Do you support any social cause?

I donate to a number of charities, candidates, and “causes”. Charity Navigator is a good source for researching organizations.

Oh, specifically financially? The primary charity I donate to and fundraise for is the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America because I’m so self-absorbed that I found a way to make even charity selfish.~ Earlier this year I put on an event that raised almost $2000 for the CCFA.

I didn’t really do any due diligence on them, because they’re pretty much the only charity group that gives a fuck about IBD, so I don’t really have other choices if I want to fundraise for IBD. I think they have a good rating in general though.

Most recently, my son has a GoFundMe page that I support. Most of my charity goes directly to family members.

I also support Sierra Club, Yosemite Foundation, and Yellowstone Foundation.

^^^^ if not financially what are the other causes supported / in what ways?

@imrainmaker was that for me? I send money.

That was for @mariah..but what do you mean your charity goes for family members? The causes they are supporting?

Yes. Free speech. organizations like the ACLU and such.

I give books and CDs to the public library, volunteer at the food bank, and work at a civil rights non-profit. I help my friends and family in whatever way I can when they need me—financially or otherwise.

The best way to ensure that your support isn’t squandered is to donate your time, energy and belongings, rather than your money.

I support local food distribution charities. The ones I give to have very low overhead and cover overhead through government grants, so that donations are almost 100% used for food.

And I do support local Catholic Charities which is structured for over 97% to be used for helping people.

@lynfrommnm – that’s a valid point Lyn..but it may not be possible always to give that much time / requirements may be different.

@imrainmaker My husband and I partially support our son, his wife, their two sons, her mother, her grandmother, one adult grandson and his wife. We supply a car to the son and adult grandson, make up the rent when they can’t, carry the insurance on the cars, pay most of their utilities, and various other expenses on their behalf.

The adult grandson and his wife live with us, the other 5 live in a house we bought, and none of them can afford all their expenses. We also help out our adult grandson’s mother once in awhile (our ex-daughter-in-law) when she needs emergency car repairs or such.

Until she passed away in February, we also paid various expenses for my mother-in-law which weren’t covered by her Medicare or pension.

Well I can say I “support” LGBTQ rights in the sense that I am “for” them and will vote for people that support them, but I’ve never donated money to an LGBTQ cause, if that makes sense.

ok..@yarnlady – good that you’re taking care of family members when in need. Not sure if that can be termed as charity though.

Here’s another interesting observation that I made the other day. When we add up all the public assistance and benefits that our family is receiving, (SSI, Social Security, SNAP, etc.) they come to nearly the same amount we pay in taxes every year. So I look at it as if all the money that is taken from us is simply redistributed to the rest of our family.