Teleidoscope

Tue, Dec 16, 2008

Charities 2008

Posted at 1:22 pm MST to Current Events

It's amazing how difficult some charities still make it to donate.

Rocky Mountain Revels puts on a very nice show of holiday music, and I donated to them last year. But they don't seem to take donations on their website, and I don't think I will be attending the show this year, so I won't get a donation envelope. Looks like they are out of luck.

I've added some addtional charities this year, and changed amounts to give more locally. This year's list so far is below. I recommend any or all of them.

• United Way
• Wesleyan University Alumni Fund
• Boulder Philharmonic
• Electronic Freedom Foundation (EFF)
• Free Software Foundation (FSF)
• The Heifer Project
• Habitat for Humanity
• Amnesty International
• ACLU
• Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres
• Alzheimer's Association There was a fund drive in honor of Terry Pratchett this spring
• The Women's Bean Project (and I love their 10 Bean Soup)
• Denver Art Museum
• Denver Zoo
• Denver Museum of Nature and Science
• (Boulder) Community FoodShare
• (Boulder) Boulder Shelter for the Homeless

I am trying to tithe my net pay, which is a hefty amount of donations, so I end up on the charity hot-prospect lists and I get letters from every charity imaginable. I set some of the letters aside for further investigation and I'll be reviewing some of them since I haven't reached my goal yet this year. There was one microbank (like Heifer project but for businesses other than livestock raising) that looked interesting if they seem reputable after I google them. And the right wing has been attacking Planned Parenthood's funding in various ways. I'd like one more local charity that actually helps people, too. There's a fund to help Colorado people heat their houses this winter that might be a candidate.

I will not be giving to the Salvation Army -- their national organization has been being stupid about gays again this year, after showing signs of improvement since the bad days of the early AIDS epidemic. They have a right to follow their own beliefs, and I have a right to not give my money to an organization with a history of being bigots. Maybe I'll give some money to the Boulder County Aids Project instead.

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