I made my first donation to Wikipedia this year. Now that you got me thinking about it, I should donate to Internet Archive (archive.org), too. I just went to archive.org right now and they apparently have a fundraiser going. Somehow, donations are being matched 2-to-1 so a $5 donation results in them receiving $15. It doesn't say who's providing the other $10, but it seems like a good time to help the Internet Archive.
Full disclosure, I'm a dues-paying member and active volunteer.
They basically provide Search and Rescue (SAR) "lite" and vehicle recovery on Colorado Forest Service roads and Jeep trails free of charge. They try very hard to not compete with either traditional SAR teams or commercial towing services and instead fill a gap between the two.
Having personally been on 60+ missions over the past two years, they're doing incredibly good work helping people out on their worst day, reducing the burden on traditional SAR teams, and in more than a few cases saving lives. At least 50% of the missions I've been on have been people that simply got in over their head and didn't know what to do. Being able to get them and their vehicle home is a fantastic feeling.
edit: A lot of SAR teams are self-funded or funded via grant money that can disappear, so if you can donate to a local team please do. They desperately need the funding to continue doing the work of saving lives
If you wish to donate but have doubts about the effectiveness or transparency of many "charitable" organizations I recommend the following website to help guide your ultimate choice: https://www.givewell.org/
That measures only direct results, though. An organization that teaches others to read and write may have a much bigger impact, if they teaches one person who then goes on to do something massive.
I donated because ALS is a horrible disease that has so few treatment options despite the fact that a lot of research has been done. Having your muscles waste away to nothingness is a fate that nobody should be doomed to.
They have an Underground Railroad of safe houses to smuggle people out of NK. Then they resettle and provide support. Finally they film documentaries of their life in SK, put them on USB sticks, and smuggle that back into NK to spread discontent and undermine the system.
Wow that’s awesome. It says “100% of your donation will help a North Korean refugee reach freedom.” To me there’s some wiggle room for “our 200k salary is a necessary part of freedom.” Not trying to be bleak or accusations, but any idea how much of this is skimmed off the top? At any rate, $3,000 to get a person out of the country and going in South Korea doesn’t seem like a bad cost, just curious how it all funnels through.
Typically non profits will advertise this type of thing, essentially a program ratio of 100%. This is positively correlated with total donations.
Usually the way to work around this is to have a large benefactor that agrees to use their funds for overhead/admin/advertising, and then they can say 100% of your donations goes to programs.
A sort of necessary pain for non profits because a "bad" program ratio costs them donations.
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[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 86.1 ms ] thread- [0] http://www.bigbrothermouse.com
- Wikimedia Foundation (https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summar...)
- Houston Food Bank (https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summar...)
- American Civil Liberties Union Foundation (https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summar...)
- Ovarian Cancer Research Fund Alliance (https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summar...)
- A small dog rescue in Houston
- A small charity for women who are victims of sex trafficking in Austin
I also supported a number of projects (like Homebrew) via Patreon and Humble Bundle though those were not charitable contributions.
Respectively https://cheetah.org https://oxfam.org https://iapf.org https://hrc.org https://thirteen.org https://www.buffalo.edu
- NOYB https://noyb.eu
- Unicef
The Jimmy Fund (http://www.jimmyfund.org)
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (https://www.stjude.org)
Feeding America (https://www.feedingamerica.org)
I gave to some political causes as well, but the value of those are far more subjective.
Full disclosure, I'm a dues-paying member and active volunteer.
They basically provide Search and Rescue (SAR) "lite" and vehicle recovery on Colorado Forest Service roads and Jeep trails free of charge. They try very hard to not compete with either traditional SAR teams or commercial towing services and instead fill a gap between the two.
Having personally been on 60+ missions over the past two years, they're doing incredibly good work helping people out on their worst day, reducing the burden on traditional SAR teams, and in more than a few cases saving lives. At least 50% of the missions I've been on have been people that simply got in over their head and didn't know what to do. Being able to get them and their vehicle home is a fantastic feeling.
edit: A lot of SAR teams are self-funded or funded via grant money that can disappear, so if you can donate to a local team please do. They desperately need the funding to continue doing the work of saving lives
I donated because ALS is a horrible disease that has so few treatment options despite the fact that a lot of research has been done. Having your muscles waste away to nothingness is a fate that nobody should be doomed to.
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
Salvation Army
A local pet food bank
They have an Underground Railroad of safe houses to smuggle people out of NK. Then they resettle and provide support. Finally they film documentaries of their life in SK, put them on USB sticks, and smuggle that back into NK to spread discontent and undermine the system.
Usually the way to work around this is to have a large benefactor that agrees to use their funds for overhead/admin/advertising, and then they can say 100% of your donations goes to programs.
A sort of necessary pain for non profits because a "bad" program ratio costs them donations.