Favorite Charities to support!
13 posts in this topic.
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You know you have them! Post your favorite charities that you support, either through volunteering and/or donations, and blabber on about why they're so awesome! ^^
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Food banks. Always food banks. I always try to donate a variety of things, too, because not everyone can eat wheat pasta, peanut butter, or various other cheap staples that are allergy-rife.
Also, sanitary products, baby food/diapers, and other toiletries are appreciated!
They're usually overdrawn in the summer, too, because there aren't any major donation holidays they can use to drum up drives. Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter are all food holidays that you can pull on heartstrings for "you want everyone to get this kind of meal!" but in the summer those don't exist, plus kids aren't in school so they can't be getting access to those meal programs. -
I tend to go the volunteering route, and normally it's local organisations I volunteer for.
Where I work is actually technically a volunteer centre, so I like to joke that I get paid to volunteer (which isn't always a joke sometimes, because they tried to pay me for volunteering for the fire-stuff this summer, and succeeded a little. Though I feel horrible about it.)
But it's also always been a bit of a tradition to give to the foodbank when we're celebrating. Then again, recently we keep it more within the people we know, because my aunt has never been particularly financially stable and my uncle has been homeless the last couple years, and is now finally in the same province as us all and going back and forth from our place and my aunts. So, we've been going more that route, trying to make sure everyone within reach is good. I think sometimes it's hard to remember to look after your own, surprisingly.
One charity that's pretty cool that I'd like to support sometime, is the 'Ten Tree' one. I don't know tons about it, but basically you buy a tee-shirt and then they use the money to plant trees in places that could use, well, more trees. Trees are on of my favourite things on this earth, and of course are incredibly important. The Tee's are pretty pricey from what I remember, but I think I'm gonna do that sometime.
ALSO I guess this isn't a charity but I really want to donate to YWS one of these days. Because honestly, YWS is a bit like free school, when you think about it. And it's amazing. -
Oy. I never even thought of the family members bit as charity! Like, in our family, if someone is in trouble, we automatically help out without really thinking too much about it.
ANYWAY. Because the Texas thing has really been grating on me -- like, many of the Catholics that I have been befriending on Twitter seem to be from Texas, for some reason, so hearing their stories is just... oh man, I feel so bad for them because so many have lost so much -- we donated to St. Vincent de Paul's disaster relief organization: http://www.svdpdisaster.org/
My husband belonged to SVdP over here (until childrearing distracted us), and it's all run locally by volunteers who basically go to people's homes and give whatever they can. The disaster relief organization is aimed at giving them food, diapers, other things, and helping rebuild their homes. So, they'll provide -- all for free -- furniture, beds, dishes, etc. Anything that you take for granted, until it's gone, basically. And, yeah, it's a Catholic organization, but they'll serve everyone. It's really... awesome.
Anyway. Disasters always are a bit unusual because we give to whomever we think can use it the most. Regular giving to charities? We like to give locally and internationally for various causes.
We really like Catholic Relief Services for international causes. They do lots of awesome things, like provide support and housing for refugees, equip people in developing nations with technologies they can use to become entrepreneurs, give animals to people for food (like cows and whatnot), disaster relief services, provide seeds -- especially drought-resistant seeds -- for people who are becoming farmers, provide basic medical needs (like mosquito nets and training to the locals to become lactation consultants), and... a bunch of other things I am forgetting. And they go across faiths too... they serve you, no matter what faith you are.
...more later! -
I much prefer charities that have physical, tangible outcomes from their donations. For instance as a kid my favourite was Bóthar which provided farm animals that they would ship out to farms in Africa and teach people how to raise them and breed them.
In college I was involved in two charities. The first one involved raising money for hospitals in the developing world where we had kindly been offered electives. (And all of our own expenses were paid from our own pocket). The money raised went into buying equipment and supplies for the hospital - for instance we bought new IV stands so patients didn't have to hold their own IV bags, and an electric centrifuge, so the lab tech didn't have to put himself at risk using a *hand run centrifuge* off which the tubes would often fly and spill TB infested sputum everywhere. Among other things.
Our other charity was raising money for our teaching hospitals. The people of Dublin are super generous and we always raised a good amount each year. The money was used for, for instance, building new toilets in the oncology day ward, redecorating the ICU family room and buying new beds for the ICU.
Now that I'm out of college, I still prefer tangible things. I'm not a huge fan of giving to big corporations as you can't guarantee where your money will go. The bigger the company the more that has to go on management etc by its very nature.
Dublin is in the middle of a homelessness crisis and we have a few very good charities that I never walk past - the Simon community, the Fr Peter McVerry Trust.
I'm weird but I'm highly suspicious of charities for a single illness. I think research is so expensive and the charities' money would go further paying for specialist nurses etc. And I hate lobbying groups. -
I also like tangible outcomes in my giving. The only "big" organization I give to regularly is Planned Parenthood because of the fantastic work I know they do for women's health.
My partner and I both volunteer with 826 Chicago which I'd our branch of a national organization that does after school tutoring and creative writing workshops for underprivileged kids. I definitely prefer to volunteer my time, particularly because I don't have a lot of extra money for giving. -
@Lauren2010 I've also donated to Planned Parenthood! I've been considering volunteering there as well, although I haven't done so yet. It'll be hard to find time during the school year because I work two jobs, but maybe I can look into it over the holidays and for next summer. I especially want to help out since Governor Kasich cut their state funding. (That's what prompted me to donate in the first place.)
And then my school year job is at a nonprofit. Obviously I'm not volunteering, I get paid, but anyway: it's a free afterschool tutoring program for at-risk kids. We provide individualized curricula in math and reading for each student (within the program's method of operation), plus one-on-one math fact and phonics tutoring every session. I assess them so I know how to adjust their curriculum if they're struggling, but they're not graded. They just get points for passing tests and things, and then they can use those points to shop at our class "store." And then they also have more decision-making power than in school. Like if they're not ready to work - talking when they're not supposed to, distracting another student, being disrespectful to staff - they get to decide whether or not I should send them home for the day. Most of the day they say no and then turn their whole day around.
That's probably the nicest thing about the program vs school, that the kids always have a chance to turn things around. One of my students can act up every single day, but every single day I'll greet them cheerfully and assume they're going to have a good day today. And a lot of them do, because they're so used to teachers thinking of them as "the bad kids," so when our staff treats them like we expect them to do well, regardless of how they behave on any given day, it really motivates them to try their best.
(Omg I love it so much there.)
We also provide snacks and hot meals through Children's Hunger Alliance, because we're in the city and not all of our kids have access to regular meals.
Our main funding comes from United Way, so I'm also a fan of them. Someone recently posted on Facebook a "don't give to these charities" post and included United Way because the person in charge makes $300k a year, but I looked into it. The guy runs an INTERNATIONAL CHARITY that does a lot of good for kids and adults alike and brings in something like $9million a year to put toward their charity work. I don't begrudge him making a living. It's not like he's making a million dollars a year and very little of the money actually goes to charity. Come on. They do a lot of good. -
@BlueAfrica - I hate articles like that. Unless you can show he's embezzling money or using funds in a nefarious way, I think it's awful trying to tear people down for their salaries. This week our media decided to publish a "list of the highest paid GPs in the country." Firstly, it isn't a crime to make money. But secondly, they'd just looked up which GP practices received the highest government grants. One of the top three was Dublin's homeless GP! Yeah, sounds like a guy who's in it for the money.
>.<
Basically, I hate those types of smear campaigns against people. A lot.
I like the idea of donating to Planned Parenthood! It doesn't exist here. Because we have some of the world's most restrictive abortion laws.
I forgot that the other major thing I donate to is refugee relief. Again I always try to donate to individuals or small groups who say, "here's where your money is going" but I've given a good amount to the Red Cross and similar crisis campaigns. I just wish that Ireland would fulfill its obligation and take more refugees so that I could do more tangible/volunteering things (most international campaigns/MSF need huge periods of time, ranging from six months to four years). I would love to do something like helping people learn English/integrate when they get here. -
@StellaThomas ME TOO. I mean, yes, by all means, expose people who are using "nonprofits" to make tons of money for themselves while avoiding taxes or who claim to be a charitable organization but most of the money actually goes toward them and not the charity. But please don't vilify someone simply because they make a good salary running a charitable organization. It's a big job with a lot of responsibility!
Abortion is precisely why Kasich cut PP's funding, and I was so angry that I cried at work when I heard. Ignoring the fact that PP doesn't use public funds for their limited abortion work, Ohio has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the country and PP does a lot for expectant mothers and mothers with infants. You'd think that would be worth funding. Plus so many of the other things PP does actually decrease the overall rate of abortion - like providing birth control and information about it, as well as support and health care for at-risk mothers.
I forgot I have also donated to ACLU, which is a civil rights organization that lately is particularly focused on helping immigrants (what with the anti-immigrant climate here). I'd also like to donate to Southern Poverty Law Center, a similar organization, but I haven't yet.
Do you guys know about that "smile.amazon.com" thing where you can select a charitable organization for part of your Amazon purchases to go toward? I'm pretty sure I set mine to SPLC, but I've cut back on my spending lately, so thus far I haven't made any purchases that would benefit them. -
I always hesitate to help people overseas because one of the first things I learned in anthropology was some of those efforts can be detrimental. Like, shipping cattle? Can lower the water table because they have to drill to get the water required for them. Forcing settling causes TB outbreaks because the nomads can't just leave the sickness like they used to.
Likes, yes, giving equipment to hospitals is wonderful, but you have to check the long-term impact of things like setting up cities. Nomads are working just fine as nomads.
(also some charities genuinely do have their CEOs take home a mint— avoid donating to Autism Speaks like the plague) -
I'm biased because I'm in education, but my favorite is probably Donors Choose. CA is so underfunded with education, and my district is lower than others (because we're classified as rural because we were 100 years ago, or some such nonsense, and thus get less money), and my site in particular is hugely low-income (we're somewhere between 75-85%, I think?), so site-specific fundraisers don't do so well. Anyway, it details out exactly what materials are being requested, who they're going to, and cost. What's nice, too, is local/national/international businesses will run events when they fund certain projects (type, location, etc.). Last year my site had every project posted in September funded - and I'm not sure anyone even knows who did it.
Anyway, that aside, probably our (my entire family, that is) favorite is St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital. There's a couple affiliate locations locally, and mom and I have both had students at those locations.
I'm also a fan of almost anything Rotary does. -
My mom and I both donate to Kitty Angels through Amazon smile! Amazon smile takes a portion of your purchase amount and donates it to the charity of your choice. KA is a no-kill cat rescue organization that takes in strays, cats whose owners have passed away or are unable to take care of them any longer, and also cares for feral cat colonies throughout the New England area.
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Now that you mention it, I did see a lot of posts like, "DON'T DONATE TO THE RED CROSS FOR HURRICANE EFFORTS." Which I was confused about, because I always thought they were reputable. But, apparently they messed up on a Haiti hurricane big time. Still, I would think that they would have learned from their mistakes? *shrugs*
I always hesitate to help people overseas because one of the first things I learned in anthropology was some of those efforts can be detrimental.
Yes. The thing is, globalization is probably here to stay... at least for now anyway. So, I do like to give to international charities who work directly with the communities to train and empower the people to work within the globalized framework of things.
I DO NOT like supporting Christian missionaries that send out teens or whatever to build houses or do those sorts of big projects. I would not trust teens to do a good job in my neighborhood... why would I pay for them to be shipped overseas (which is quite a lot of money!) and have them do it over there? (It's different if it's an actual skill set, like sending doctors or whatever.)
And then, I also don't like or support international charities that rely on poverty porn. Like, if they're telling a story and there's a sad part, okay. But, poverty porn is unacceptable because it is a form of exploitation.
Anyway! Another international charity that we support is Unbound! It basically connects you with another person and you help support that person. So, we're connected with this boy and we basically pay a small amount every month that helps his family send him to school. Like, the family's not in desperate need, but every little bit helps, and because the American dollar is strong over there, our little bit helps a lot. It also combines a kind of pen pal sort of thing, so they let us know about Indian celebrations and whatnot, and we let them know what's going on in our lives, and the writer in me kind of adores it because HEY. Pen pals! But, it's not like they're forced or anything. And Unbound puts on parties and whatnot for their community that they can attend and basically have fun. It sounds cool!
We also give to Catholic Medical Missionaries, which is kind of like Doctors Without Borders, mostly, but with a Catholic bent. So, they'll do pretty much everything but abortions.
We also like to give a lot to our local communities, because charity starts at home. Ever since I've learned that the Salvation Army has the only real homeless shelter in my city, we've given to their local branch. Like. I realize that there's lots of scandal with Salvation Army, but... we have a lot of homeless. And they're the only ones out there in the front lines in our community. So... we give stuff to them.
We also give to our church because it has an excellent food distribution to the poor program. APPARENTLY. (I found this out just a couple of months ago...) many of the people who go to this for free meals program do so, not because they are homeless, but because they actually live on a limited income... so like, disability income or Social Security, or whatever. So, they're not living out on the streets, but they are having a hard time just getting by on the basics, so they come over to our church to eat.
And then there's Catholic Community Services, which provides TONS of services, such as assisting Hispanics with immigration (remember that many undocumented workers are Catholics, so this is actually a huge service), and then they do shelters all around, they provide education assistance, food, pregnancy support, hospice care, and so many other things. It's really cool!
We love our local branch of St. Vincent de Paul too, because they do SO MUCH GOOD WORK. Like, I've been to their training (though haven't done the work) and they train you on how to listen and talk with people who are going through lots of problems and how to better serve them as real people. So, like... yeah, they'll drop off food and furniture and diapers and all that, but they'll also stop by and chat for a bit so that the people who they are serving know that they're not just another checkmark on their to-do list. It's soooo cool.
We also like to give to Glenmary Missionaries... which does missionary work in the United States. Mostly down south where there are lots of farms in the United States! You see, there's lots of exploitation of migrant workers going on. Like, some terrible, terrible stuff... like, I've seen thought pieces about how Americans wouldn't do the sort of work that immigrants do such as in farming, and thus there should be freer immigration. BUT. Those pieces often forget to mention that THERE'S A REASON FOR THIS, because frequently the immigrants, especially if they are undocumented, have slave-like working conditions and they basically live in indentured servitude to the farmer. The arrangement is, if the farmer provides for their safety from ICE, they'll serve the farmer. But, that means that the farmers can stick them in living conditions such as abandoned chicken coops and whatnot. So, there's a hidden kind of immigrant culture there that actively hides from us Americans and most Americans don't know anything about it, because both the farmers and the undocumented immigrants are not saying anything.
That's where Glenmary comes in... because the Glenmary missionaries are Catholic priests and because the majority of the undocumented immigrants are Catholic, the immigrants will let them into their culture. And so Glenmary works to serve them and to be their advocates, since often they are so voiceless and powerless. And they'll raise up funds for when there's hostage situations between the border and family members are being ransomed by gangs. And they'll work to improve their conditions. They'll connect them with immigration lawyers and do their best to get them green cards. They'll drive them to get medical aid -- because frequently they're terrified to do that. And... they just do so much work to help these people.
...and a baby is awake! *putters off*
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