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I don't normally give to charities because I don't know where the money goes that I send. For all I know the top CEO might be living in a million dollar mansion that I am helping pay for if I give a monthly donation. But I recently saw on local television where some kids set a dog on fire by pouring gasoline on the poor animal and lighting it. And in another incident a few days earlier someone starved a dog and threw it in the street to die. That makes me want to donate to the Humane Society of America, which is what I plan on doing. It seems to be a legit charity. Anyone donate to them or any other charities?
It is not difficult to research charities. Yes, I do donate, though not to them. As far as animal charities I choose specific breed rescues or my local shelter(s) and University veterinary research tagged to specific programs.
If you want to give to a charity, walk down your street and give 50 bucks to the family who most needs it.
Giving to some large agency where you don't know where the money is going isn't going to do much good. Giving to folks in your local community will help out more.
Buy food and give to your local food banks, donate your TIME to a local organization that helps out the homeless, things like that have more impact than just your money.
Your right on that. In fact I do that occasionly--a few dollars once in a while. But the humane society isa different case.
I inherited a good sum about 5 yrs ago and did a TON of research regarding where I wanted to donate. I ended up giving to the Fisher House. They scored really well on the Charity Navigator website that a few people here have linked to. Nothing against the United Way, but if you compare the "administrative costs" between those two organizations, you will see that the Fisher House runs a comparatively tight ship.
i worked for the salvation army hospitality house, and i would give money to them, along with the rest of the salvation army. the red cross is also a good charity to give to. as for giving money to charities like the human society and peta, well peta gets NO money from me, but the human society would be a good candidate. also no kill animal shelters are good to give money to. i agree with using one of the many charity navigators on the net to make your decision.
Don't know about the S.A. But the Red Cross is a big money laundering front- not saying they do absolutely nothing but certainly most of any donation goes down the rabbit hole. This has been going on for years and years. I would never give them a penny. With the billions and billions they have received over the years, starvation and homelessness should be conquered long since.
Text your $10 indeed!
Do you see a problem with a particular charity having this kind of access to our heart strings and wallets?
As someone has said there are ways to vet charities. After vetting I gave to Partners in Health for Haiti- a well recommended charity that was already on the ground in Haiti providing medical services BEFORE the disaster.
Just google "red cross scandals" or "red cross money laundering" and read away!
By all means, do your research and find charities that you trust. The more local the charity, the easier it is for you to see the results of your donations. Don't be shy asking about the organization's services and finances; most development professionals will be happy to discuss them with you.
Just remember that the people who run nonprofit organizations are human, too; they make mistakes, they get overwhelmed, they let things fall through the cracks despite their best efforts.
Also remember that a nonprofit agency cannot continue to serve its clients and carry out its mission without money to pay the electric bill, service the copier, and buy pens. These expenses are called administrative or operating expenses, and while many people balk at seeing these costs on a line item budget, they are quite necessary.
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Originally Posted by Angorlee
For all I know the top CEO might be living in a million dollar mansion that I am helping pay for if I give a monthly donation.
Highly unlikely if you're talking about a local or regional organization. You've been reading too many scandal sheet articles about a handful large national organizations who may have temporarily lost sight of their missions.
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Originally Posted by skeet09
When you donate to the United Way, you can make your contribution to the particular organization/cause you want. The United Way monitors the monies given to their community partners (groups they oversee in the community).
Even when you designate a gift through the United Way to another organization, the United Way skims a high percentage off the gift (where I live it's 12 percent) to pay for "processing" and "fundraising." If you want all your money to go to the organization in question, give your gift directly to the organization itself and bypass the United Way.
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Originally Posted by littleelvis
If you want to donate to them just ask what they need. Ours always had a list of items they needed. I always felt more comfortable donating items rather than money. At least that way you know what your donation is being used for.
In-kind donations are great if the donations are items the charity can actually use. You're right that it is always better to ask first; please don't dump items on a charity that it doesn't need or want. As crazy as it sounds, an unwanted or unneeded in-kind gift can cost a nonprofit a lot of time and money.
For instance, at one nonprofit I worked for, a board member donated her car to the nonprofit, and because she was a board member, we felt we had to accept it. We tried first selling it to someone on the staff, but had no takers; then we had to advertise it -- which costs money -- and spend time with tire-kickers who came looking. It took more than two months to sell that car, even when we dropped the price. It also took time away from other fundraising duties.
Also remember that a nonprofit agency cannot continue to serve its clients and carry out its mission without money to pay the electric bill, service the copier, and buy pens. These expenses are called administrative or operating expenses, and while many people balk at seeing these costs on a line item budget, they are quite necessary.
Even when you designate a gift through the United Way to another organization, the United Way skims a high percentage off the gift (where I live it's 12 percent) to pay for "processing" and "fundraising." If you want all your money to go to the organization in question, give your gift directly to the organization itself and bypass the United Way.
Yes....thank you on explaining the admin. expenses!
With some of the United Way agencies in my city, they are so small that it's best to let United Way do some of the admin. aspects of the donations. I worked at one of those non profits (it was me and the ED).
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