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.

[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