Donations - please recommend your fav charity

jlw2505

DH and I need to make more charitable donations this year for tax reasons (he had to move a pension when he switched jobs and while it went right into a IRA, we still have to pay a boatload of taxes on it with our 2011 taxes.  We are trying to make more donations to help offset that amount we have to pay in taxes to the government.  We have decided to come up with a list of places that we want to make donations to and then pick the top choices of places we feel have the most need or will make the most impact to people/animals.

Please share some of your favorite charities (non-religious only) and why you donate to them. 

Emiliana7

My top non-religious charity is:

https://help.sos-usa.org/page.aspx?pid=347&utm_source=various&utm_medium=redirect&utm_campaign=welcome

I had never heard of them until one of my favorite actors did a campaign for them, but ever since then they are on my list! Growing up I had always wanted to adopt a bunch of children from around the world, a la Josephine Baker, so these kids who are orphaned or abandoned are my perfect charity.

Most of my other charites are religious based.

honkytonk_kid

Heifer International: https://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.201470/

Kiva: https://www.kiva.org/about

I like that both promote self-sufficiency and empower people to better their own lives.

jettagurl

Our regular contributions go to local Ronald McDonald House.  We used the House when Ben was an inpatient, and it was a wonderful experience. 

shiloh17

St. Jude Hospital for Children--sees that no child is turned away due to lack of insurance. Its pretty much a free hospital for kids. American Heart Assoc-- my family has a huge history of heart disease. Im a cardiac nurse. Best Friends Animal Shelter--large shelter in Utah that helps rehab hurt animals. It is alao a pet adoption center.

wildfloweragain

St jude's, ronald mc donald house, camp good days ( a division of out united way) and our local library, and rainn

krissymoves

I agree with the recommendation for your local (Minneapolis close?) Ronald McDonald House. I have volunteered at ours, and it's such an amazing place for parents of sick children. St. Jude's and local children's hospitals are also on our list. 

Jamaica_Bride

https://www.thenfdf.org/

I very closely with this patient community both professionally and personally.

MrsCali_Bride

St Jude's Children's Research Hospital and March of Dimes are the two that I regularly donate to. I've done the MoD March for Babies the past three years but won't be doing the walk this year since I have two newborns and will only be a month out from my c-section. A three mile walk that soon is a bit too much for me.