search results for 'charity'

charity, january 2006

last year, i gave to médecins sans frontières (doctors without borders) at this time of year because of the tsunami in south asia. thankfully, there’s no tragedy motivating me this month, just the belief that it is a great organization that deserves support.

charity, december 2005

i had a vague idea of being more clever this december, but as i see the time on the month tick away, the obvious choice of the marine toys for tots foundation has become the easiest way out.

charity, september 2005

this should be no shock: this month i’ve sent my usual monthly charitable donation to the red cross for the hurricane katrina relief efforts.

charity, july 2005

happy independence day! it seems like a very appropriate time to make a contribution to the institute for justice, which litigates to protect various freedoms.

and once again, i’m contributing to a recent supreme court loser: the institute was involved in kelo v. new london, which has cleared the way for government to use its eminent domain powers to take property from its owner (paying “just compensation”) and give it to another private developer.

charity, june 2005

i actually remembered to make it to the hope for firefighters event in downtown los angeles last week, unlike last year. i got there late, so i missed the competitions and my food choices were limited, but i still got some great food from one of the booths that hadn’t run out.

so in honor of that event, i’ve sent my monthly charity contribution to the los angeles firemen’s relief organization for the widows, orphans, and disabled firemen’s fund.

this weekend i’ll be participating in l.a. works day, and if you hurry, you can register. you can even get the registration fee covered by following the link on the front page there about joining the los angeles downtown news team.

charity, may 2005

i’ve gone local again, with inner-city arts, an arts center for kids in downtown los angeles.

one thing that focusing on local charities gets me is various invitations to events by these charities, sometimes for events that require buying tickets (at steep prices, usually) and sometimes for free. maybe some day i’ll start taking advantage of this.

for example, through the library foundation of los angeles i got an invite for a reception, “author program,” book signing, and dinner with michael eisner in the middle of june. it’s for his book, camp. the dinner is at the california club, jacket and tie required.

i don’t even own a jacket. at least not the kind they’re talking about. i don’t think they’d count my ffem windbreaker.

charity, november 2004

as foretold last month, america’s second harvest was this month’s charity of choice.

i suppose i’ve never written why it is that i give so much and so often to charity. what was interesting when getting my taxes done is that the accountant nailed it — it is tithing. but being a non-religious person, i obviously don’t tithe to a church.

it’s the sort of thing that i think is important when people are tithing to churches that preach fear and hatred, and do not have good works as an essential part of their mission — the sort of churches that drove massive turnout and resulted in 11 states preventing gay couples from having the same rights as married couples. (i’m not saying that all churches preach fear and hatred, or that there aren’t churches that have good works as an essential part of what they do. but keep in mind i’m working from a non-secular definition of good works: faith and evangelism aren’t included. obviously i don’t agree with luther here.)

charity, october 2004

i think this is a self-explanatory one, with thanksgiving and the other holidays right around the corner: los angeles regional foodbank.

unless i forget, i’ll make a similar donation next month to a similar national charity.

charity, september 2004

writing about the amount of charity solicitations i got seems to have delayed my september charity giving. not any longer, with my donation to acción international just made. they make microloans throughout the world.

i’m thinking of scaling back my giving to just be quarterly (but not in scale). that would mean giving more money to fewer charities. probably: electronic frontier foundation, library foundation of los angeles, harvey mudd college, and something else. but there’s too many to choose from. maybe i’ll go bimonthly.

interesting: del.icio.us “charity” tagged items.

today’s charity solicitations

• world wildlife fund
• amnesty international
• america’s second harvest
• southern poverty law center
• medecins sans frontieres (doctors without borders)

handwritten charity solicitations

apparently i’ve tripped the level of donating enough to several charities that i get the handwritten solicitations for money instead of just the standard bulk-mailed ones. i don’t believe that charles lyons of unicef or bill noce of childrens hospital los angeles actually hand-wrote either note, but it is interesting to see how different organizations react to different levels of contribution. (as another data point, i have never once been solicited by the electronic frontier foundation, although it is the charity to which i have contributed the most.)

charity, august 2004

if you’re getting a sense of déjà vu, it is because i also gave money to the southern poverty law center in august 2003. (and if you’re really keeping track, august 2002, too.)

i think one reason i’ve been a faithful supporter of the splc is that they send what i consider to be a reasonable amount of fundraising literature, but also the really great intelligence report magazine. they are guilty of doing the silly ploy of having the forms with the donation levels that are based on your previous contribution. (so the smallest one is the same as your previous contribution, the middle one is 1.5× that, and the high amount is double.)

recently the world wildlife fund has been getting on my nerves by sending what seem to be weekly brochures for their travel program.

charity, july 2004

another month, another charity. in this case, the same charity i donated to this month last year: childrens hospital los angeles.

another charity worth checking out (i’ll get to it in september): accion international.

charity, june 2004

it’s almost hard to believe that i’ve gone this long without donating to an organization like the international primate protection league. but i’ve rectified that this month. the check is, as they say, in the mail.

charity, april and may 2004

this check actually went in the mail yesterday, so i made it just under the wire. the donation was for the children’s museum of los angeles which is pushing towards breaking ground on their new facility by next year.

i may as well go ahead and get may out of way now, too. i can finally complete my circuit of the service-related charities by contributing to army emergency relief. it’s probably as timely a contribution as ever, given the ongoing events in iraq and afghanistan.

charity, march 2004

i almost let it slip out of the month again, but this month i’ve contributed to the solar electric light fund.

i have to say i was inspired by the beautiful spring weather — it seemed like an appropriate time to give to a environment-related charity. i originally was looking for a good international land conservation charity, but the best ones i found (world land trust and fauna & flora international) are both uk-based, and contributions wouldn’t have been tax-deductible.

charity, january and february 2004

speaking of deductions, i completely missed doing my charitable contribution for last month. so here’s two at one time:

• library foundation of los angeles (a membership renewal, too)
• the air force aid society (the third of four relief united states military relief societies to get a donation from me; army emergency relief is still to come. it will be may, with the current rotation.)

charity, december 2003

i got a jump on things this month: my monthly charitable contribution is in the mail to operation give. the organization actually started from the blog of a member of the army national guard who is stationed in iraq. the spokesman for operation give is gail halverson, better known as the “candybomber” for dropping candy to german children during the berlin airlift.

charity, november 2003

since this is november, america’s second harvest was a rather obvious choice. here’s the what’s what from their site:

America’s Second Harvest is the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization with a national network of more than 200 regional food banks and food-rescue programs, serving all 50 states and Puerto Rico. It distributes 1.4 billion pounds of donated food and grocery products annually. America’s Second Harvest’s network supports approximately 50,000 local charitable agencies, operating more than 94,000 food programs, including food pantries, soup kitchens, women’s shelters, Kids Cafes, Community Kitchens. These local organizations provide emergency food assistance to 23 million hungry Americans, including more than nine million children and almost three million seniors each year.  For more information, visit the web site at www.secondharvest.org.

charity, october 2003

i’m very tardy due to the travel and moving, but this month’s benificiary is the widows, orphans & disabled firemen's fund of the los angeles firemen's relief association.

charity, september 2003

i don't think that amnesty international needs much explanation. are there people who don’t know who they are and what they do?

they label their news site as “the latest information for journalists,” but it is basically a weblog about human rights issues worldwide. no rss feed, though.

charity, august 2003

this month's charity is the first charity someone suggested i donate to after i started this monthly routine: the southern poverty law center.

the center “combats hate, intolerance, and discrimination through education and litigation.” the two programs that i find the most interesting are the intelligence project and tolerance.org.

slowly i drift back towards the beginning of the month.

charity, july 2003

apparently cutting back to one charity a month hasn’t made me get around to doing it any earlier in the month.

this month’s charity is also one of the first charities i gave money to when i started doing this a little over a year ago: childrens hospital los angeles.

i also renewed my membership to the surfrider foundation.

i recently got a receipt for a donation to habitat for humanity that i never made. very odd.

charity, june 2003

this marks my twelfth month of regular charitable donations. and the last month i’ll be doing three charities—it’s just too much of a headache to do that much research each month. instead, i'll just be doing a triple-sized donation to one charity a month, and i’ll rotate between local, national, and international charities.

• international: netaid (site is kind of broken—try here)
• national: navy-marine corps relief society
• local: east valley community action group

charity, may 2003

late in the month again.

• international: world wildlife fund
• national: coast guard mutual assistance
• local: los angeles firemen's relief association widows, orphans & disabled firemen's fund

charity, april 2003

i’ll be making some more donations on tax day, in celebration of my refund. i’m still deciding what they’ll be.

• international: médecins sans frontières (doctors without borders)
• national: immigration and refugee services of america
• local: library foundation of los angeles

charity: march 2003

• international: international federation of red cross and red crescent societies
• national: uso
• local: volunteers of america - greater los angeles

charity, february 2003

very late this month. c'est la vie. once i've hit the one year mark (this is month eight), i'll probably cut it back to one charity a month instead of splitting the donation three ways. finding three worthy charities i want to donate to each month (with the international/national/local distinction) has been tough.

• international: save the rhino (inspired by douglas adams)
• national: national disaster search dog foundation (with the donation matched by small dog electronics)
• local: children's museum of los angeles

charity, january 2003

• international: the jhai foundation: remote it village project (thanks to various bloggers, all traceable back to danny o’brien)
• national: computer professionals for social responsibility (an international organization, strictly speaking, but us-based)
• local: the los angeles free clinic

charity, november 2002

this is another theme month: kids.

• international: unicef
• national: marine toys for tots foundation
• local: LA's BEST

charity, october 2002

with my travelling around the end of october, i slacked off in my monthly charitable giving. because we're coming up on thanksgiving, this will be my first theme month: food. (and my first repeat: the los angeles regional food bank.)

• international: oxfam international (via oxfam america)
• national: america's second harvest
• local: los angeles regional food bank

charity, september 2002

even though we’re moving to a biweekly pay system at work, i’ll likely stick with doing the charity thing just once a month.

• international: amnesty international
• national: national trust for public education
• local: the california wildlife center

charity, august 2002

payday! charitable donations:

• international: world wildlife fund
• national: southern poverty law center (thanks to the tip from mr. cook)
• local: la youth supportive services

charity, july 2002

a little late, my july charitable donations:

• local: los angeles regional foodbank
• national: surfrider foundation usa
• international: médecins sans frontières (doctors without borders)

charity, june 2002

last friday of the month means payday, which also means bill paying, but best of all means writing checks to charities. this month:

• local: children's hospital los angeles
• national: reading is fundamental
• international: the international campaign for tibet