What Charity can I give to?

$120 is kind of the suggested jump off point for donations to public radio, and they will usually send some sort of gift at that level of donation. I usually get a CD and a magazine subscription, plus a discount card that works at many local restaurants, and they certainly accept gift memberships. If your MIL believes in supporting public media, that could be a good gift. Given how much our government has cut funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the NEA over the last 8 years (both of which would get nothing if Bush’s original budgets had passed), they can use that money now more than ever, and in this day and age when the media constantly caters to the most sensational story at best or to the person paying the bills at worst, I find Public Radio to be an indespensible source of factual news that I can’t get anywhere else. But that said, if your MIL is a hardcore conservative, she may view NPR as a tool of the liberal establishment (as Stephen Colbert said, the truth does have a well known liberal bias).

One organization I’ve given money to, and I honestly don’t know how much goes to admin costs, is the United Way…what appeals to me there is that they spread the charity around to many other organizations that need money.

This year with the flagging economy, I’d suggest anything that helps families…organizations that distribute toys to children, or even better, ones that feed needy people…food banks can’t keep up with the growing demand, and particularly when there’s a double whammy with high commodity prices making everything more expensive to buy. Local food shelves are great, I just don’t know which ones operate in your area.

You could donate to the help shockvalue get through student loans foundation!

There are some resources that can help you find out how much administration costs are in various charities. Here is one site that bases their analysis on the actual financial data of these charities. You can search for a certain charity or browse their lists, and see which one you like and how its financial information breaks down.

I’ve been given this a few times over the years, it’s pretty cheap and does everything for you!

the Jane Goodall society is always a good start too!

@dynamo We’re on the same wave length, Charity Navigator is where I found out that Heifer spent so much on admin costs.
Maybe if i give you more info on MIL you can help me better. She is Catholic, but by no means orthodox. She likes Oprah, she probably doesn’t listen to NPR. She’s a registered republican but, but voted for Obama this year, and she is very wealthy. She donates a lot to Ronald McDonald House at Stanford, but I really don’t want to give to them, I want something creative and new.

I adore, adore, adore Open Books in Chicago. If you don’t care where the charity it, then I cannot recommend them more. This is their website if you want to know more about them. You could donate money or books. There are numerous ways to “show” your donation including buying a shirt/bag/mug/whatever at the shop.

My personal experience with Open Books has been fantastic. Those ladies (though it has grown significantly since learned of them and there are men too now!) are super dedicated to their cause.

Call you local animal shelter – they always need money. You might get a photo of some puppies or kittens that you saved.

Perhaps Oprah herself can be of assistance. Here is an article about the 8 charities her Angel Network thinks you should spread half your holiday gift giving budget to this year:

http://www.oprah.com/article/omagazine/200712_omag_charity

Give to the Human Rights Campaign, and buy her a pair of Billy dolls .

Is there a particular charity that is important to her? Maybe make a donation in her name?

I had a few local (San Francisco) suggestions here. Another one I like is the Jewish National Fund, where you can donate trees to be planted in Israel ( I know she isn’t Jewish, but still…). They give a very nice certificate, too.

I was speaking to someone that knows a higher-up in NY Cares, a huge non-profit organization. Their Winter Wishes program is severely lacking in participants this year. It’s a really, really great program.

Two of my favorites are the American Cancer Society & the SPCA.

If you’re looking for something that is sure to help out people’s situations in other countries, you could set her up with some microfinancing projects. I don’t know much about it, but it seems pretty trustworthy. I learned about it through these guys.

I’m also interested in The Uncultured Project.

Thanks Shad;
I was looking at Kiva.org which is a microfinancing project.

There was a charity I heard about (don’t remember the name), where the money you donated was enough to teach women in impoverish countries the skills they needed to be financially self dependent.

Amazing really. “Teach a (wo)man to fish”.

we give to World Relief and I am under the impression that administrative costs are minimal…also Compassion International. Or something my family has done is adopt a needy family in your community and get them food/clothes/gifts for christmas.

Wild Salmon Center
wildsalmoncenter.org

The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering is a wonderful foundation to donate money to. Every single dime goes to foreign missions. As soon as you read her life-touching, but heartbreaking, story, you’ll see why individuals across the country advocate for her cause.

Play Pumps

Or my favorite Canadian charity, Afghan School Project, which is very worthwhile, and operating on a shoestring. I feel that the money I give them really gets put to good use. After reading The Kabul Beauty School and seeing Charlie Wilson’s War, I get a good feeling from this group.

My 2 favorite ones are Doctors of the World and Doctors without Borders (the links are to the charity analyzer page that dynamicduo linked to). I like them (and have donated to them) because they are a non-country specific cause (as in they go wherever needed) and I feel that nothing could be more important than promoting health by giving required vaccinations etc.

Make payable to
Maybe_KB
:)

or
An impoverished school in the inner city
(If that’ll make you feel better)

Help the lunch program.
A lot of kids (seriously) ONLY eat @ school.
I know, I’ve been there & have witnessed it 1st hand.
In the good ‘Ole U.S of A

Consider donating to the Haitian Health Foundation
at http://www.haitianhealthfoundation.org/
I always like the idea of supporting public radio too – to give her a symbolic gift representing the donation in her name you could give her a crank battery free radio…

Let us know what you decide(d)

I went with Kiva.org. They make loans to poor entrepreneur’s in third world countries and you choose who you want to give the money to. You get your money back, but the plan is to add to it each year and loan more and more. I bought MIL a toy cow that her dog will love. The woman I lent to is trying to expand her herd of cattle. I sent it with a bio of the woman we are supporting in her honor.

I think that’s a great idea!

Agreed!

animal shelters always need help (I volunteer w/ them a lot). And I’m also involved in a new one lately – raising funds to capture & preserve the life stories of veterans, if she has any military affection. THey are totally apolitical, but working with WWII veterans who are rapidly leaving us (and losing their stories) we do videos, written, take their picture in uniform, write up a web bio and add their story, then build a web page per group (the 2 we’re working on in Oct are the WWII Pearl Harbor Survivors). they are at www.storytellersproject.com and the non-profit preserves the stories in an online digital museum forever. :) www.storytellersproject.com (and we can do her or a loved ones story too!)

it helps to think of things you feel strongly about, then get involved with an organization relating to it.

You may Google any charity that is geared towards giving compassion, sympathy, hope and emotional relief towards the downtrodden and the down-and-out, and help them once you find them.

If they’re within a reasonable distance, even kindly volunteer your time, skill and services towards helping the charity fulfill their purposes!

Let us know how it goes and have fun uplifting those who need it!