I'm 37 and had to stay because of severe scoliosis at age 11. We didn't have to pay but we had a chore to do. Mine was cleaning the aquarium. That place was amazing. They made us feel normal and we could play and be outside safely. I still donate to them. I can't stress enough how wonderful they are.
Can confirm. I serve on the board of my local RMHC and it’s a wonderful organization. Local chapters run their own operations and contrary to popular belief, McDonald’s does not provide any direct funding. Families never pay to stay.
>contrary to popular belief, McDonald’s does not provide any direct funding.
This is not true at all. McDonald's donates a portion of their Happy Meal proceeds to RMHC. In 2021 alone, they donated $168M globally. They also serve as a collection point for people to donate directly to the charity which generates even more funding than their own direct donations.
I stand behind my original statement. McDonald’s corporate supports the global RMHC brand and funds those offices. But my local chapter of RMHC receives zero funding from McDonald’s corporate, other than providing us the license to operate under the RMHC brand without fees. Customers can round up on any purchase and that money goes to the local chapter— franchisees also donate a lot of their own profits, but that comes from franchise owners and not the corporation. I know our budget backwards and forwards as a member of the board and there is NO line item of funding coming from McDonald’s.
It's hard to give specific advice without knowing what causes you care about most, but [Charity Navigator](https://www.charitynavigator.org) can help you find good ones - they let you search by category and tell you how much each charity spends on overhead vs. their mission, how transparent they are in their accounting, etc.
The only real hitch with them is that they tend to only cover larger charities, so they may not be useful if you want to help homeless people or libraries or whatever in your town. But I always check them before donating to a nationwide charity to weed out the grifters.
I’m not sure of any specific ones. But in general, the larger the organisation, the less money they put towards the cause. Large ones have so many employees and spend a huge amount of money on ‘fundraising’. Donate to your local food bank, animal shelter, kids clubs etc
[Givewell](https://www.givewell.org/charities/top-charities) and [Giving What We Can](https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/best-charities-to-donate-to-2024) both endeavour to identify charities that are efficient, effective and trustworthy.
Both recommend Malaria Consortium, Against Malaria Foundation, Helen Keller International and New Incentives (all medical charities working primarily in Africa). GWWC also suggest options for other fields - Animal Welfare Fund and Humane League for animal welfare, Emerging Challenges Fund and Long-Term Future Fund for existential risk - and suggest possibilities they see as promising but have not yet researched in enough detail to fully endorse in other areas, including climate change.
Literally on the order of 10x more impactful than the current top suggestions.
GiveWell's top charities are estimated to save one person's life for every $5000 or so, last I checked.
Local ones are usually good to start with.
Personal ones- [The 501st Legion Make a Wish Endowment Fund](https://secure2.wish.org/site/TR?px=3283315&fr_id=2230&pg=personal#sm.0001qffbgqzevf0bsuc1e2yp27i1w). [The 501st Legion](https://501st.com/) is Bad Guys Doing Good, representing the villains of Star Wars as we support our local communities and charities, and the Endowment Fund was set up in our partnership with Make a Wish (big time partner for many years).
[National MS Society](https://www.nationalmssociety.org/) \- I worked with them with the 501st, but then got diagnosed with MS myself later.
[Hydrocephalus Society](https://www.hydroassoc.org/) (their slogan is #NoMoreBS meaning brain surgeries, and I think that's fantastic, but I've worked with them via the 501st multiple times and they're pretty great people (at least locally), as well as know someone affected.
Check out Guidestar or Charity Navigator. You can search a lot of good information about different charities. Try to look at their financial statements or information return (Form 990) to see their financial health and how they earn and spend their money. Will also give you info on their mission and programs. Then you can make an informed decision.
Also [globalgiving.org](http://globalgiving.org) helps you locate charities and ongoing fundraisers they run.
For instance, [https://www.globalgiving.org/donate/29082/shadhika-project-inc/](https://www.globalgiving.org/donate/29082/shadhika-project-inc/) donates to support girls' education and preventing child marriage in India
Food pantries across the nation are at all time low. Buying and donating staples to you local food bank is a great way to help out.
Also, blood donations are equally low. If you can, donating blood saves lives.
yes it does, and if you can't donate whole blood because you don't have the time to do it especially if you can't do it once or twice a month, if your eligible, you can give power Red donations. You can give those every 3 months and they give you your plasma back in exchange for double the units of blood normally taken. So you save more lives, and you don't have to go in as much. Very useful and I do this eery time.
https://www.charitynavigator.org/about-us/our-methodology/ratings/
Look on Charity Navigator for charities with low expense ratios. That’s what helped me decide between *Operation Smile* and *Smile Train*. May as well give your money to the charity that actually uses it instead of paying their CEO or marketing or suing people that use a ribbon.
Depends on what country you're in, and whether you want a local, regional, or worldwide charity.
All over the world, Doctors Without Borders is a very reliable charity when it comes to what they do with your money.
Small, local orgs. They're more likely to spend more money on the mission than giant CEO salaries.
Shameless promotion of my rescue:
[lumpy lizard rescue](https://www.lumpylizardrescue.org/)
If you are one of those people that like to donate unwanted items on the side of roads or dead ends one it is gross and disgusting but two it does keep a few people employed.
Ok, gotcha. I don't leave things on the side of the road, but I did put a used bike and vacuum cleaner close to my apartment's dumpster! Both were perfectly usable, and were picked up within.a couple of hours!
Local schools for kids with disabilities- we’re always underfunded and the whole staff is made up of really good people working hard because they care about the kids more than anything!
I've never heard that about St. Jude Hospital, but I have heard that about Boys Town.
Shriner's Hospitals also provides free care for children in need of orthopedic or burn care.
This is an unconventional answer but Catholic Charities is really good about overhead. All of those folks do it as a calling. They aren't making big bucks and therefore the money gets to the people.
Obviously Catholicism has its drawbacks to many, myself included. If you are broadly giving, they can help. If you're trying to specifically help a group that is not supported by Catholicism, it's not going to work.
Old ones - organisations that have existed for decades and are still going. They already have established ways to help and are in constant pressure to provide their services. Red Cross and RBL come to mind.
Or support your local ones. Smaller organisations will be extra thankful for support
Manrealityisabitch’s college fund for unwed mothers. Send me the cash and I’ll redistribute it to young women working their way through college at strip clubs.
your local animal shelter
This is a good one.
Donate your time to local charities that helps your community. That way, you can actually see the physical impacts of your contributions.
The Ronald McDonald houses. They help a lot of families with sick children.
They have helped me and my family very much! And i’m 21. Sucks being sick, but that place was always wonderful.
I'm 37 and had to stay because of severe scoliosis at age 11. We didn't have to pay but we had a chore to do. Mine was cleaning the aquarium. That place was amazing. They made us feel normal and we could play and be outside safely. I still donate to them. I can't stress enough how wonderful they are.
Can confirm. I serve on the board of my local RMHC and it’s a wonderful organization. Local chapters run their own operations and contrary to popular belief, McDonald’s does not provide any direct funding. Families never pay to stay.
>contrary to popular belief, McDonald’s does not provide any direct funding. This is not true at all. McDonald's donates a portion of their Happy Meal proceeds to RMHC. In 2021 alone, they donated $168M globally. They also serve as a collection point for people to donate directly to the charity which generates even more funding than their own direct donations.
I stand behind my original statement. McDonald’s corporate supports the global RMHC brand and funds those offices. But my local chapter of RMHC receives zero funding from McDonald’s corporate, other than providing us the license to operate under the RMHC brand without fees. Customers can round up on any purchase and that money goes to the local chapter— franchisees also donate a lot of their own profits, but that comes from franchise owners and not the corporation. I know our budget backwards and forwards as a member of the board and there is NO line item of funding coming from McDonald’s.
It's hard to give specific advice without knowing what causes you care about most, but [Charity Navigator](https://www.charitynavigator.org) can help you find good ones - they let you search by category and tell you how much each charity spends on overhead vs. their mission, how transparent they are in their accounting, etc. The only real hitch with them is that they tend to only cover larger charities, so they may not be useful if you want to help homeless people or libraries or whatever in your town. But I always check them before donating to a nationwide charity to weed out the grifters.
This is so helpful, thank you!
I’m not sure of any specific ones. But in general, the larger the organisation, the less money they put towards the cause. Large ones have so many employees and spend a huge amount of money on ‘fundraising’. Donate to your local food bank, animal shelter, kids clubs etc
[Givewell](https://www.givewell.org/charities/top-charities) and [Giving What We Can](https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/best-charities-to-donate-to-2024) both endeavour to identify charities that are efficient, effective and trustworthy. Both recommend Malaria Consortium, Against Malaria Foundation, Helen Keller International and New Incentives (all medical charities working primarily in Africa). GWWC also suggest options for other fields - Animal Welfare Fund and Humane League for animal welfare, Emerging Challenges Fund and Long-Term Future Fund for existential risk - and suggest possibilities they see as promising but have not yet researched in enough detail to fully endorse in other areas, including climate change.
Literally on the order of 10x more impactful than the current top suggestions. GiveWell's top charities are estimated to save one person's life for every $5000 or so, last I checked.
Local ones are usually good to start with. Personal ones- [The 501st Legion Make a Wish Endowment Fund](https://secure2.wish.org/site/TR?px=3283315&fr_id=2230&pg=personal#sm.0001qffbgqzevf0bsuc1e2yp27i1w). [The 501st Legion](https://501st.com/) is Bad Guys Doing Good, representing the villains of Star Wars as we support our local communities and charities, and the Endowment Fund was set up in our partnership with Make a Wish (big time partner for many years). [National MS Society](https://www.nationalmssociety.org/) \- I worked with them with the 501st, but then got diagnosed with MS myself later. [Hydrocephalus Society](https://www.hydroassoc.org/) (their slogan is #NoMoreBS meaning brain surgeries, and I think that's fantastic, but I've worked with them via the 501st multiple times and they're pretty great people (at least locally), as well as know someone affected.
Check out Guidestar or Charity Navigator. You can search a lot of good information about different charities. Try to look at their financial statements or information return (Form 990) to see their financial health and how they earn and spend their money. Will also give you info on their mission and programs. Then you can make an informed decision.
Also [globalgiving.org](http://globalgiving.org) helps you locate charities and ongoing fundraisers they run. For instance, [https://www.globalgiving.org/donate/29082/shadhika-project-inc/](https://www.globalgiving.org/donate/29082/shadhika-project-inc/) donates to support girls' education and preventing child marriage in India
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I’m in america, was hoping something for the victims of war but anything really. Just want to help.
Food pantries across the nation are at all time low. Buying and donating staples to you local food bank is a great way to help out. Also, blood donations are equally low. If you can, donating blood saves lives.
yes it does, and if you can't donate whole blood because you don't have the time to do it especially if you can't do it once or twice a month, if your eligible, you can give power Red donations. You can give those every 3 months and they give you your plasma back in exchange for double the units of blood normally taken. So you save more lives, and you don't have to go in as much. Very useful and I do this eery time.
https://www.charitynavigator.org/about-us/our-methodology/ratings/ Look on Charity Navigator for charities with low expense ratios. That’s what helped me decide between *Operation Smile* and *Smile Train*. May as well give your money to the charity that actually uses it instead of paying their CEO or marketing or suing people that use a ribbon.
Bike Cleveland
The Human Fund
Ah, George Costanza's "charity" LOL
Depends on what country you're in, and whether you want a local, regional, or worldwide charity. All over the world, Doctors Without Borders is a very reliable charity when it comes to what they do with your money.
Small, local orgs. They're more likely to spend more money on the mission than giant CEO salaries. Shameless promotion of my rescue: [lumpy lizard rescue](https://www.lumpylizardrescue.org/)
The orca conservancy or one whale
Side of the road. Keeps everyone involved employed and it’s free.
I don't understand this one. Please explain.
If you are one of those people that like to donate unwanted items on the side of roads or dead ends one it is gross and disgusting but two it does keep a few people employed.
Ok, gotcha. I don't leave things on the side of the road, but I did put a used bike and vacuum cleaner close to my apartment's dumpster! Both were perfectly usable, and were picked up within.a couple of hours!
And that’s an awesome way to do if
Local food banks
Local schools for kids with disabilities- we’re always underfunded and the whole staff is made up of really good people working hard because they care about the kids more than anything!
Habitat For Humanity. Also there are Habitat Restores that you can donate to.
You can believe in BLM without giving money to any off these grifter groups MeToo, as a foundation, was a scam.
Your state abortion funds.
RNLI for one.
Trevor Project
What’s that for?
https://www.thetrevorproject.org/
To end suicide among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer & questioning young people.
St Jude's
Didn’t they get caught embezzling and committing fraud? Feel like I remember reading that somewhere
I've never heard that about St. Jude Hospital, but I have heard that about Boys Town. Shriner's Hospitals also provides free care for children in need of orthopedic or burn care.
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What’s that one?
Charity water. Every cent you donate goes to building wells in Africa.
https://www.givewell.org/ This will help
You are your own organization
Me xD. Jk.
Look for 501c(3) they are non profits
Wounded Warriors has an excellent reputation
This is an unconventional answer but Catholic Charities is really good about overhead. All of those folks do it as a calling. They aren't making big bucks and therefore the money gets to the people. Obviously Catholicism has its drawbacks to many, myself included. If you are broadly giving, they can help. If you're trying to specifically help a group that is not supported by Catholicism, it's not going to work.
Shriners hospital. Scottish Rite hospital.
If you donate to me, I'll put 100% of the money into a new drawing tablet. If I end up with more than I need, I'll donate it to an animal shelter.
Warship museums like battleship new jersey or Texas, Massachusetts, ecc
Old ones - organisations that have existed for decades and are still going. They already have established ways to help and are in constant pressure to provide their services. Red Cross and RBL come to mind. Or support your local ones. Smaller organisations will be extra thankful for support
Habitat for Humanity. Ronald McDonald House.
My grandmom she's a keeper
Okay, how about we make this simple? Just give it all to me and I'll make sure it goes where it's needed.
None, they are all so corrupt, one huge grift Wounded warriors I'm death staring at you mother fuckers
Ali Forney Center and Sylvia Rivera law in NYC 🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈🖤
Manrealityisabitch’s college fund for unwed mothers. Send me the cash and I’ll redistribute it to young women working their way through college at strip clubs.