Ask HN: Could you recommend a charity?
I'm looking to donate a small sum of money. I'm looking for a charity that meets the following criteria:
1. Actually helps people in need.
2. Uses the money you donate towards helping people, not salaries and marketing.
3. Allows donating using PayPal/Google Checkout/Other digital payment option (I just don't trust IT volunteers with keeping my CC safe).
4. And finally, has to be non-naggy (i.e., the fact that I gave once does not mean you can spam my inbox with repeat requests).
Would appreciate your suggestions (and opinions of my criteria).
28 comments
[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 58.6 ms ] threadhttps://www.effectivealtruism.org/
Focus on donating to high impact charities that use the money effectively
Meets all of your criteria, and 100% of your donation goes directly to providing care for those in need. They are also radically transparent; a google doc link is on their site showing where every dollar is spent.
_ 100% _ is given to the people in need
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlT3UhC7NwQ
I would recommend having a separate "spam" email address for donations and other such sign-ups.
I think on (4) you can only win by using one-off email addresses.
How exactly do you intend to spend money helping people if not paying salaries? Any time you spend money you're paying for either a product or service, and either way that money goes for paying people's salaries. (Unless you just want to give money to people directly as basic income or whatever.)
"In 2013, GuideStar, BBB Wise Giving Alliance, and Charity Navigator wrote an open letter to the donors of America in a campaign to end the Overhead Myth—the false conception that financial ratios are the sole indicator of nonprofit performance. For our second letter, released in October 2014, we invite the nonprofits of America to do their part to focus donors’ attention on what really matters: your organization’s efforts to make the world a better place. We ask nonprofits and the social sector at large to join us as we move toward an Overhead Solution."
[1] http://www.givewell.org/how-we-work [2] http://www.givewell.org/charities/top-charities
A carer is someone who provides care for someone, but who is not paid to do so. The person getting care is normally disabled, and often a relative. A young carer is someone under the age of 18.
These children face significant amounts of ignorance, not just from student colleagues but also from some teachers.
And they face tricky problems. When a child reaches 17 - 18, and is thinking about going to university they feel guilt about leaving their cared for person, and also about putting younger siblings into the caring role.
I recommend the Gloucestershire branch because they're closest to me, but there are others around the UK.
Here's their website: http://www.glosyoungcarers.org.uk/
Here's their twitter feed: https://twitter.com/Glosyoungcarers
I'm not sure they meet your criteria for option 3, but I'm sure they can work something out.
(I have no connection to this charity. I don't work for them, and I don't get any service from them.)
Disclaimer: I run a Makerspace, but I don't make any money from it at all.
http://www.givewell.org/charities/against-malaria-foundation
Endorsed by Sir David Attenborough.
Here is a list of what they do: http://www.feedbackmadagascar.org/eng/whatwedo/
In a nutshell, they are helping the environment through education to replant the local forests. These trees are a key part of the silk production, which they harvest and sell.
The are also improving education and healthcare in one of the poorest countries in the world.
PS They have a trusted party to handle the credit cards.
http://blogs.barrons.com/penta/2014/08/29/how-to-wisely-give...
All the money goes towards care. Right now the founder (an infectious disease doctor who is uncompensated by the charity and frequently pays for charity expenses out of pocket) is in Haiti to help with the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew and help prevent another cholera epidemic from recurring.
https://tikayhaiti.org/hurricane-matthew/
I volunteer for them as well (for some technical things, like the website.)
On that basis I picked three charities, and when it is the right time of the year I give money to them, and only them.
One of the charities I chose is the RNLI, the only charity that saves lives at sea - http://rnli.org/
I picked them because they quite literally save lives, at their own risk. And while sometimes that might be because people go to sea with no knowledge, much like people go climbing mountains in their shorts and get caught out by snow, I think that they do a job that SHOULD be done.
Anyway you might prefer to pick something local, something that helps/impacts you, or you might be open to anything, I can't guess, but the lifeboat association is one choice I thought was good 20 years ago, and I still think that.
In my experience, tiny one-project charities often do some of the best work, because they are often closer to the community and the day-to-day life of the people they serve than the big, global charities. Having said that, only the big charities have the necessary resources to tackle the big problems... I guess that's a tension we just have to live with.
BTW, I'm glad to hear you thinking about donating, we need a lot more people who do!
Money will be spent only on patients if you donate in zakat catagory
http://www.mercyships.org.au/on-the-hospital-ship.html
Imagine every wealthy country supported one of these traveling around the world.
Here's a breakdown of their financial expenditures http://www.msf.org/sites/msf.org/files/msf_finance_summary_2...
Active right now in India, giving trauma treatment to freed child slaves.
They are collaborating with Kailash Satyarthi (Nobel Peace price winner 2014).