What kind of charities do people like to give to? Do they prefer to do hands on work rather than give money? Local or national? Do you give it much thought?

I set up a Charitable Gift Fund a couple of years ago but most of the time I forget I even have it. Normally I try to give to something local that helps people directly (eg food banks or counseling for abused people rather than something like cancer research or the local art museum)

I'm still pretty lazy about what I do and normally just go to Charity Navigator and pick a couple local ones that sound the best and are highly rated.

Also helped build a house once but felt like I got in the way for quite a while.

I never give money to those Salvation Army bell ringers.

I don't feel like I'm at the point where I'm ready to give money to strangers. ****, I still owe almost $200,000 on my house!

What about the Panhandlers or the guys/women at the Costco's driveway or busy road intersections holding up signs begging for money?

I usually stiff them but I then feel bad.

I just assume they are coke heads and then I don't feel bad

Funding people on one of those funding sites.
Some non=profit websites I use get money too.
Its always give food you will never to a food bank too.

That was poorly written..

No

I've done more micro lending (kiva.org) lately and have liked the process. Also crowdfunding type of things where I know exactly what the money is going to.

cobra,

I'm a big fan of Kiva too.

Having a female panhandler jack you off for money isn't really "charitable giving."

St Jude's Research Hospital.

I'm broke so I don't give to charity. But I think that giving to charities that work to reduce poverty and push people into the middle class is likely a good way to make your charitable donations go the farthest. These are the people most likely to pay it forward and even possibly become the person to make a breakthrough in cancer research or become a leader in the fight against animal cruelty, etc. If they stay poor they have no opportunity to be charitable themselves. Hope my rambling makes sense.

Seems like you're doing it right to me.

I can promise you the starving little black kids in Africa who got to eat because of your donation don't care how much effort you put into your decision or how many good feels you had when you gave it. You did your due diligence, picked a responsible charity, and gave. Nice job!

i used to give 10% regularly to local food banks/homeless shelters. But I haven't donated in over a year or so, I'm not sure why I stopped

never underestimate how quickly someone can make things about them on the internet even in the impartial topic of charity and with the consideration that we assume the person asking and the asked are givers already.


love the internet.

People that give to charity are the worst.

I give and give and give for you people.

Because you're a ****

Don't give to charities per se, but when I'm in Africa I give money to as many people as I can and take old clothes to the local orphanage or hospital.

I also do this when I travel to Honduras every year.

If anyone else travels a lot, save up your small shampoo and soaps that you get from the hotels and donate them to a local shelter / food kitchen. These small items could be the difference in someone getting a job or not.

I give to the local chapter of Make A Wish. Part of me thinks that it may not be the best use of money in terms of the overall good of humanity. I mean they are not working on curing anything. But the happiness it can bring to those who are facing life threatening illness, we'll it makes me happy too.

Red Cross is where I donate to. Their values and activities strongly align with mine and they really do great stuff a lot better than nearly every other company or government could do. Being first on the great with disaster relief is one of the best ways of alleviating suffering and saving lives.

I love the idea of micro-loan charities like kiva designed to create sustainable investment, but havent used them myself. I enjoyed the kiva founder's Ted talk a lot.

i totally dig the kiva idea. haven't actually done it tho. been meaning to look into it. i do like the idea of doing something like that vs. giving small $ gifts to friends/family that seem kinda silly.

my wife had a whole list of charities she donated to every year--mostly native american stuff. after she passed away i didn't really keep up w it. although i do still give a bunch of stuff to goodwill/a local hospice thing. and the leukemia/lymphoma society.

Doctors Without Borders for me.

Paul Farmer's Partners in Health. Confident it's going to save lives.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/dr-farme...-world-health/