I know we never have enough time or money to give to every charity that we want to support. But I have a couple of suggestions for ways for you to give support without costing you any money...
There are several internet sites that if you are willing to click on them, they will make a contribution to a great charity, like Mercy Corps.
Just click The Hunger SITE and you will contribute 1.1 cups of food to Mercy Corps. And when you get to the Hunger Site you will see that there are five or six other tabs you can click to preserve the rainforest, promote breast cancer awareness, make learning to read available, and support animal welfare. You can click on these links once per day.
Another way to contribute is a seasonal promotion for Campbell's soup -- Campbell's Click for Cans promotion. This one is a little more marketing minded - but it is a way to win for your region a large contribution to your local foodbank. It is based upon your IP address, and you get one vote per day. For this one, you vote for your favorite football team, and whichever city gets the most clicks - gets a contribution.
If you don't see the topic that makes you passionate - Go to The Nonprofits.com and choose a charity that you do want to give a click to. Maybe your favorite charity is listed there and you didn't even know it.
If you do have money to give, there are obviously lots of charities out there to give it to. You get a tax deduction if you give to a charity and they get the benefit of your money. Make sure you are donating to a real charity, not a scam, and do a little research on them to find out how best to give. I found this site, which seems to have a lot of good information - Charity Navigator with 5000 well known and not so well known charities listed. There are other versions of the same thing like the American Institute of Philanthropy who charges $3.00 for their report to cover the cost of the research and the production, but who also has a lot of good information on their website.
Another idea, especially as we head into the gift giving season, is to spread your dollars wisely. Sometimes, buying items yields double dividends by creating a contribution to the charity at the same time as solving your gift giving needs.
For instance, if you go to the Rainforestwebsite.org you will find a wide variety of earth friendly and fair trade friendly gifts in a whole lot of price ranges. They often have free or low cost shipping and they offer gift certificates. The kicker is - every dollar you spend generates more dollars for the cause that the vendor is supporting.
And there is the straight contribution to your favorite charity or someone else's in your gift recipient's name. Usually the charity will send a greeting card or email that alerts your recipient of the contribution. It's a great way to let someone know you were thinking of them, without the chotsky.
