Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Questions on how we spend our money and our time - consumer goods and services, home and vehicle, leisure and recreational activities
Topic Author
parigi723
Posts: 103
Joined: Mon May 16, 2011 6:42 am

Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Post by parigi723 »

Hello:
I know that this is not the appropriate forum for my question but,I'd like to take a chance....... :)
I'm about to make will(last testament) and I have in mind some charity organizations.I'd like to leave money to place that invest the closest
amount to 100% to help the majority of people.(At this time Salvation Army,Canine Companions,and my local public TV station(PBS).
I'd very much to hear and learn from your comments........Many thanks for your help!parigi.
User avatar
cheese_breath
Posts: 11786
Joined: Wed Sep 14, 2011 7:08 pm

Re: Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Post by cheese_breath »

You already named my favorite... Salvation Army.
The surest way to know the future is when it becomes the past.
User avatar
TomatoTomahto
Posts: 17158
Joined: Mon Apr 11, 2011 1:48 pm

Re: Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Post by TomatoTomahto »

I have recently been looking into this question, as I've slowed/stopped charitable contributions now but want to add to my will.

The Gates Foundation will accept unsolicited donations that follow strict guidelines. The foundation is a much wiser and more thorough donor than I could be, so I'm thinking of going that way.
I get the FI part but not the RE part of FIRE.
Planner
Posts: 110
Joined: Wed Jul 23, 2014 6:17 am
Location: second to the right, and straight on till morning

Re: Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Post by Planner »

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I like the humanitarian work, like Mormon Helping Hands in Hurricane Katrina. The church is organized, and gets all volunteers. From http://www.ldsphilanthropies.org/humani ... s-ldspPage, it says:

1) One hundred percent of every dollar donated is used to help those in need without regard to race, religion, or ethnic origin, and
2) Humanitarian Services helps people attain self-sufficiency so they can be self-reliant long after LDS Charities departs.

I've run into a Mozambican on an LDS wheelchair and seen their mass vaccination program (I think it was measles). Pretty impressive.
Ron
Posts: 6972
Joined: Fri Feb 23, 2007 6:46 pm
Location: Allentown–Bethlehem–Easton, PA-NJ Metropolitan Statistical Area

Re: Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Post by Ron »

MOW (Meals on Wheels) for elderly, disabled, shut-in's.

My wife/I volunteer for this needed service and we receive no "pay" for out time/effort. Contributions are used to offset the cost of food and preparation (cooking, packing).

- Ron
turno77
Posts: 46
Joined: Tue May 14, 2013 2:45 pm

Re: Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Post by turno77 »

Books for Africa.

"Books For Africa. A simple name for an organization with a simple mission. We collect, sort, ship, and distribute books to students of all ages in Africa. Our goal: to end the book famine in Africa."

They've been doing this since 1988 and have sent 31 million+ books to 49 African countries. 99.1% of budget is spent to do this, according to Charity Navigator.
User avatar
dodecahedron
Posts: 6607
Joined: Tue Nov 12, 2013 11:28 am

Re: Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Post by dodecahedron »

Too many to list them all, but what they have in common is that they are located close enough to me or to places I travel to regularly for other reasons, so that I can at least occasionally visit to get to see the difference my small contributions make in the world.

SPMPS (rhymes with mumps!) Summer Program in Mathematical Problem Solving, two upstate NY locations serving mathematically passionate and talented seventh graders from high-poverty NYC schools (and providing followup services throughout the rest of their education, helping them to get into excellent high schools and summer programs and eventually great colleges, etc.)

Tech Valley Center of Gravity, a startup nonprofit makerspace in inner-city Troy, NY

Community service programs and libraries of the college where I teach and the university where my late husband taught

A multi-faith collaborative inner city ministry coordinating efforts of folks from many diverse religious traditions joining together in collaborating on community service projects

My local YWCA and my local Girls Inc, and an amazing program in Cambridge, MA called Girls Angle

A program called Community Fathers, which helps young men getting out of prison rebuild their lives and become responsible fathers and role models to the children with whom they have lost contact. (My late husband had very nice clothes, which I donated to this organization, so the men have presentable clothes to wear for job interviews and for court appearances so they can get at least limited supervised visitation with their children.)

Friends of the Public Library in a nearby inner city.

Schenectady Theater for Children a venerable 40-year-plus adult volunteer institution which brings very high production value live musical theater up close and personal to schoolchildren, including many inner city children who would never have this kind of opportunity otherwise

Saratoga Shakespeare Company, which puts on free very high quality professional outdoor theater in Saratoga's downtown park
User avatar
dodecahedron
Posts: 6607
Joined: Tue Nov 12, 2013 11:28 am

Re: Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Post by dodecahedron »

turno77 wrote:Books for Africa.

"Books For Africa. A simple name for an organization with a simple mission. We collect, sort, ship, and distribute books to students of all ages in Africa. Our goal: to end the book famine in Africa."

They've been doing this since 1988 and have sent 31 million+ books to 49 African countries. 99.1% of budget is spent to do this, according to Charity Navigator.
Sounds like a wonderful idea--I will check into this as I have a lot of terrific books I would love to share with the world in a more meaningful way than just donating them to my local Friends of the Library for their annual booksale.
User avatar
Toons
Posts: 14467
Joined: Fri Nov 21, 2008 9:20 am
Location: Hills of Tennessee

Re: Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Post by Toons »

Guide Dogs Of America(Not affiliated) :happy

http://www.guidedogsofamerica.org/1/
"One does not accumulate but eliminate. It is not daily increase but daily decrease. The height of cultivation always runs to simplicity" –Bruce Lee
User avatar
JupiterJones
Posts: 3624
Joined: Tue Aug 24, 2010 3:25 pm
Location: Nashville, TN

Re: Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Post by JupiterJones »

A couple of points, as someone who has experience working in the non-profit industry:

1.) It's really about connecting your passion with an institution can help you (through your donation) achieve those goals you're passionate about. It's stating the obvious, but since we all care about different things to different degrees, we are all going to obviously have different answers to this question, and my favorite charity may or may not be an appropriate one for you.

So I'd say just look for institutions that you feel you can trust to give you a positive return on your investment. (And yes, when you're talking about this sort of asset-based giving--as opposed to the income/cash-flow-based giving most people typically are involved with--it really is an investment.) You should get something out of it in terms of legacy, positive impact on the community, etc. You want an institution whose mission aligns with yours and that has a track record of success in their mission. That is, it's not so much that they "need your money" as it is that they can be relied upon to "address a need with your money".

2.) To that end, cost-per-dollar-raised is an important metric, but don't over rely on it. Obviously, an organization that sucks up 90% of donations as operating expense has some problems. But so might an organization that only uses 1%. Maybe this lean-and-mean charity could actually be more effective in their mission (raise more money, increase awareness, get more grants/sponsorships, grown as a charity, etc.) if they invested more of the donations into their own organization? A non-profit has to find the right balance when it comes to growth and reinvestment, like any business.
"Stay on target! Stay on target!"
User avatar
TimeRunner
Posts: 1939
Joined: Sat Dec 29, 2012 8:23 pm
Location: Beach-side, CA

Re: Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Post by TimeRunner »

I like local small charities... the local Boys and Girls club, the local Library, the local community swimming pool, the local raptor rehab center...where you know your gift will make a difference in the place you've chosen to live. your last days.
One cannot enlighten the unconscious. | "All I need are some tasty waves, a cool buzz, and I'm fine." -Jeff Spicoli
Templeton
Posts: 23
Joined: Sat Nov 16, 2013 7:16 am
Location: Manchester, United Kingdom

Re: Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Post by Templeton »

I like 'Partners in Health' and 'Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders', both of which focus upon international aid, which is my personal preference. Both are rated highly in terms of what they achieve and in terms of the percentage of donations that are actually used for the intended purpose. Links are:

http://www.pih.org/

http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/

The Wikipedia links, which provide very good overviews of both are:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partners_In_Health

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A9dec ... i%C3%A8res

If you want to find out more details about charities that are registered in the US, then 'Charity Navigator' is a good site to visit. It considers a number of variables to help one make a more informed decision. The link is:

http://www.charitynavigator.org/
Last edited by Templeton on Fri Aug 08, 2014 1:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
nisiprius
Advisory Board
Posts: 52216
Joined: Thu Jul 26, 2007 9:33 am
Location: The terrestrial, globular, planetary hunk of matter, flattened at the poles, is my abode.--O. Henry

Re: Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Post by nisiprius »

Over time we've basically cut down to "nothing but local charities." We'll slip $1 in the slot for any kid holding a can in front of a supermarket and so forth but for "real" contributions, it's just a few. Over the years we've contributed about the same total to a shorter and shorter list of charities. We've quit trying to measure "worthiness," our position is just "These are our charities." The biggest are:

The local food pantry. Nobody there gets paid. I know the woman who runs it. I can see with my own eyes that people push a shopping cart into a church basement and it's empty going in and full coming out. It's a simple proposition.

A charity bicycle ride that supports a well-regarded cancer clinic in the nearby big city. If you write a check to sponsor a rider, you do not write it payable to the charity, you write it payable directly to the cancer clinic. (The charity itself does solicit money to support its operations, but they raise it entirely from corporate donors). They say that 100% of all rider sponsorship money (e.g. via website) goes directly to the clinic, and I believe them.
Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness; Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.
lhl12
Posts: 728
Joined: Mon May 27, 2013 8:24 am

Re: Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Post by lhl12 »

Depending on where you live and how positively you feel about it, you might want to consider your local community foundation. Most of these organizations are small scale and can really use the resources to make a meaningful difference in their local communities.

Of course, if you live in Elkhart, Indiana, you might want to consider a different charity, since they're already in good shape:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nationa ... -1.1147120
Stan Dup
Posts: 776
Joined: Fri May 10, 2013 10:25 am

Re: Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Post by Stan Dup »

Mother Teresa's, Missionaries of Charity. They help the poorest of the poor.
"The tyranny of compounding expenses is the eighth deadly sin." - George Sisti
User avatar
dumbbunny
Posts: 916
Joined: Thu Apr 24, 2014 10:00 pm
Location: Oregon coast

Re: Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Post by dumbbunny »

Himalayan Cataract Project.
I saw this on ABC News one night.
To think that someone would be able to see for less than $20.
This doctor's efforts are being supported annually and more so when I take my last breath.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/Wor ... d=20450591
“It’s the curse of old men to realize that in the end we control nothing." "Homeland" episode, "Gerontion"
User avatar
prudent
Moderator
Posts: 9085
Joined: Fri May 20, 2011 2:50 pm

Re: Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Post by prudent »

TimeRunner wrote:I like local small charities... the local Boys and Girls club, the local Library, the local community swimming pool, the local raptor rehab center...where you know your gift will make a difference in the place you've chosen to live. your last days.
This is the position we have adopted as well for our giving. There are countless worthy causes but I feel that giving in my own community can make a bigger impact than the same amount given to a national organization, and we feel more connected to the outcome as well.
Braumeister
Posts: 48
Joined: Sun May 09, 2010 7:30 am

Re: Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Post by Braumeister »

Fisher House https://www.fisherhouse.org is one of my favorites. Top ratings for efficiency, too.
Sidney
Posts: 6784
Joined: Thu Mar 08, 2007 5:06 pm

Re: Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Post by Sidney »

TomatoTomahto wrote:I have recently been looking into this question, as I've slowed/stopped charitable contributions now but want to add to my will.

The Gates Foundation will accept unsolicited donations that follow strict guidelines. The foundation is a much wiser and more thorough donor than I could be, so I'm thinking of going that way.
That is an idea worth considering. We also may consider just dumping it into our DAF and provide general instructions to our successor advisers. That would allow us to provide some direction outside the will -- certainly not binding but flexible to change if our focus changes without having to redo the formal docs.
I always wanted to be a procrastinator.
livesoft
Posts: 86079
Joined: Thu Mar 01, 2007 7:00 pm

Re: Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Post by livesoft »

American Red Cross
American Cancer Society
Damon Runyon Cancer Reseach Foundation (100% of donations go to fund cancer research)
World Vision
and many others
Wiki This signature message sponsored by sscritic: Learn to fish.
bhsince87
Posts: 2914
Joined: Thu Oct 03, 2013 1:08 pm

Re: Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Post by bhsince87 »

I too give a lot to small local charities, and historical societies.

But for global disasters/human development, etc, I always give some money to these folks:


http://mcc.org/stories/helping-families ... flict-gaza

I am not religiously affiliated with them, but I do know some people who work and volunteer with them. Nobody is getting rich there, and they're also not very aggressive with proselytizing when providing aid. They're also very good with privacy, and I think I get maybe two letters a year from them.

Last time I checked, 94% of their funds went out as benefits, 5% for administration, and 1% on fundraising. I've found those numbers very hard to beat.
Time is what we want most, but what we use worst. William Penn
blueleaf
Posts: 134
Joined: Fri Dec 27, 2013 7:30 pm

Re: Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Post by blueleaf »

The Literacy Lab. An organization that's helping to close the achievement gap with one on one reading instruction for children. Super efficient with measurable results.

http://theliteracylab.org/
dognose
Posts: 288
Joined: Sun Apr 11, 2010 7:57 pm
Location: Santa Fe, NM

Re: Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Post by dognose »

1. Local food bank/shelter, for the reason Nisiprius stated: People show up hungry and get food. In my town, some people, including children, are literally starving, and this contribution provides immediate relief to the community.

2. Local community college, with money designated specifically for scholarships for disadvantaged students.

3. Best Friends Animal Society, a world-class animal shelter/rehab facility, as well as local animal rescue associations.
User avatar
stickman731
Posts: 418
Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2012 9:42 am
Location: New Jersey

Re: Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Post by stickman731 »

Wounded Warrior Project (http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org)

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (http://www.mskcc.org/giving)
User avatar
dodecahedron
Posts: 6607
Joined: Tue Nov 12, 2013 11:28 am

Re: Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Post by dodecahedron »

Sidney wrote:
TomatoTomahto wrote:I have recently been looking into this question, as I've slowed/stopped charitable contributions now but want to add to my will.

The Gates Foundation will accept unsolicited donations that follow strict guidelines. The foundation is a much wiser and more thorough donor than I could be, so I'm thinking of going that way.
That is an idea worth considering. We also may consider just dumping it into our DAF and provide general instructions to our successor advisers. That would allow us to provide some direction outside the will -- certainly not binding but flexible to change if our focus changes without having to redo the formal docs.
The bequest to DAF plus informal guidance and advance discussions with my daughters who will serve as successor advisors to the DAF after my death is definitely my intention as well.
Maid of the Mist
Posts: 153
Joined: Sat Dec 04, 2010 4:50 pm

Re: Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Post by Maid of the Mist »

Robin Hood Foundation in NYC. They have an interesting approach. They donate to organizations that provide them with a business plan and goals (to fight poverty). If the goals and plans look good they are given $. However, if they want to continue to receive $, they must meet their goals.
User avatar
Christine_NM
Posts: 2796
Joined: Tue Feb 20, 2007 12:13 am
Location: New Mexico

Re: Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Post by Christine_NM »

Automatic monthly donation either to Salvation Army (for local) or to MSF (for international).
16% cash 49% stock 35% bond. Retired, w/d rate 2.5%
Jonathan
Posts: 406
Joined: Tue Apr 30, 2013 5:36 pm

Re: Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Post by Jonathan »

Wikimedia Foundation. They produce Wikipedia and related projects.

Not charity per se, because they do pre-funded loans, but I also like Kiva.org. There's a Boglehead team: http://www.kiva.org/team/team_boglehead .
Jazz56
Posts: 52
Joined: Thu Jun 19, 2014 10:19 am

Re: Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Post by Jazz56 »

A favorite local charity is PAWS - Progressive Animal Welfare Society (Washington State). A bit of info from their website: PAWS is a champion for animals—rehabilitating injured and orphaned wildlife, sheltering and adopting homeless cats and dogs, and educating people to make a better world for animals and people. They have an extraordinary record helping return wildlife to their natural habitat.

My favorite national charity is the American Red Cross. They are there when needed - God Bless them.

Thanks for asking!
HurdyGurdy
Posts: 1177
Joined: Wed May 09, 2012 10:21 pm

Re: Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Post by HurdyGurdy »

Our favorite is Pittsburgh's Bookem, a group that sends books to prisoners.

http://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/ ... 1304080136
Mike Scott
Posts: 3579
Joined: Fri Jul 19, 2013 2:45 pm

Re: Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Post by Mike Scott »

Not a specific rationale but it does happen that they are all local and that we have some personal connection. Some get time and some get money and some get both.
User avatar
Sheepdog
Posts: 5783
Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 2:05 pm
Location: Indiana, retired 1998 at age 65

Re: Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Post by Sheepdog »

Different strokes for different folks

My wife and I have these organizations in our wills, but our wills are not the same.
Nature Conservancy
Local Community Foundation which help fund many organizations
Rotary Intl. Foundation
Local Humane Society

We give annually to the above and also annually to
4 Universities
United Way
Boy Scouts
Girl Scouts
Salvation Army
A homeless mission
3 food pantries
American Red Cross
Local Symphony
3 other Arts Organizations
Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered you will never grow. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
User avatar
Ged
Posts: 3945
Joined: Mon May 13, 2013 1:48 pm
Location: Roke

Re: Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Post by Ged »

I have two main organizations I donate to:

1. Evidence Action
2. ACLU

Everyone knows what the ACLU is so I won't explain it. Evidence Action is less known. Basically it translates economic research into programs that the research indicates will have the greatest long term positive economic impact in impoverished countries. Usually that involves public health. Right now they are sponsoring a program to deworm children in Kenya, and a system to provide clean drinking water to prevent various water borne diseases in Kenya and Uganda.

I use a Fidelity DAF.
Last edited by Ged on Fri Aug 08, 2014 3:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
runner9
Posts: 2260
Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2011 8:49 pm
Location: Ohio

Re: Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Post by runner9 »

This article on becoming a savvy donor might be of interest:

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ss ... _dono.html
rendiggy
Posts: 9
Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 11:26 pm

Re: Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Post by rendiggy »

http://www.givewell.org/ is a highly respected reviewer of charities. Their main focus in on finding demonstrable and cost effective ways to raise the standard of living world wide so 'most' of their recommendations are international .

They also make available their ratings for every charity they consider http://www.givewell.org/charities#AllUn ... considered

At the same time, they are pretty upfront about the fact that they can't evaluate everyone:
If you have access to other giving opportunities that you understand well, have a great deal of context on and have high confidence in — whether these consist of supporting an established organization or helping a newer one get off the ground — it may make more sense to take advantage of your unusual position and "fund what others won't," since GiveWell's research is available to (and influences) large numbers of people.
User avatar
LadyGeek
Site Admin
Posts: 95696
Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2008 4:34 pm
Location: Philadelphia
Contact:

Re: Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Post by LadyGeek »

parigi723 wrote:I know that this is not the appropriate forum for my question but,I'd like to take a chance....... :)
Let's roll the dice again. :) This thread is now in the Personal Consumer Issues forum (charity).
Wiki To some, the glass is half full. To others, the glass is half empty. To an engineer, it's twice the size it needs to be.
bcjb
Posts: 453
Joined: Wed Aug 21, 2013 7:01 pm

Re: Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Post by bcjb »

Our local area is doing OK compared to many regions of the world, so apart from infrequent donations to a local food pantry, we give to organizations that provide aid abroad:
International Red Cross/Red Crescent
Mercy Corps
Doctors Without Borders (MSF)

Edited: I forgot the American Indian College Fund. As immigrants who are profiting from the availability of space & opportunities in the US, we feel the obligation to give back to those who were dispossessed/oppressed.
Last edited by bcjb on Fri Aug 08, 2014 5:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
cfs
Posts: 4154
Joined: Fri Feb 23, 2007 12:22 am
Location: ~ Mi Propio Camino ~

Re: Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Post by cfs »

Only local.

We donate (money, food, clothing, etc.) to local organizations, we know who we are dealing with.

Thanks for reading.
~ Member of the Active Retired Force since 2014 ~
User avatar
LowER
Posts: 691
Joined: Sat Sep 29, 2012 12:43 pm

Re: Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Post by LowER »

Don't forget the local hospice. Mine gets the huge majority of my charitable donations.
BenBritt
Posts: 274
Joined: Tue Apr 12, 2011 7:39 am

Re: Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Post by BenBritt »

My favorite charity: Saint Vincent dePaul Society.
Bungo
Posts: 1138
Joined: Wed Sep 28, 2011 11:28 am

Re: Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Post by Bungo »

I donate stuff to Goodwill, but I don't give any money to charities. I do donate to various other types of nonprofit organizations, my current favorite being the American Prairie Reserve, which is repopulating a section of Montana with bison.
dolphinsaremammals
Posts: 2094
Joined: Tue Jul 22, 2014 4:18 pm

Re: Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Post by dolphinsaremammals »

Operation Migration, which works to restore the endangered whooping crane (current Eastern population somewhat less than 100, more in the West) by training them via ultralight flights their first year to imprint them on a migration path.

The people work like dogs, out in the field 24x7 for months in rough conditions.

http://operationmigration.org/InTheField/

Image

United Palestinian Appeal http://www.helpupa.org

Or local animal shelters.
Last edited by dolphinsaremammals on Sun Aug 10, 2014 2:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
MP173
Posts: 2609
Joined: Fri Dec 07, 2007 5:03 pm

Re: Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Post by MP173 »

Our church.

Ed
sscritic
Posts: 21853
Joined: Thu Sep 06, 2007 8:36 am

Re: Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Post by sscritic »

dodecahedron wrote:the university where my late husband taught
I give to a university scholarship fund established in my late wife's name for students in the department in the sciences where she taught, with a preference given to minorities and females (but not an exclusionary one).
bluemarlin08
Posts: 1561
Joined: Wed Aug 29, 2007 12:18 pm

Re: Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Post by bluemarlin08 »

Mercy Angels Ministry is one we highly support as well as certain missionaries we know personally in Africa and Jamaica.
User avatar
JoMoney
Posts: 16260
Joined: Tue Jul 23, 2013 5:31 am

Re: Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Post by JoMoney »

A couple people already mentioned: Public Library
"To achieve satisfactory investment results is easier than most people realize; to achieve superior results is harder than it looks." - Benjamin Graham
User avatar
Crimsontide
Posts: 729
Joined: Fri Oct 25, 2013 5:32 pm
Location: DFW Metromess

Re: Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Post by Crimsontide »

Cal Farley's.
User avatar
Tycoon
Posts: 1630
Joined: Wed Mar 28, 2012 7:06 pm

Re: Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Post by Tycoon »

American Vets
Emotionless, prognostication free investing. Ignoring the noise and economists since 1979. Getting rich off of "smart people's" behavioral mistakes.
mlipps
Posts: 1099
Joined: Thu Jun 21, 2012 9:35 am

Re: Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Post by mlipps »

Maid of the Mist wrote:Robin Hood Foundation in NYC. They have an interesting approach. They donate to organizations that provide them with a business plan and goals (to fight poverty). If the goals and plans look good they are given $. However, if they want to continue to receive $, they must meet their goals.
They're a funder for my favorite organization, which I volunteered for for all 4 years of college; LIFT Communities (http://www.liftcommunities.org). Their model is to recruit highly trained, highly dedicated college student volunteers to work with homeless & low income individuals on goals like housing, employment, etc. They bring a human element to their work in a sector rife with overworked and under paid government case managers. Not only that, but the students lives are transformed as well by getting this one on one interaction with people from a completely different walk of life. I couldn't be prouder to be an alumna and I learned more from LIFT & my clients than I did from my college classes.
User avatar
ObliviousInvestor
Posts: 4212
Joined: Tue Mar 17, 2009 9:32 am
Contact:

Re: Your Favorite charity organization...? please

Post by ObliviousInvestor »

PATH has been the recent recipient of our charitable activities. We found it through the Gates Foundation. Our primary criteria were that it be secular, operate in a part of the world where our money would go further than it does here, and be primarily focused on improving people's health.

http://www.path.org/
Mike Piper | Roth is a name, not an acronym. If you type ROTH, you're just yelling about retirement accounts.
Post Reply