have never joined any religious groups so we have never had donations to a church, etc. Instead, years ago when we had a lot less money, I started donating blood. I still give blood 4 - 6 times a year.

We have a lot of local things we give to, High School band "Tag Day", hunger drives for the local Foodbank, donations to the pet rescue groups.

 

[jcort123]

http://www.aurashouse.com/index.html
Small donations that can make a big difference in someones life.