Finding a Charity

[Apollia]

Originally Posted by pianoperformer

I do have to disagree with the Dreamhost thing though. They might be environment friendly, but they are not a great host, and certainly I wouldn't put anything on their servers that I needed to actually be reliable.

It works for me so far, but, I definitely haven't needed reliability. I haven't even been paying close attention to their performance to even know if they've been reliable for me or not - all I know is, it has only happened a few times in the past couple years that my site has been down when I tried to visit it. (I don't visit my own site extraordinarily often, though).

I choose my host by quality over environmental friendliness.

Can't blame you. I can't think of too many ways a web host could hurt the environment in the course of running their business, but, then again, I haven't really thought it through very much...

I also don't see what Linux has to do with it. Windows is a viable option, too. I love programming in ASP.NET with C#.

Lots of people consider open source software to be a better option than anything closed source, for reasons too numerous to mention here.

However, this essay by Richard Stallman explains many of them: Why Software Should Be Free

Best wishes,
Apollia

[Lauxa]

I like Modest Needs - modestneeds.org

I like that they serve low-income workers needing help within the US. I feel like it's better to give closer to home than to try to solve problems all over the world.

Even better if you have poor relatives, friends, or employees who could use the money.

[pianoperformer]

Originally Posted by Apollia

Lots of people consider open source software to be a better option than anything closed source, for reasons too numerous to mention here.

However, this essay by Richard Stallman explains many of them: Why Software Should Be Free

Best wishes,
Apollia

Oh, I'm very familiar with open source. I just don't discount closed source, either, because sometimes that can be a viable option, too. C# is my favorite language by far, for instance.

[Bruce Achterberg]

Originally Posted by pianoperformer

I would really like to start donating to a charity. I don't know of many, though, so can't decide what to donate to.

I can only afford about $50 per month to donate, so would just like to select one and stick with that for a while.

Any ideas?

Unless you have oodles of money, why not make yourself your charity?

Can you think of someone better to donate to? If so, then perhaps you should donate to yourself so you can better align with these qualities you deem worthy of your donations.

I think it's fine to donate to interesting projects--sort of like investing (that probably isn't the proper term, but oh well)--and I think it's equally fine to donate to charities, but honestly, I think many people sell themselves short in terms of the sort of contribution they can make in their lifetime. Doesn't it make sense to foster that as much as possible?

I think so.

It does, however, require a shift to a lifestyle that both aligns with yourself and this mission (if you can even see them as separate).

When you really get to the heat of the matter, I think you'll have the most power to express positive change in the world when approach life from a point of self alignment. If donating to charity is the manifestation of an inner alignment you already feel, then by all means, express it.

I'm sure this post of mine would cause many people to second guess themselves, but I don't advise that. Hopefully, this post makes people become aware of the limitless quality life has where there really are no rules. From that point of "ok, my paradigm just got rocked!", stop second guessing yourself. Align with what feels true and authentic for you, even if is making a post in a forum asking for charity suggests. You are the best gauge of both your strengths and your alignment with life.

[Bruce Achterberg]

On a side note, why not provide some social value (in the form of money) to those who are starting out providing value but don't yet have, say, the success of Steve and Erin?

This could be fun for you, since you could get a variety of services and items in return, since that's the value these people offer. If you really like something, you could even pay them extra for their good work.

That's a powerful affirming quality in giving people value in some form for something they did well, especially when they're not aware of how well received some of their things are (I often give "value" in the form of feedback, and people seem to really like it because it's honest, and I see things that not everyone does).

You could also do things like this:

Last Friday, I Offered A Waitress $100 To Quit Her Job… » erica.biz - Erica Douglass shows you how to make millions!

[NightSpirit]

I came across a charity website today where just clicking provides food to the hungry from sponsors. It's called the Click to Give @ The Hunger Site . Seems like a good way to help others when you have limited resources although I haven't researched it to see if it's really working like they say.

[jtracy]

My favorite charity is Covenant House. Aside from the fact that I think they do wonderful work, they are the only charity I know who actually send you a thank-you letter every time you donate something. This means a lot to me when I know how much my donation is really appreciated.

Covenant House is an organization that basically rescues children off the streets and gives them whatever they need to turn their lives around. It never ceases to amaze me what some of these kids have had to go through in their lives. Their home lives are absolutely horrendous and then they have to deal with all kinds of unsavory characters out wandering the streets looking for lost kids like them. I am really glad there is an organization like Covenant House to care about these kids when nobody else does. They deserve to have someone who cares about them. We all do.

[outdoorsnewzealand]

Check out GlobalGiving: donate to grassroots projects; education, health, microfinance

You can choose individual projects to make donations to.

[t33ny]

Official Website of the Auckland Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals