Charities of Choice 2007

Written by Nickel - 6 Comments

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Every December, we sit down and sort out (and then make) our charitable contributions for the year. Because 2007 was so good to us, we’ve decided to not only increase our donation levels, but also to add another charity to our list. What follows is a list of the main causes that we’re supporting this year.

1. Modest Needs (My Review)
2. The American Red Cross (My Review)
3. Our Local Food Bank (Find Yours — My Review)
4. The Conservation Fund (My Review)
5. Unicef

The first four are holdovers from last year, whereas Unicef is a new one for us this year; thus, I haven’t written about them previously.

Like the others, Unicef sports a four star rating from Charity Navigator and nearly 92% of their funds go to “program services,” with just 2% going toward administration and 6% going toward fundraising costs. Beyond this, we also believe strongly in their mission, which has a worldwide focus on children’s health and welfare.

Whichever charities you happen to support, I urge you to contribute whatever you can afford, especially given the recent news that charitable contributions are down this year while requests for assistance are on the rise.

Published on December 28th, 2007 - 6 Comments
Filed under: Charity
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About the author: Nickel is the founder and editor-in-chief of this site. He's a thirty-something family man who has been writing about personal finance since 2005, and guess what? He's on Twitter!

Related articles...

» Charities of Choice (2008 Edition)
» From the Archives (December 23rd – December 30th)
» Charities of Choice 2006, Part III: Our Local Food Bank
» Charities of Choice 2006, Part IV: The Conservation Fund
» Five Ideas for Charitable Giving in a Bad Economy
» Charities of Choice 2006, Part II: The American Red Cross
» Charitable Donations are Down This Year
» The Best of December 2007

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Comments (scroll down to add your own):

  1. Some free ways to help charities if you’re in the money pinch but still want to help out.:
    http://www.freerice.com – a word game where every correct word gives 20 grains of rice. It’s fun for us word geeks types.

    http://www.goodsearch.com and goodshop: search the web using this site and direct money to your favorite charity. Or use goodshop and merchants donate a portion of your sale to your favorite charity.

    I know, I know, they’ve been around. But even minor things like these can make a difference.

    Comment by CherylM — Dec 28th 2007 @ 10:33 am

  2. I support the Conservation Fund also. This past year I joined 1% for the planet, a group of business owners that agree to donate at least 1% of their gross to support the natural environment. If you have a business (including blogs) and give to charity, I encourage you to check them out.
    http://www.onepercentfortheplanet.org

    Comment by Dylan — Dec 28th 2007 @ 11:08 am

  3. I support the Presbyterian Night Shelter in Fort Worth, TX. Their website is https://www.homelesstarrantcounty.org/

    Comment by Mark — Dec 28th 2007 @ 3:55 pm

  4. Giving something back to the world is a great way to end the year. Instead of spending a lot of money on fireworks (which the people in my country do), we could just donate to charity and help others find a new beginning with the New Year.

    Comment by Jay, writer MemberSpeed.com — Dec 30th 2007 @ 12:42 am

  5. I simplified my main charitable giving list to three. I give lessor amounts to several other worthy causes. My charitable list follows here:

    1. ACS (I lost my wife to cancer)
    2. UNICEF (good to see others concur)
    3. Doctors Without Borders (wish I could reduce the mailings)

    Other helping/giving:

    1. KIVA (micro loan concept helping mostly small, third-world entrepreneurs). You can continue to loan to other small businesses as you are paid back.
    2. Project Rwanda (I bicycle and this is a charity started by a legend in the bike biz). Helping bring bikes and hope to some Rwanda communities.
    3. My alma mater receives an annual donation.

    Comment by Ria Rhodes — Dec 30th 2007 @ 11:48 am

  6. Although helping children, especially those in poverty-stricken nations, is a good cause, UNICEF is not the vehicle I would choose to support to do so. UNICEF seems to be a political organization as much as a charity. They have pressured the Guatemalean gov’t to stop American couples from adopting Guatemalean children. As a result, children who were matched up with American families are now sitting in orphanages. They have nowhere else to go, and the gov’t has few resources to care for them. But UNICEF thinks they are better off where they are than they would be here in the US.

    There are other instances where I disagree with UNICEF, this is just one example. You may have already come across some of this in your research, but in case you hadn’t I thought I’d bring it up.

    Comment by Margaret — Dec 30th 2007 @ 6:35 pm

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