Help me pick some charities

[dreamshark]

When I got my totally unnecessary and undeserved Federal Tax Rebate check earlier in the year I said I was going to give it to charity. I still intend to, but haven't gotten around to it yet. I have some ideas, but wonder what other people would suggest. I would much prefer to give to organizations that offer a convenient, online option to opt out of junk mail and that will promise not to sell my name to other organizations.

I'm leaning towards the following:

Food Shelf: maybe Second Harvest, maybe the Minnesota Emergency Foodshelf Network.
Homeless shelters: Sharing and Caring Hands
Arts Organzations: HOTB, Intermedia Arts
Miscellaneous: Meals on Wheels, Toys for Tots, one of the Jewish charities that got shafted by Bernie Madoff.

Comments

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

You've come up with everything I would suggest, with the possible exception of Kiva, where even $25 can be put to very good use.

[davidschroth.livejournal.com]

I'd vote for Second Harvest and HOBT, myself...

[skylarker.livejournal.com]

Those all sound like good choices. I can recommend Habitat for Humanity, too, for the practical help they give to a lot of struggling home-owners.

[mle292.livejournal.com]

I think you've already got some good ones in mind, of course, but if you're just flush with cash, here are some more:

Center for Victims of Torture
Minneapolis Crisis Nursery
Comic Book Legal Defense Fund

[barondave.livejournal.com]

While all those are worthy, I went in the other direction and gave to the Minneapolis Jewish Foundation (I think that was the name) that claims not to have lost anything due to Madoff.

[ckd]

My company set up a matching donations deal through Givvy that lets you say "don't give the charity my info". I like that.

(I kicked my money, and therefore some of my employer's, to the Greater Boston Food Bank. A lot of people are way down at the bottom of Maslow's hierarchy this year.)

[asimovberlioz.livejournal.com]

How 'bout a human rights organization, such as the Simon Wiesenthal Center (http://www.wiesenthal.com)?

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Intermedia Arts is in desperate shape. HOBT is going to survive, according to what I know now, but we are limping through having to lay-off the entire staff for 7 weeks. We are in full blown hunker-down mode, and our end-of-year appeal is way behind, with the dollars down, but we are thankful that the number of individual givers is up. The Cedar Cultural Center is having a capital campaign right now.

Any food shelf you give to will help people a lot. (Maybe it's time to write our "Eating Cheap" cook book?)

K.

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

"Maybe it's time to write our "Eating Cheap" cook book?"

Wow, I'd forgotten about that. Y'know, maybe we should. Both of us have gotten in the habit of being able to buy whatever we want in terms of food, haven't we? But it would be good for me to revive me old skills for eating cheap, just in case. (Recessions are not kind to people in my industry).

Can I make a contribution to HOBT through you?

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Sure, I'll do whatever needs to be done to facilitate donations to HOBT. You can also use the website if you have paypal.

K.

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to avoid getting on mailing lists. Does HOBT have some way to opt out of getting monthly mailings? And of course I don't want to be sold to other organizations' mailing lists.

As it is, I think the junk mail we get from Worthy Causes is eating up at least a couple of hundred dollars' worth of somebody's donations (maybe ours, maybe other people's). Seems pointless.

[serendipoz.livejournal.com]

I really like Little Brothers friends of the Elderly. They have a local chapter, but are scattered around the globe. They work with elderly who have few friends and no relatives to provide a link to the world.

Such a great idea, though.

Joyce

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

I'd be looking at the ACLU, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and probably teh Free Software Foundation

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

All good causes, but I'm going with the Maslow Hierarchy of Needs idea this year.