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'Tis the season for giving! So what is your cause? What do you donate time or money to? If you won a million dollars, and it could only go to charitable causes, what would you give it to?
My causes:
What about you ladies?
This year I am hoping to do a lot of food drives and probably Toys for Tots (5k next weekend).
If I had a million dollars though I would send it to an organization called First Descents, a sports group for young adults with cancer. Not many organizations focus on young adults (18-35 range) with cancer. They offer many scholarships for participants.
I've volunteered with a lot of organizations since I don't have a lot of money to give. The ones I've been most passionate about are St. Jude's, local animal shelters, Children's Miracle Network and the Girl Scouts.
If I won the lottery, I'd spread the wealth around though:
I donate time year round to a Free Medical Clinic. As a student, I don't have a ton of money to give. Instead, I am setting up a donation program at school to create an opportunity for students/faculty/staff to purchase needed OTC drugs to donate to this clinic during this holiday season.
I've always enjoyed receiving a child's name from an organization and purchasing a gift directly for that child. It's so sad when the gift that the child is requesting is something like winter boots or a warm coat 
. I'll make sure to get them that and at least a small toy or two. It's hard when the organization put spending limits in place (although I completely understand why they do, especially if there are sibilings).
If I had a million dollars... I would focus on increasing health and education opportunities, particularly for disadvantaged youth.
I always donate food to our local foodbank through a program our local provincial police (OPP) run each Christmas season called "Cram the Cruiser".
I also always try to donate through World Vision or another charity by giving specific gifts you can purchase like supplies for a fish farm or school books for a classroom, etc. I try to gear each one towards someone in my life (ie One of my BMs is a singer, so I gave musical instruments to a school).
We also do toy donations through our local fire department.
I wish that I did have million dollars that I could just give away!
I work for Habitat for Humanity and would give anything to help them serve more families. I support our local food pantry soup kitchens and clothing lockers. I would also love to support adoption programs. And I would love to be able to see City Year come to a city near me.
I love this thread. I’m excited to see where everyone else gives or would give.
Animal shelters and rescues. I donate every year to the rescue I adopted one of my cats from, and get a matching donation from my employer's charity program.
I only do things for two organizations no matter what time of year it is - Shriners Hospital and the Soldier Fund at the hospital that took care of my brother. I used to help a lot of organizations, then I did a little research and found out how much was going to "administrative" costs, I was appalled. Now I limit myself to only helping groups that are not out to only help their own pockets.
I donate to HSUS, Best Friends Ranch, Sierra Club and Defenders of Wildlife along with every Veterans charity I find. :)
For the past 4 christmases i've made donations to the AIDS society in people's names as christmas presents...this year, through school, i visited a chapel/shelter in a very bad part of town that does all manner of outreach...non-preachy, grassroots, and really a hugely important part of the community. I've decided to "switch" my cause, because with the chapel i feel like my money is having an immediate impact, whereas with the AIDS society there is so much advertising, fundraising and direct mail that I'm not sure what % of the money donated actually makes its way to AIDS sufferers to offset the cost of ARVs or to research facilities. I worked at a charity for 3 years and at that particular one, the wastage of money and resources was SHOCKING.
For anyone from Sydney, check out www.thewaysidechapel.com
Mine are basically health-related: Partners in Health, Direct Relief, and Grounds for Health. I also do the NY Times Neediest. And I'm a huge fan of getting the match from my employer!
I made Thanksgiving dinner for our local center for homeless veterans, I enjoyed it so much I'm planning to make it a new tradition.
My dept at work adopts a family every year through our local family violence shelter for Christmas giving.
I also donate time and money on a regular basis to the ASPCA, my local animal shelter and the Center for Grieving Children.
As a survivor, I'm a huge advocate for domestic violence awareness. I've spent time working with its survivors and their children, helping to empower them with the tools they need to get themselves out of that situation and getting back on their own two feet. I've helped organize a food/clothing/toy drive for the local agency I've volunteered with at my everyday job, and have been looking for ways to raise money to go to the confidential shelter the organization has. Since the agency relies on money from the state for the resources it offers to its clients, it was shocking to see them face massive budget cuts where they would only be receiving about 8k for the entire year...that amount alone isn't enough cover the cost to operate the shelter let alone the agency that supports it.
If I had the money, shelters, resources, and advocating awareness is where it would all be going. :)
We're doing Angel Tree, does that count?
I wish we had more to give, but money isn't exactly flowing too freely this Christmas. :/
That totally counts! I'm a firm believer that "charity" is not necessarily monetary. I believe in giving your time, your support, whatever you can. It's all about helping others!
I don't ever donate money to charities because I look at their 990's and am generally disgusted by how much salary they give themselves and how many people per non-profit get those high salaries. I understand some of you may have more knowledge about specific charities and feel comfortable giving $, but I have never found one I agreed with financially.
I do donate time to ASPCA and various charities through work. I also give old clothes to homeless shelters.
If I could give money for things it would be
I volunteer during Christmastime wrapping presents for the local Literacy Council and we are also going to be donating clothes to the needy and I donated food to the food bank for families without Thanksgiving meals
the RotaryTree of Joy
Canine Cancer research (they do pictures with Santa for pets)
No Child Alone - church project for kids in need
1. Disabled Veterans of America
2. The Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi
3.Best Friends Animal Sanctuary
4.Alley Cats Allies
Plus I run an sanctuary for feral cats. I spend over $400 a month just on cat food! I used to donate to HSUS until I found out only about 2% of their funds are actually used to rescue or care for animals!
The causes that I dontate to now are:
If I had a million dollars I would add
This doesn't exactly count, as I'll eventually be paid for it, but I'm working through clinical psych research programs to identify and alleviate chronic/intense pain, which is the #1 reason people enter hospitals for care. I hope to eventually be able to use those skills in a charitable fashion, maybe a free clinic or something.
As for if I had a million dollars - I'd pour it straight into neuropsychological research for brain injury survivors. It's such an underrepresented field and one very close to my heart. People with brain injuries are barely treated and then tossed out with a variety of symptoms, with little to no options for help, just because we don't have the resources yet - so a million dollars would be a good start!
im feeling really bad because ive dropped about $20K in the past 4mths on vacations and i havent even thought of donating for christmas but im making a promise that i will spend some time this week thinking about who/what and i will dontate - thanks for the reminder, i didnt even think past my own world to do something like this
I'm a student with very little income but at Christmas time I do:
@Dragonsus: Would you happen to have any contact information for the Cancer Research for Canines? I would love to get my pups picture taken to support that!
I am a team captain of a relay for life team, it is close to my heart :)
@mannellal: the national Canine Cancer Foundation's website is www.wearethecure.org
The Santa pics here are through a local organization (they paired with a photographer and a professional Santa who are both donating their time). I looked but didn't see anything immediately in the Philly area.
This year I might actually have enough money to donate. Can we say thank you early Christmas cash?
I'm all about animals, so HSUS, SPCA, my local shelter and the shelter in my hometown is what I hope to be donating to. The local shelters usually don't need cash, they want blankets and dog food, which I can easily provide. The shelter in my hometown actually works with WalMart, and WalMart donates any bag that can't be sold (bags with holes, slightly opened).
I'd actually like to work on making the shelter here and in my hometown a no kill shelter : )
I got shoes for a girl from my work's Adopt-A-Family and I'm buying a whole outfit for a boy through Angel Tree.
My mom adopted a Zebra from the St. Louis Zoo for my boyfriend. The zoo get no money from the city and is run ( I believe) entirely off of donation and programs like this, so I support all Zoos.
Every year my family donates some money to my aunt's group home. My aunt is mentally handicapped and has been in a group home for as long as I can remember. The home then uses that money to take the occupants on field trips.
Living off a non-profit salary, I can't give too much but this is what I've done this year in terms of money.
-Adopted 2 seniors who don't have families and bought them gift bags filled with presents for Christmas. It's anonymous, they don't know who it comes from and I don't know them.
-Will be sponsoring a guide dog puppy and putting him/her through training for 2 years (one of FI's and my gift to each other for Christmas)
-Donate to the United Way which funds some of our programs at the NGO I work for.
-Veteran's poppy fund
-Drop off food to the food bank whenever I get the chance
In terms of time I have a little brother with Big Bro's/Sis, local homeless shelters, events at my work, Canadian Breast Cancer Society, and whatever else pops up!!
So if I had a million dollars to donate, I would donate to all those places I currently help in some way, plus more like animal shelters, the Ronald McDonald house, women's shelters etc. The possibilities are endless!!!
I donate food/money to local pet charities, the USO, and Homes for Our Troops, Toys for Tots, and anything my friends hit me up for. If i had more to donate, it'd be more of the same and I'd be able to adopt a bunch of kids for Christmas instead of just one or two. I also try to donate old coats I don't wear, stuff that doesn't fit, or things we don't use at least once a year. We donated a LOT more when DH had a better paying job! I feel really bad about not being able to give back much this year. Stupid economy =(
Co-worker just hit me up for an Angel tree for seniors. The tags she chose had requests like blankets, space heaters, and grocery gift cards. I wanted to cry! So of course I'm going to the mall to adopt a couple of senior citizens now. Shh, don't tell DH!
We do different things year round
Every xmas we adopt a family and get a lot of stuff for them. This years family is 2 adults and 2 kids. From their list we got warm coats, new towels, bed linens, childrens clothes, underwear socks, leapfrog, and a bike (still trying to find this at a reasonable price)
I also donate every month to a Partner a Human rights campaign that push for equal rights for homosexuals, to repeal the dont ask, dont tell etc.
On a regular basis through the year I make donations to St. Judes, the local food bank etc.
I volunteer and teach a class to low-income people on health, nutrition and health cooking on a budget.
I continually reinvest my money for Kiva.org
Every few years I incorporate donations into my xmas gifts (for the right people who would appreciate it and have done doctors with out borders, heifer, kiva, local food orgs, pet shelters etc)
Those are the more significant things we do.
We donate to HRC, the local zoo and we still need to donate to our local public radio KUOW.
If I had a million dollars I would donate to so much more, education being a huge one.
Off topic:
@bluespurrs: Alley Cat Allies and Best Friends Animal Sanctuary are so great! I've worked with them in the past when I worked on the Hoarders show. I ended up really disliking the way we were going about finding hoarders and the way the show did things so I quit, but what I took away from it was that there are some really amazing people in animal rescue!
Neuroendocrine Cancer awareness! This cause is really important to me as my dad is undergoing treatment for it right now.
Neuroendocrine tumors are unusual, slow growing cancers which develop from cells from the endocrine system. Tumors can develop many places in the body and are often not found until they have metastasized. 90% of patients are misdiagnosed and patients go on average of 5-7 years before receiving proper diagnosis. Symptoms can be mild, non-specific, and often mistaken for other common conditions such as IBS, Crohns, asthma, and pneumonia.
Most people, including many doctors and health professionals, are unfamiliar with the condition so awareness is key!
My heart lies in hunger- and poverty-related charities, especially when it comes to hungry children. Fifteen million children die of poverty related causes every year. That absolutely kills me. :( I've been able to help a lot of charities through church and youth group; World Vision programs, UMCOR, Samaritan's Purse, Bead for Life, donating to local food banks, etc. I don't have much money, but even if I did, I don't think I'd be happy with myself unless I physically went out and did something about the issues, rather than just giving money. I'll always own more of everything than the vast majority of humanity; the least I can do is go out and fill a few empty bellies.
@moderndaisy: Have you heard of Charity Navigator? It's a great site for finding out how organizations allocate their funds.
@lefeymw: One of the best Christmas "presents" I ever received was a donation made in my name to the local library! I loved it, and now I'm volunteering at the library the donation was given to!
I've been giving to a local food bank and Amnesty International. I know they spend a lot on overhead, but they do a lot of lobbying, and in general, lobbying involves spending money schmoozing with senators and reps.
I like to support the Children's Miracle Network and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. I'd love to be able to work in a research capacity at one of either of their hospitals some day as well!
I guess we're not too dedicated to one charity but our main causes our health and environmental causes.
We foster puppies and occassionally donate money to a shelter, Partners in Health, Jane Goodall Foundation, Conservation fund, local free clinics, sponsor child, some to church groups.
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