Anonymous wrote:Unicef.

Rock bottom overhead costs. Highly effective programs targeted at the neediest populations in the world.

WWF for environmental for similar reasons.

Yes! These are very well run, and do so much great work.
And I would like to add Doctors without Borders.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Make a Wish or pediatric cancer.

I am a middle school teacher and in the seven years I have been in the classroom, we've lost one student to cancer and watching another fight for his life now.

His parents tell me the majority of cancer research money is spent on adults.

St. Jude's is a great charity for pediatric cancer.

FYI they spend about 30% of their revenue on admin and fundraising (mostly fundraising). I think a lot of the smaller local charities people have mentioned spend more like 10% on fundraising and admin costs.

I understand that they have a higher rate of admin and fundraising - but the thing with St. Jude's that hits me is the data. The progress that has been made in pediatric cancer treatment directly related to St. Judes is incredible. If you know any child who has cancer - they probably use somethng that came out of St. Jude's.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Make a Wish or pediatric cancer.

I am a middle school teacher and in the seven years I have been in the classroom, we've lost one student to cancer and watching another fight for his life now.

His parents tell me the majority of cancer research money is spent on adults.

St. Jude's is a great charity for pediatric cancer.

FYI they spend about 30% of their revenue on admin and fundraising (mostly fundraising). I think a lot of the smaller local charities people have mentioned spend more like 10% on fundraising and admin costs.

Our church
A Wider Circle (transitional services for battered women and their families

Anonymous wrote:I donate to Doorways for Women. It's a local charity that provides temporary housing, supplies, education and counseling to women and families who fled their homes during to domestic abuse. I like that they not only provide short-term help, but also work to educate their clients and provide legal, financial and career guidance to help them get back on their feet in the long run.

+1.

Knew a woman who went through this once upon a time. Saved her life.

We will donate to orgs that we know/have worked with such as:
-N Street Village. fabulous place, I volunteered there for a number of years
-Salvation Army. I worked with them (not on their main mission stuff but peripherals). God love 'em, they are crazy, but have their hearts and minds in the right place and you can bet your money is actually going to do some good. The stuff they put their officers/members through is crazy and they are definitely NOT in it for money!

Also our church and Heifer

CrisisLink, a local non profit, serving the community with a 24/7/365 crisis and suicide prevention hotline.

Agree with Charity Navigator. It offers helpful guidance.

I try to think about what causes are important to me, and then donate to a mix of large and small organizations I've also tried to find organizations that do international work but need to do a better job of that. Some faves in no particular order:

Planned Parenthood
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
Some sort of large local food bank, like So Others Might Eat
Doctors Without Borders
I like small environmental groups, like the Chesapeake Bay Trust
Human Rights Campaign
Brady Center (gun violence)
ACLU
Committee to Protect Journalists

Anonymous wrote:The Catalogue for Philanthropy recommends smaller, effective, local nonprofits: http://www.catalogueforphilanthropy-dc.org/cfpdc/index.php

One of the 2012-2013 charities is the DC Youth Orchestra Program. Fabulous program! You should see on Saturdays what's going on at Eastern HS on Capitol Hill. Amazing. Hundreds of kids of all stripes, all levels, aged 4-19 taking lessons on about 20 instruments, grouped by ability. Something for everyone.

Habitat for Humanity
Heifer Project
Red Cross
local Arts groups

Local:
Bread for the City (DC)
House of Ruth
Our Daily Bread (Fairfax County) - small, well run, trying some new inovative ways to help people out of poverty and stay there. Despite its name it is not religious. Provides emergency food and money BUT also provides financial literacy. Not to be confused with the daily prayer group.
FACETS
Doorways for Women

Anonymous wrote:It is really hard for me to figure out what charities I want to donate money to. How do you determine whether they are using money wisely, etc? I've decided that it is worth doing research into, like a real "investment."

What are some of your favorite charities to donate money to? How do you figure out whether they are really accomplishing their mission and spending donated money wisely?

Brady Center.

SCAN (stop child abuse now) of NOVA. I live in DC & still support it, as it does great work to prevent child abuse (parenting classes, etc) and works with lots of foster children, teen moms, etc to stop the cycles of teen pregnancy, lack if education, etc. The charity has a great record of helping several thousand kids. Very small full time staff, most of the work is done by volunteers (but very well organized), so a huge percentage of each dollar donated ends up helping people vs some charities I looked at where it goes to running the organization.

CURE- Citizens Untied Reseach in Epilesy.

Check Charity Navigator Top Ten lists: http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=topten

Think about charities that are working hard on causes that you care about, or those that have helped your family, etc.

Anonymous wrote:Make a Wish or pediatric cancer.

I am a middle school teacher and in the seven years I have been in the classroom, we've lost one student to cancer and watching another fight for his life now.

His parents tell me the majority of cancer research money is spent on adults.

St. Jude's is a great charity for pediatric cancer.