The charity spreadsheet

by Doctor Science

Speaking of 501(c)3 organizations, I'm putting together our yearly charity donations spreadsheet -- what we've given so far this year, who we'll give to between now and midnight Dec 31, what our plans are for next year.

We were already donating to Doctors Without Borders, but we're definitely upping the amount this year, and I think we'll put them on a monthly plan for 2015.

I don't know how I'd manage this without Charity Navigator and a spreadsheet. We try to have a mix of local, national, and international charities, for a variety of issues -- but only one or two charities per issue & level because, as Charity Navigator says, investing needs diversification, giving should be concentrated for best results.

huh, looking over our list, I see we've got mostly state and local orgs for environmental issues and homelessness/poverty, national/international for health & medicine (e.g. Doctors Without Borders) and "culture" (e.g. Organization for Transformative Works). We also support the ACLU, which isn't a 501c(3) but which does a lot of work that really needs doing. Mr Dr Science isn't sure they're the best choice, but I don't know who else is doing so much work to, as they say, "keep us safe".

The Bishop Giving Alms, by Domenico di Bartolo; fresco in the Santa Maria dellla Scala Hospital, Siena, painted 1442-43. The official site says:

This scene of the Limosina (Almsgiving) represents a pompous procession where the bishop, in the center and mounted on his heavy roan horse, is about to knock over one of the master workers waiting outside the work site of the Hospital.

The hospital was run by a Rector and friars independent of the Bishop, and this fresco strikes me as unusually and pointedly satirical. It makes a good illustration of the danger of supporting the wrong charities -- the kind that spend your money on themselves instead of the needy, or that do more harm than good.

Comments

[Nigel]

The UK equivalent of the ACLU is Liberty:
https://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk
(Not to be confused with the department store, which is what Wikipedia might first direct you to.)

Speaking of which, Wikipedia.
It's not perfect, but as you say about the ACLU...

[Snarki, child of Loki]

Thanks very much for posting this, I am finding it very useful.

[JakeB]

I decided to give all my charity donations this year to organizations helping with the Ebola crisis, so I split it among Medicins sans Frontieres, Mercycorps, Africare, and International Medical Corps.

The last few years, all the adults in my family have taken to giving each other only a token present or two at Christmas, and making gifts in the way of donations to one another's preferred charity. I think all of us are happier doing this than trying to figure out yet another set of gifts for one another.

[Doctor Science]

Snarki:

I'm glad it helps!

JakeB:

Yes, our gift to my mother was a donation to Africare; to my father, a donation to Scholarship America.

Why do you split your gift among those four charities? It's supposed to be easier on them (and thus more efficient) to concentrate on one, so all four don't have to keep track of you, ask you for more money, etc.

[JakeB]

Doc--

To be honest, I gave them a lot of money (at least from my perspective) this year, and it's a eggs-in-one-basket kind of discomfort thing. Also, I get at least 25-30 pieces of mail every month from charities requesting money at this point, so it hardly matters anymore if another one starts plaguing me and slaughtering trees.

[byomtov]

I get at least 25-30 pieces of mail every month from charities requesting money at this point,

Not to mention political organizations, and emails and so on.

I'm reminded of a cartoon featuring a man sitting in an armchair reading a letter that apparently says, "Your contribution will enable us to send you more letters like this one."

I'd love it if I could get them to shut it down for a year in exchange for a contribution.

[JakeB]

Yeah, I keep thinking it should be like the annoying violinist at italian restaurants where if you give them money they go away. Instead they bring their friends and play louder.