Holiday charitable giving: Who should I give my money to?
We should, of course, consider charitable giving year-round, but since it’s the holidays and we want to make extra sure no one has a sucky holiday and because it makes us feel better about ourselves to give, the charity drives ramp up.
I went through my personal list of favorite organizations and realized none of them are locally-based or locally-focused. And by local I don’t mean a local arm of a national organization like, say, Salvation Army. I mean an organization that was born and raised here, to meet the needs of people here.
So what are your preferred local charities? Is there a group out there doing amazing work that’s not getting enough attention?
Related posts:
PZ Myers just posted a list of non-faith-based charities (He’s in Morris, I’m not sure how many of them are locally based).
I have personal knowledge of Alexandra House doing a service for an actual real-life person (something you don’t really get to see that often), so I’m planning to toss a little their way.
You might also want to see if there are any Prosper loans in the area that are looking for bids.
I’d suggest Community Shares. I participate as part of my company’s employee giving plan but anyone can donate. The organizations that belong are all local and working for change not just charity. You can donate your gift generally or specify an organization.
The Aliveness Project was born and raised here in Minneapolis, and has an AMAZING holiday basket program (you can sign up to deliver and see in person the good work they do). Check them out. http://www.aliveness.org
I like the river, so Friends of the Mississippi River http://www.fmr.org/ gets some of my money.
Check out tenthousandthings.org. Amazing theater group that performs in prisons, shelters, and senior residences. Quality of performance easily rivals the Guthrie.