As 2020 continues to escalate into the Hell Year, I want to help out others who are less fortunate than me. But I'm not sure which charities are good, and which are self-perpetuating marketing machines. If anyone can suggest ones which come under the former I would be deeply appreciative.
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# ? Jun 2, 2020 13:08 |
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# ? May 18, 2024 18:08 |
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I haven't been in charity fundraising for about 3-4 years but when last I'd been working for them Medecins Sans Frontieres and Amnesty International both had some of the lowest overhead operating costs as well as the highest transparency about failures/scandals. They're more focused in international aid, though - it's worth considering if you want to lend your help at a micro or macro scale, or if there are any specific groups or interests in particular than 'anybody less fortunate' 'cause that's a great way to give yourself charity fatigue.
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# ? Jun 2, 2020 16:47 |
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Doctors without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres) is my current go-to. They do great work with little overhead. Another choice charity is the ACLU. They do important work in the US that can only be accomplished in a court room (although their membership nagging is really annoying). Finally, I almost always make some kind of donation to the Wikimedia foundation, whose work less 'charity-like;, but definitely critical to providing good information, which is becoming an increasingly precious resource.
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# ? Jun 2, 2020 21:57 |
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I'm admittedly a charity skeptic (I think the entire system of charitable giving in the U.S. is largely a corrupt racket). That being said... the ACLU has been known to go to bat for Nazis. They will also sell your information to the DCCC and every other shitlib PAC, expect to be getting letters from Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer begging you to go to bat for the worst people in the Democratic party. Amnesty International accepts a huge amount of money from the Gates Foundation, and that money comes with strings, and those strings are frequently shitlib strings; they're expected to never address the fundamental issues with capitalism, any sort of corruption or human rights abuses linked with it, etc. The other one I hear a lot about on the left is the SPLC, which is much better politically than the other two, but is a complete loving poo poo-show internally. Medecins Sans Frontieres are pretty great, from everything I've heard. I also give to my local tenants union, and contribute to certain progressive politicians (There's a GOONPAC thread here if you were interested in giving that way), but you should be looking at charities that have things they have done *LATELY*. My local tenants union helped push through two pieces of major reform legislation last year, but a non-profit can wildly change from year to year if the staffing changes, or key personnel leave.
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# ? Jun 3, 2020 03:48 |
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Thanatosian posted:Amnesty International accepts a huge amount of money from the Gates Foundation, and that money comes with strings, and those strings are frequently shitlib strings; they're expected to never address the fundamental issues with capitalism, any sort of corruption or human rights abuses linked with it, etc. I'm interested in supported Amnesty International, though would be less inclined to do so with what you've said. A cursory search of Google didn't come up with anything, do you have a link?
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# ? Aug 22, 2020 21:19 |
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What has amnesty international ever achieved? They just piss and moan and maybe somebody listens afaik. For my money it's all about the clear results, eg we removed 1000 cataracts.
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# ? Aug 23, 2020 03:18 |
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"Amnesty International isn't good because they aren't spending money to crush capitalism" sure is a spicy take. They have a mission, and it's not Full Luxury Space Communism Now. They criticize capitalist nations including the US, and socialist nations alike, because they do not and should not have a stake in the debate between different economic systems. Weka posted:What has amnesty international ever achieved? They just piss and moan and maybe somebody listens afaik. "Human rights violations still exist despite people's efforts to stop them, checkmate, idiot!" Did you know that MSF hasn't cured AIDS either? Buncha slackers ain't getting a penny from me!
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# ? Aug 23, 2020 23:44 |
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There's this local project that I like that does social work for homeless youths. There's probably something similar in your city as well!
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# ? Aug 24, 2020 21:49 |
the human fund
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# ? Aug 25, 2020 23:32 |
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Maybe this is a helpful starting point?
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# ? Aug 28, 2020 20:38 |
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Thanatosian posted:I'm admittedly a charity skeptic (I think the entire system of charitable giving in the U.S. is largely a corrupt racket). That being said... the ACLU has been known to go to bat for Nazis.
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# ? Sep 2, 2020 19:56 |
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Longshot, but anyone know any good vetted charities that focus on Thailand and the Philippines? Preferably focusing on housing/food security/healthcare with no religious affiliation.
Wifi Toilet fucked around with this message at 08:44 on Apr 6, 2023 |
# ? Apr 6, 2023 03:07 |
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Wifi Toilet posted:Longshot, but anyone know any good vetted charities that focus on Thailand and the Philippines? Preferably focusing on housing/food security/healthcare with no religious affiliation. https://www.pureearth.org/our-projects/country-project-pages/thailand/ - Not exclusive to Thailand, but has projects there. https://r4d.org/about/where-we-work/ - Not exclusive to the Phillippines, but has health programmes active there.
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# ? Apr 10, 2023 17:47 |
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Bollock Monkey posted:https://www.pureearth.org/our-projects/country-project-pages/thailand/ - Not exclusive to Thailand, but has projects there. Thanks I'll look into those for the future. I ended up sending some money to https://www.habitat.org.ph/ https://www.scholarsofsustenance.org/ and 3 smaller orgs in the Philippines on https://www.globalgiving.org/ Probably lost some efficiently to the middleman on that last one, but I was able to drill down to a specific geographic region.
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# ? Apr 14, 2023 04:45 |
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Givewell (https://www.givewell.org/charities/top-charities) is the best resource I'm aware of for evaluating how effective various charities are at e.g. saving lives. Unsurprisingly this tends to end up being medical stuff in poor countries, but there's a lot of variance in effectiveness between different areas and charities in that field
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# ? Apr 16, 2023 03:10 |
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Does anyone know of good trans related charities that are fighting in the states that are considering passing laws attacking trans people?
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# ? Apr 17, 2023 03:21 |
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DeadlyMuffin posted:Does anyone know of good trans related charities that are fighting in the states that are considering passing laws attacking trans people? Maybe https://transgenderlawcenter.org
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# ? May 27, 2023 22:31 |
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Popping in here to mention William MacAskill's book "Doing Good Better," which I think is required reading for anyone interested in charitable giving.
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# ? Mar 16, 2024 00:48 |
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I suggest St. Jude
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# ? Apr 5, 2024 21:29 |
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PT6A posted:"Amnesty International isn't good because they aren't spending money to crush capitalism" sure is a spicy take. There was also the whole Ukraine is just as bad if not worse than Russia report quote:On Aug. 4, Amnesty International issued a report that accused the Ukrainian army of violating the laws of war by placing military bases close to civilian infrastructure. The report triggered a wave of public outrage worldwide and across Ukraine. For me, the report’s deepest flaw was how it contradicted its main objective: Far from protecting civilians, it further endangered them by giving Russia a justification to continue its indiscriminate attacks. That’s why I resigned as head of Amnesty International’s Ukrainian office. Many of my colleagues followed. Their report blaming Ukraine for being bombed by Russia was certainly what you might call a spicy take.
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# ? Apr 8, 2024 01:26 |
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Reminds me there's an army reserve base up the road from where I live. Why has the UK government put me in the line of fire??? I guess my old school is a legitimate target for a decapitation strike??
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# ? Apr 12, 2024 16:51 |
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What are the best UK charities focusing on children with cancer? I like the look of Children With Cancer UK, as it funds research but also days out for stricken families, that kind of thing. Then again, I could always split my donation between a research-based organisation and one aimed at day-to-day stuff, like a local hospice. My wife pointed out that I might consider smaller charities, as it's harder for them to advertise and fund raise than the likes of Great Ormond Street, but at the end of the day I don't care what their books look like at the end of the year; I just want my money to do the most good. Leaning towards the aforementioned Children With Cancer UK, but there are so many I'd like to have a clearer idea of whether this is a good overall choice. So, any recommendations would be great. Also, any resources or advice for comparing charities in the UK generally would be useful to help me in future, with metrics like how much of income goes on what (salaries vs infrastructure vs investment in the actual charitable activities etc).
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# ? May 17, 2024 15:46 |
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I haven't played around much with this site, but it is hopefully a good starting point for you: https://givingisgreat.org/charity-search/ When you're looking at something like small/local cancer charities, there's some consideration to be made around your priorities as a donor. Smaller charities will use money less effectively, because that's unfortunately how a lack of big holding infrastructure affects things, but you might get more impact for the feel-good element. You could look at local hospices, who often need cash but may also have wish lists for useful items, which you might find satisfying as an alternative way to give. If you or your wife have time to give, small charities are usually crying out for volunteers. The funding landscape loving sucks for UK charities at the moment, and there are a lot of volunteer roles that can really boost capacity and help organisations keep up their good work. I've worked in the third sector for a decade, and just want to highlight that spending on salaries and internal infrastructure of course needs to be balanced with 'doing the work', but without paying skilled staff and having resources like CRMs that function well, money for comms and events, and the ability to produce evidence, reports, and funding bids, no charity can get its important work done. Third sector workers are chronically underpaid and often undervalued, so I just wanted to pop in a reminder that how hard your money works is complex, particularly for smaller charities. Bollock Monkey fucked around with this message at 09:26 on May 18, 2024 |
# ? May 18, 2024 09:17 |
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# ? May 18, 2024 18:08 |
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For the UK, the actual annual report / financial statements are worth reading. They are available from the Charity Commission website. Look for the 'financial statements and notes to the financial statements' which appear after the *cough* puff piece narrative reports. They're not necessarily simple but they follow a fixed format and are audited (which I used to work on). They do have to show things like executive pay and split of spending between charitable activities and other. It's not perfect but seems much better than the US where it seems anyone can be a charity and do / report whatever they want as long as they pay the correct taxes?
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# ? May 18, 2024 13:21 |