Christmas Charities: Goats, Local Charity, Name a Good Cause

[FastTadpole]

Me and my family are nixing the materialism from Christmas this year. I was looking to find some decent charities that do good in the world. Seems the kids (my brother and parents) are leaning towards getting a goat since it's more fashionable and exotic than giving it to local causes. There is a drive by the local rotary club to get a family a goat but I'd like some more preferential alternatives since I'm not sold on World Vision yet.



Anyone know anything about World Vision? How about vetting these while we are at it:

Doctors Without Borders
UNICEF
World Vision
Rotary Club

These list many more but I'd (we) would have to look into them:
http://www.amindfulchristmas.com/2008CharityList.pdf

Also stumbled on this one, actually it is ranked #2 on Google for world charities list with autosuggest (BTW - climategate is back on autosuggest!). This world charity list POPULATION PLANNING as a charity and rate them on a A - F scoring system International Planned Parenthood gets an A in their books.
http://www.charitywatch.org/toprated.html

The closer the home the better IMO but is there any worthy world charities that will be assured of getting the funds without the money being scalped by a middle-man? I'd really like to do something for the innocent Palestinian children in the West Bank or the ones in Pakistan - they're going to need it more than ever soon.

Ultimately I'd like a a listing of charities that does good, doesn't support eugenics, spends a low amount of the donations on administration and advertising. For example, The Breast Cancer Foundation somehow turned a serious disease into a feminist movement, while spending 90% of their contributions on advertising, awareness walks and administration, I don't want to do that with my dollars - which are few and far between.

Let's start the list allow me to lead off:

ConCen.org
Allows a venue of free speech and encourages sharing of ideas.

continue..

[humbug]

Personally I very much dislike all charities who pester you for money. Instead of creating something useful they lurk around big stations and pull a guilt trip program on you. Why give them money for things that their masters purposely have created, sorry none of my business.

Imho if you want to help, keep it small, look after your family, community and neighbourhood, make it a better place and not only on winter solstice. Hate it when people turn "holy" at christmas as if it were some big deal.

Assuming you have a job and a steady income,

Why not take up a new hobby? Since practice makes perfect...learn some arts, crafts, sewing, knitting, woodwork, cutting hair, whatever allows you to create something of value to warm the hearts of those around you. You can share your knowledge and show people how to make things, the more people the more fun. In winter there are many people freezing on the streets, make some warm socks, jumpers or cook some nice meals, take care of lonely senior citizens who have been abandoned by their families and have a hard time doing their own shopping, educate young people about whats going on and most importantly ENCOURAGE people. Hands on approach is best. Keep it small, keep it personal and don't restrict yourself to one time in the year.

I'd even go as far to promote breaking into the locked down places where big supermarkets throw out all the food that they don't sell(to get insurance) and handing it the poor.
lol breaking one of the ten commandments for christmas is pretty cool, but I would NEVER do that

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btw. happy 33rd birthday FastTadpole, I'm somewhat of a slow froggy

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Remembered one. In my teens I volunteered to work at a mental hospital during my summer holidays for 3 years in a row. Ever been to a mental hospital where they keep the senior citizens, the geriatric department? One of the most cruel places in our society, where they keep the abandoned, with cynical nurses and macabre doctors with bad medicine. Used to take the folks out for walks, pick flowers for old ladies, keep them company, listen to their stories and make them feel loved. One lady I have very fond memories of, everyday she told me about the nice young man who had visited her on the previous day This was more than rewarding.

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the skips behind sainsbury's in manchester were like the ritz until they clamped down on it.

[mastermg]

What I dislike about charities is that they use some of your money on travel expenses, the workers' salaries, etc. The best solution is to donate for local causes and the poor.

[yeti]

World Vision is a known CIA front. Stay the hell away from them unless you appreciate mass murder (Jim Jones & the People's Temple), and the assassination of John Lennon...

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and sterilising people of colur...

[FastTadpole]

Thanks for all the great responses - I have narrowed it down to Canada's 83,000 charities - I'm keeping it local and I'm continuing my sporadic volunteering as well as the raising my kids thing - that tends to keep me busy and contributing to the community too. I should get them more directly involved in helping others but at the same time keeping it voluntary with at least the guise of personal choice

Canadian Charity Directory (including the local ones)
http://www.canadahelps.org/

Anybody have any more information on Doctors without Borders? It looks to be a good charity at first glance but I'm not sure of their stance on vaccination. I know they have been/are active in combating the TB epidemic though but not sure if it is via immunization, vaccine or some other method. They are also supporting a campaign in to give the people a voice for the war in Eastern Congo.

Condition: Critical
http://www.condition-critical.org/

[humbug]

Ever thought of starting your own? You seem to be the man

[SiLVa]

I once did work for a charity food drive for the poor/homeless. Then I saw some of the people that were "volunteering" taking stuff for themselves. That was the last time I was involved in any charities personally.
My parents give money to World Vision and sponsor a child in Nicaragua, against my better judgement and arguements, but Im there kid, so they dont listen to me. What can I do? Its their money.

[FastTadpole]

(12-15-2009 11:09 PM)SiLVa Wrote:  I once did work for a charity food drive for the poor/homeless. Then I saw some of the people that were "volunteering" taking stuff for themselves. That was the last time I was involved in any charities personally.

Yeah I was working a clothing drive and the stuff was all being picked over and stolen by the volunteers quite overtly - I was disgusted by this and dropped hints. It's not an isolated group of people I have heard a lot of this.

Quote:Ever thought of starting your own? You seem to be the man

No you da man .. but nope never gave it much thought - My skills are better served behind a computer getting word out on causes that I believe in via torrent distribution, journalism, conversation, debate, contributing research to movies, round table meetings and trying to raise the collective consciousness of society like most of you guys.

But charity may be a leaf worth turning over for us to accomplish the ultimate goal of a truly free, and more fair/compassionate society. Problem is the inherent limits of time and money but a registered charity, through tax exemptions and the very status of being a charity. It could help that and is well worth looking into further for all of us, whether it be an existing or a new organization. I worry that in being a charity there may be limitations on speech though being that charitable status can be as easily given as taken away and that very status is a dependence on the government tit and can be hypocritical to the core value of independence most of us hold. That being said we need to make use of every tool available to us and charity is a tool to circumvent the enslavement of taxes -- paradoxical.

Maybe later when the internet dies and my kids are prepared to be cut adrift in this world I'll channel my efforts moreso to a direct hands on approach rather than the shotgun method of adopting many causes and using my specific skill set. But only once I latch onto something really worth doing learn some basic leadership skills and buck some public speaking demons. If anyone has any good material/advice on these subjects fire away.

A long term goal (5 - 10 years) of mine is starting up a school network. I had started up a thread to encourage discussion here as to how to get it off the ground - so I could learn from others failures and successes. Of course I'm working with outside people as well to create an army of educators for the project.

Want Real Grassroots Changes: Start a School
http://concen.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=908

I'd value anyone's input on this - so far JazzRoc is the only one to critque the plan (which is in its infancy) to date.

[mastermg]

JR sees the world in black and white. Ill try to suggest something for the school in that thread.