'Tis the Season - for Charity. Who do you give to?

[jeff]

Inspired by remarks on the "Santa Claus" thread - if the true spirit of the season is giving (thanks, bmcfencer!), to whom do you give?

My top charities include:

Peter Westbrook Foundation.
Futures For Children www.futuresforchildren.org
Sage Memorial Hospital http://www.navajosage.org/ (this and Futures For Children serve Native Americans)
Oxfam
Habitat for Humanity
local food-bank programs
Gods Love We Deliver

[Louweasel]

I haven't given directly but last week my choir and I sang Christmas carols in the earkly evening for the commuters coming out of Clapham Junction station (Britain's busiest railway station, incidentally) and we raised £710 (about $1,250) for the Children's Society.

We sang again for the skaters at the outdoor rink at Somerset House last night, and I don't know how much we raised yet but it was hopefully a few hundred pounds. This will go to Oxfam.

[MyrddinsPrecint]

child's play ( http://www.childsplaycharity.org/ ) is terribly cool.


(organization of games who give toys/videogames/books/etc to kids in hospitals)

[Fencergrl]

We don’t give to a charity per se and it isn't even a Christmas thing for us.
However my husband and I are always willing to help out our fellow man. When we come across people who are making an effort to uplift themselves out of a bad situation, we help them out.

Right now we are helping out four different families/ individuals. Sometimes it’s financially, sometimes it’s being a sounding board, and sometimes it’s driving them to the doctors. Whatever it takes to make their life a little easier.

As long as my husband and I have been together, we have “adopted” different people to help out. Some are strangers living on the street; some are family members, and some we just met through happenstance. I’m not sure why we do it, we never planned to, it just feels right.

[Epee_Pox]

St. Jude childrens cancer research hospital gets the most from me.
www.stjude.org

Also the Salvation Army, Childrens Art Project, and the Muscular Dystrophy Association get a decent amount. And coats and blankets for the homeless here in the winters.

[Larrison]

So far this season --

Salvation Army
Local Food bank (every year I turn over 1/2 of my "earthquake supplies" canned food to the local food bank, and buy replacements)
Boy Scouts of America (since they've gotten ACLU-driven blacklisted by so local charities, I give specifically to them)
Local Church (usually a different one each year)
Navy Relief (For the Navy and Marine families who are overseas this year at Christmas)
Toys for Tots
Red Cross
Local "group donation" campaign at work -- the group donation gets split to a number of organizations seach year.
"Necessary Essentials" drive, to provide toiletries, books, school supplies for local needy families
"Adopt a Family" as part of a work group on donations
Local elementary school -- donation to the library for them to purchase books (credit voucher at local bookstore)
Local Philharmonic Society, specifically earmarked for elementary music education. (This is a holiday fundraiser they do every year... you get a boat ride around the local harbor in the cold and wet to look at christmas lights. Whee...)


And I'm still righteously *issed off at the sleasy scavenger **tards who came by and took the stack of stuff I had set up for a local charity goods pickup in my driveway. They took the stack of stuff marked for the charity organization before the charity could pick it up, probably to resell it. *Grump*

[latenight]

www.one.org for me.......


Oh, and I have a kid through Childrens International in the Phillipines.

[JackOfHearts]

I generally don't donate to charities, though I was walking by a Salvation Army bell ringer the other night, and I figured I'd may as well get rid of some of my loose change. I reached into my pockets, pulled out two handfuls of quarters, dimes, nickels, pennies, and spent the next five minutes putting it all down that little slot.

[Larrison]

I generally don't donate to charities, though I was walking by a Salvation Army bell ringer the other night, and I figured I'd may as well get rid of some of my loose change. I reached into my pockets, pulled out two handfuls of quarters, dimes, nickels, pennies, and spent the next five minutes putting it all down that little slot.

Good for you! I was somewhat ticked off at the organizations that are now banning the Salvation Army bell ringers at Christmas from in front of their stores becuase "they are a religous organization". And these are the same stores advertising "Christmas Sales"..... I need to find a bell ringer and shove a twenty into their bucket.

[Black Jeebus]

The company I work for! Due to lax time keeping on their part (ie they never read how much time is actually on the time cards) I almost never get paid for any time before 8 am or after 4 pm in spite of the fact that I am expected to work from 7:30 to around 4:30. Then again I don't get vacation days, since anytime I need a day off they just let me take off, with no questions asked.

EDIT: Oh and since I have no extra money, usually the only thing I really give is pocket change to people with official looking charity credentials (read: no bums).

[Zasha]

i volunteer at Eve's Food Kitchen, it's local, and encourage others to do the same.
i like giving bell ringers money, it makes me feel like a good person.

[Inquartata]

I give to the power company, the gas company, the phone company, the oil companies, my landlord, the dry cleaners, the garage, the city, the state, the federal government...

Seriously, I will never marry or have kids and my family is small and self-sufficient. My estate will go to charity at my death, a large lump sum that can do some real good as opposed to little droplets over the years.

[sabreur]

This year:

The Red Cross
The Humane Society
Atlanta Canine Assistants: http://www.canineassistants.org/index.html
The Nature Conservancy

I also give to Border Collie Rescue in Germany (surprise, surprise).

[Pauli]

The ones getting most at the end of this year is the government, it's the last part of my taxes they get. Merry X-mas!

Otherwise.......usually don't give since I haven't found an organisation I entirely trust or go in one with as to their goals and opinions/political direction. I might consider though, if......

Until then, it's spent on fencing!

[The Terran]

I don't give cash to charities, simply because I'm rather poor.

I do plan on volunteering at the salle at some point, though. I'd rather give charity with work, than with change.

(My salle is non-profit organization that gives full scholorships to kids that can't afford their own equipment. A charity I really find worthy of whatever I can offer ^_^)

[Zelda]

The Salvos get my small change (its a left over from my adopted granddad - I cant walk past and NOT put something in).

As for charities...our choir gave the door proceedings from our small christmas concert at the Wesley to the charity of their choice. Other than that I dont really give....

[Goofy]

Habitat for Humanity

Lance Armstrong Foundation

Local Christian radio station

World Missions Fund at church

World Vision (two children sponsored)

An animal rescue group which takes in lions, tigers, bears (oh my) and other animals that people decided would make good pets and then suddenly (?) realized the animal was indeed wild and definitely much larger than them.

[Fencergrl]

I don't give cash to charities, simply because I'm rather poor.
I do plan on volunteering at the salle at some point, though. I'd rather give charity with work, than with change.

Giving your time is as much of a contribution as cash. Good for you!

Otherwise.......usually don't give since I haven't found an organisation I entirely trust or go in one with as to their goals and opinions/political direction. I might consider though, if......

I too, have a distrust of many charities, which is why I do my own thing.

[Epee_Pox]

I too, have a distrust of many charities, which is why I do my own thing.

there are some excellent websites that rate most of the charities out there based on a variety of criteria, such as how much of each dollar given actually gets spent in charity rather than on admin or salaries, or how effective the organization is, etc. those sites might help you find trustworthy charities.

[jeff]

Epee_Pox - could you suggest any links? Thanks!