What’s your favorite charity?

[+ Coolwave35]

Do you like small grassroots groups or large organizations?

[+ sam.fitzpatrick]

I have a soft spot for the Foundation supporting a local 501©(3). That foundation was created by my father in the early 70's and it continues to grow. It supports the local chapter of a nationally recognized organization.

 

In addition, I support the local United Way - - - it evolves its areas of focus based on the community's feedback.

[sincitymix]

My favorite charity is to myself ?

[+ WilliamM]

In the last 18 months, animals in Melbourne, Australia & wolves and grizzlies in Yellowstone National Park and Denali National Park in Alaska.

 

My brother writes books about wolves. I have been to Melbourne, and contributed to the zoo brush fires early this years devastated animals.

Edited September 8, 2020 by WilliamM

[Danny-Darko]

I support a local charity, food bank and thrift store that helps the needy and homeless in my area in association with AARP. AARP helps many seniors with benefits, jobs, schooling/training and advocate against discrimination in the work place for us older workers. Age discrimination is a very real thing in the workplace and I've suffered it myself. I like to give where I see need and can identify with the mission, rather than large "Non-profits" where very little of the donations go to the ones intended to help and the bulk to the support of the Non-profit itself and its management. They tend to rely on many volunteers and donations but the upper management make very comfortable salaries with benefit packages akin to Corporate USA! So I tend to not give to those. I respect all charity work but this is how I personally feel and what I do.

[+ RJD]

Philabundance, a Philadelphia food bank and Wounded Warrior Project. A local animal rescue is the recipient of my Amazon Smile proceeds.

[+ Cash4Trash]

Ali Forney Center here in NY. They provide housing and social services for homeless gay teens.

[+ FrankR]

Do you like small grassroots groups or large organizations?

Ali Forney Center here in NY. They provide housing and social services for homeless gay teens.

I also support the Ali Forney Center - they do great work; homelessness amongst the young GLBTQ population is a real concern. Theyre not a large organization like the Red Cross or United Way but punch above their weight. Another good option if you are looking for a smaller organization is TrueColorsUnited.org.

[+ DERRIK]

The first I heard of a COVID stimulus check was Trump talking about it as he headed to Marine One. In our house we both commented "Yea Right" thinking it was more BS - but that night we both decided if money did show up - we would both pay it forward because our financial situation is bright.

 

The two stimulus arrive - we gave our money to local food pantry

[Luv2play]

I give between 5 and 10 percent of my after tax income to mostly local charities in my small town. Mostly in the arts and cultural fields (trying to address the starving artists syndrome which is real). Exceptions being my old school and university which are in Montreal since I am a strong advocate for education. With respect to the latter I earmark my donations for students who need financial assistance to attend these excellent learning centres.

[rvwnsd]

I support a couple of the local food banks here in Phoenix, UMOM (an organization that assists homeless women/children and those who are victims of domestic violence), Arizona Humane Society (from which I adopted the furry little lights of my life). Goodwill of Central and Northern Arizona (what they can't sell they recycle), and the San Diego County LGBT+ Center (in addition to youth housing and an excellent program for trans people they offer several support groups and sliding-scale mental health services). I'm also a subscriber to my local NPR station and give here and there to other charities.

[+ Charlie]

I make monthly donations to two local foodbanks, and regular donations to a few local animal welfare organizations. I donate to a number of national charitable organizations, like the Red Cross, Amnesty International and POINT Foundation. I make occasional donations to other large organizations that solicit donations, though I always check them out first on Charity Navigator. There are a lot of organizations that I don't really consider charities, like Lambda Legal or the the ACLU, which I have supported for many years. And I make political donations, which I don't consider charitable.

 

I would never have had the education and subsequent career that I had without the scholarships from the small private college I attended, and the fellowship from the Woodrow Wilson National Foundation that put me through graduate school, so I make generous financial donations to both of them each year; although the IRS considers that a charitable donation, I consider it payback.

Edited September 8, 2020 by Charlie

[Daverwr]

I have a few: Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, God’s Love We Deliver (NYC) and Broadway Cares.

[Islesguy]

I work with a couple of rare disease organizations and The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp.

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

Charity Hope Valentine

 

[Luv2play]

I make monthly donations to two local foodbanks, and regular donations to a few local animal welfare organizations. I donate to a number of national charitable organizations, like the Red Cross, Amnesty International and POINT Foundation. I make occasional donations to other large organizations that solicit donations, though I always check them out first on Charity Navigator. There are a lot of organizations that I don't really consider charities, like Lambda Legal or the the ACLU, which I have supported for many years. And I make political donations, which I don't consider charitable.

 

I would never have had the education and subsequent career that I had without the scholarships from the small private college I attended, and the fellowship from the Woodrow Wilson National Foundation that put me through graduate school, so I make generous financial donations to both of them each year; although the IRS considers that a charitable donation, I consider it payback.

There are so many worthy charities to support but one has to make decisions with one’s limited resources. These decisions are influenced by our upbringings, I believe, and certainly that is the case with me. My parents had 4 children and while relatively affluent for the time in the post war era, they still needed to make sacrifices to send us all to the best private schools and universities available in Canada. We were also indulged in pursuing artistic, cultural or athletic endeavours according to our interests. I benefited tremendously from these advantages, as did my siblings, and today I see my giving as paying it forward to help others perhaps less advantaged than I was.

[+ WilliamM]

Reporters Without Borders in honor of reporter Christopher Allen whom I met at the the University of Pennsylvania in 2012. His photo is my signature on this site (when he was reporting from Eastern Ukraine).

[Epigonos]

Up until the second half of the 20th Century many wealthy philanthropists supported traditional cultural institutions – museums, symphony orchestras, opera companies, ballet companies, etc. This has become less and less the case and many of these cultural heritage organization are rapidly disappearing. Ballet companies are closing all over the country and live ballet many soon become a thing of the past. Thus I donate to American Ballet Theater

[Populist Fury]

WWF. But anything that has to do with saving/protecting wildlife is good ?

[Monarchy79]

ASPCA ? ? ❤️

[+ FrankR]

“If there is any truer measure of a man than what he does, it must be by what he gives.” Robert South.

 

I just got a note from the Ali Forney Center. Wanted to share it, as it talks about one of the center’s supporters who is a well known philanthropist and supporter of the GLBTQ commuity in NYC.

 

 

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[TD]Henry van Ameringen has died, at the age of 90. Henry was a caring friend to me and especially to the young people of the Ali Forney Center.

 

In April of 2002, I had lunch with Henry at his favorite cafe on 6th Avenue and 12th Street. At the time I had a dream of opening the Ali Forney Center, but had not yet raised any funds. [/TD]

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[TD]I spoke to Henry about Ali Forney and the other youths I knew who'd been murdered in the streets, and described the violence and degradation they endured in mainstream shelters. When our meal ended, Henry pulled out his checkbook and wrote me a check for $35,000! That donation allowed us to open, and got us through our first six months.

 

A year later, Henry and his partner Eric Galloway had dinner with our young people and me at one of the residential apartments where we provided shelter, just below 125th Street in Harlem. My husband, Raymond, cooked up a feast, and I had prepared the youths for the momentous visit, letting them know how Henry's gift made the Ali Forney Center possible. When it was time for Henry and Eric to depart the young people spontaneously followed them down the stairs and lined up to thank Henry, several even hugging him. I wanted to publicly honor Henry for his pivotal role in creating the Ali Forney Center, but he was always shy about calling attention to his immense contributions to so many LGBTQ organizations. Nonetheless, I think of the sweetness of that moment when the youths expressed their heart-felt gratitude as the best honor of all.

 

Henry was our most steadfast and consistent supporter. Not one year has passed since 2002 without Henry making a generous gift to the Ali Forney Center. Frankly, there were several times when we were on the ropes after funding losses, and Henry always came through with extra gifts during our hard times. Many times over the years we reconvened at his favorite cafe and he listened with the most alert attention to the news of our challenges and progress. It makes me very sad to realize there will be no more lunches with Henry.

 

A particularly joyful memory is the afternoon we spent together in 2007. I met him at our little drop-in center in Chelsea and drove him out to visit all four of our recently-opened apartments in Brooklyn. It was obvious that Henry took great pride in our growth as he examined every space where we offered housing and support to our young people. I could see he was particularly moved by the little stuffed animals some of the youths had placed on their beds. After our visits were done, before getting back in my car to return to Manhattan, Henry grabbed my arm, looked me in the eye, said how proud he was of what we had accomplished, and hugged me. Henry was a very warm man in his way, but I had never experienced him to be physically demonstrative. That hug was a big deal to me.

 

I will miss Henry very much. He was a good, kind, caring, thoughtful, piercingly engaged man who has spent decades supporting LGBTQ people. Our LGBTQ community owes him much gratitude. I, for one, will be grateful to Henry until the day I die for his love and support, and for how he allowed us to bring our homeless youths in from the cold.

 

With much sorrow and love, and with condolences for Henry's husband, Eric.[/TD]

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