Charities

[funnel101]

Since I received my back payment, I want to donate some money to charities. I'm already going to be giving $100 total to Third Haven, the Quaker Monthly Meeting I attend. But there are other charities I want to help; however, I know I won't be able to help all of them. Help me decide?

Comments

[chaeri]

well, you could always check thier financial statements and see which spends the least on overhead, and the most on actual charity.

[funnel101]

The problem with that is that some charities have more administrative costs than others. For example, I'd expect the Arthritis Foundation to spend more on administrative costs than Unicef, as it does a lot of lobbying and produces a magazine.

[chaeri]

well, i believe that the financial statements have to break it down. that is, show what they spend money on. see if money is spent for lobbying and awareness, or for millions for the CEO. also, for me personally, i don't support any charity that spends less than half thier budget on the charities.

[wigginx]

[kittencuffs]

The American Red Cross, con: They waste a LOT of money. So much of the money they receive in donations is put toward lining the pockets of the founders, when there are a lot of other places it could do better.

Personally, my vote goes to the Humane Society [big shocker, eh?]. While there's other issues that need addressing, if the world loses it's humanity, there's no hope for anyone at all. Also, the Humane Society [or possibly the ASPCA, I can't remember which] is putting together an effort to rescue animals trapped and abandoned by the Lebanon/Israeli thingie.

[anonymous]

My primary suggestion is to add St. John's to that list. I can't think of anything that had more real, proven worth in my experience than the St. John's education, and ANY contribution to them helps immensely in terms of helping the percentage of alumni donating figure. Our educations were made possible by the constant hard work of people like Christopher Nelson raising funds from people intrigued by the merit of a liberal education. I think turning around and helping support others in turn is one of the best possible things we alumni can do with our money.

[funnel101]

Oh, good point. I was planning on doing my alumni dues, but I think Rob might have thrown away the letter before I wrote the check. ;p

[nate451]

That was me. Sorry for the accidentally anonymous comment.

I'd also add that I think giving money to your church is fantastic.