Give us your fookin' money. [Which charities to support?]

[hyperdeath]

I have put up a sticky thread encouraging people to make Kiva loans. What other charities should the forum promote?

EDIT: I should add that there has already been some discussion about this, particularly in this thread.

[Sparrowhawk]

I like Medecins san Frontieres. I haven't done a ton of research about them, but I also haven't heard anything bad about them. Thoughts?

[Flewellyn]

I HAVE done a bunch of research on them, and they are on my list of yearly donations. Also, I have a friend who did work with them as a translator. Excellent, excellent group.

[Catherine]

May be worth thinking about smaller charities too as it is easier for the big ones to get money anyway. We should particularly look at secular charities.

Shelter is a UK based secular charity against homelessness: http://www.shelter.org.uk/

[hyperdeath]

May be worth thinking about smaller charities too as it is easier for the big ones to get money anyway.

That's what I like about Kiva loans, in that it's essentially lots of good causes. I see your point though, and it may be a good idea to find an unusual charity which fills an overlooked gap.

[karamea]

A relative of mine (a nurse) works for Medecins san Frontieres, and from everything I know they are definitely recommended; they also get brownie points for not using chuggers. (The ~without borders part of the English name has been borrowed by several other unrelated organizations, most annoyingly Homeopaths Without Borders).

You can join teams on Kiva; the Atheists, Agnostics(etc) team is currently beating out Kiva Christians by a reasonably wide margin. They also have a list of the local partners through which Kiva passes the money for the loans; some of them are religious and some secular but it's not made that clear on the Kiva website itself.

[Stepho]

I support RAINN.org which is the national sexual assault hotline. It's a toll free number anyone can call if they need help and it puts you in touch with a rape crisis center in your area. They also have a online hotline for people who prefer to contact them via the internet.

[maiforpeace]

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=13&p=195&hilit=sunday+friends#p195

This is local to me of course, but what I think is so great about it is that it's NOT A CHARITY - it's a 'working' alternative to it. It's really a unique concept, and so many aspects of it meet our values. I highly recommend taking a close look at this, because it's also a growing non-profit - they just added two new locations.

And, more perfectly, to us as atheists, it's the superior alternative to what we should be doing on Sunday instead of going to church and praying.

[Cipher]

I don't have any money at all to donate, but just wanted to throw in there that Planned Parenthood is a good choice.

[Koinosuke]

I support Plan Canada and War Child. Both are good secular charities with excellent records.

[hyperdeath]

Are there any international equivalents of Planned Parenthood or RAINN?

[Mocha]

My SO and I recently moved, and in packing stuff up, we both realized how much stuff we have that we don't want/need that's still in great condition.

I've been trying to find places to donate clothing and other house stuff, and I've come up with Dress for Success, Clothing Donations, and Habitat for Humanity (although I don't like that Habitat resells stuff. I'd rather that they just give it to people).

Does anyone have any information on these or any ideas on other places to look? They seem (from a five min scan) like they aren't discriminatory, but I'd like more info before taking boxes for donation.

[maiforpeace]

My SO and I recently moved, and in packing stuff up, we both realized how much stuff we have that we don't want/need that's still in great condition.

I've been trying to find places to donate clothing and other house stuff, and I've come up with Dress for Success, Clothing Donations, and Habitat for Humanity (although I don't like that Habitat resells stuff. I'd rather that they just give it to people).

Does anyone have any information on these or any ideas on other places to look? They seem (from a five min scan) like they aren't discriminatory, but I'd like more info before taking boxes for donation.

Regarding the clothing sales by Habitat for Humanity - "The proceeds fund local Habitat house construction" - which is a good thing - they are still giving the clothing away, essentially in another form, that's all.

When it comes to need, seems to me a home is even more desperately needed than used clothing, which is plentiful.

[Onamission5]

I was just made aware of this by a friend from another board. It sounds like an awesome endeavor and she's putting out an open call for donations:

Ada Initiative

From the Who We Are page:

"The Ada Initiative is a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing the participation and status of women in open technology and culture, which includes open source software, Wikipedia and other open data, and open social media. We include trans women and genderqueer women in our mission."

Read more here
Donate here

[hyperdeath]

I think that Fluevogs for Success is the perfect campaign. It's quirky, it's social justice oriented, it's multinational, and it has risen spontaneously from the same sea of frothing malice that spawned atheism plus.

[Kassiane]

http://wearelumos.org/

Working on integrating children (particularly disabled, poor, and ethnic minority) children into their communities & families & shutting down institutions. European. It's JK Rowling's new thing.

[noexitlovenow]

With regards to whether there is an International Planned Parenthood, I have always linked Pathfinder International.

Here is the information from Charity Navigator:
Since 1957, Pathfinder International has maintained an unwavering belief in the right of women and families to have access to contraception and to quality reproductive health care. Pathfinder works in remote locations, under the most difficult conditions, serving the most vulnerable people. We collaborate with governments, NGOs, and community- and faith-based organizations to make contraception available and provide the quality care needed to ensure safe childbirth and healthy families. Working in countries with high prevalence of HIV/AIDS, we provide a continuum of HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment services and are expanding the integration of these services into reproductive health and family planning programs.

It currently has a score of 60.91 and receives 4 stars from Charity Navigator.

I did bold one bit. It doesn't concern me that it some times collaborates with faith-based organizations, but I thought I would make sure that wasn't hidden verbiage.