Community Chat

[okaywitheasypay]

I agree with @Still Raining & @Sooner about local places . Where I live a gleaners org. provides groceries for residents in need and shown in action in the community via local news etc. I feel fairly confident that my small contributions are used for actually feeding people. 

Does anyone use the -I believe it is called 'Smile -Amazon' (?) when ordering at Amazon. They are supposed to donate a % to whatever organization you have named . I picked Meals on Wheels . I am never certain though do you have to enter this with every order or is it automatic every time an order is placed in your account ? I have tried to decipher but never sure. 

[chiclets]

Veterans Organizations

Paws of Honor

[suzyQ3]

We have three charities that we have on automatic monthly donations: Fame, which goes to a medical center in Tanaznia that provided me with such excellent care when we were on safari and is so important to the population that is desperately in need of medical care; Unicef; and Friends of UNFPA, the United Nations agency promoting reproductive health and rights for all. I have no idea how they rate.

We also give to the L.A. Regional Food Bank.

[haddon9]

I prefer to donate to a local charity.  There are food pantrys and homeless shelters that are within all major cities or within your county close by.

[aroc3435]

@okaywitheasypay   As long as you first register the charity on smile amazon and then always order at that .com website the charity you registered willl get the %credit.

If I forget to go the  smilea...dot com route sometimes regular  Amazon knows  and a popup asks me  did  I mean to use the charity credit website and I can  then click over.  

I had just the regular Amazon account before learning about the Smile charity angle.

Hope this clarifies for you.

Best,

aroc3435

Washington, DC

[Abrowneyegirl]

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@Sooner wrote:

@Abrowneyegirl In this day and age, I only donate locally and to what I can see or to groups and individuals I know and trust.  

Otherwise you never really know what you are funding and what it is being used for. 

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Charities must by law disclose how the money donated is used.  That is what we are trying to research.  We donate to large and small local groups but we have goals for what % of the money goes toward the actual project or group being served.

[VaBelle35]

I use Charity Navigator for my company's philanthropy program.  The part I supervise is local to my community, so some of the charities are too small to appear there.  I believe they have to pay the service to appear there, but I may be confusing it with another navigator.

I also find that the search engine is not that good and you have to know how the organization is listed there in order to get it to come up on the site.

I find that if I go to the charity's site, they usually have their financial/annual report document posted publicly.  If not I will email them for it. 

[BirkiLady]

@Abrowneyegirl   I did have a horrible experience with Conquer Cancer last year. They claimed to use only 5% for operating costs and 95% for "research". So I stupidly donated $250 through PayPal in 2020 as a memorial for the husband of a dear friend living in another city. 

Yes, I received an email thanking me for the donation. THEN, I received via USPS weekly mailings for additional donations plus "free" return address labels!! Did I need (or what) them? Of course not. The emails for donations also continued.

Six months later, I realized my friend had not acknowledge the donation in her late husband's memory. She's a Paster and I had been watching her services on-line periodically. Knew she was preaching again. Also, knew her manners were impecable about writing thank you notes.  Our Facebook interaction didn't mention anything about the donation, yet we talked often in private messages about how she was doing and her late husband. 

I didn't want to embarrass her, so I contacted Conquer Cancer and asked them if they sent the original notification to her (the widow) via USPS. "No, we send everything via email." Big disappointment! Of course, she probably deleted it as junk mail asking for a donation since her husband passed away from cancer. I asked Conquer Cancer to mail a letter indicating (my name) had donated XXX in memory of her husband. They agreed to do so. Nothing for another two months! I email Conquer Cancer and, in a not very pleased tone, insisted they send my friend another letter via USPS immediately about my donation in memory of her husband.

Ah ha! They finally did - eight months later and a zillion emails & junk mails to me for additional donations. I received a wonderful thank you note from my dear friend.  She's also getting the junk mail and emails for donations!

We met for dinner last night and have both emailed Conquer Cancer to remove our names from ALL of their computer lists forever!  If that "charity" contacts either of us again, we will both keep requesting to be removed from all USPS and/or emailing lists. They spend too much donated money on asking for more donations, postage, paper (trees), return address labels (with crazy graphics) and probably the pricey staff doing the nonsense! It was annoying.

I'm so sorry to have donated through Conquer Cancer and will never do so again.

[Bridgegal]

I'm so glad you posted this.   We had selected ASPCA for our amazonsmile donation.   I just changed it to Felines and Friends which is a NM rescue/adoption charity for cats headquartered right here in Santa Fe.  We have donated to them but it never occurred to me that they would be large enough to get on amazonsmile's list.  Every little bit helps.

[ThinkingOutLoud]

It's smart of you to look into the various charities before donating. Unfortunately, I've lost a lot of respect for many of them (and so called non-profits) over the years. I've just heard/read about too much nonsense going on. I still donate but only through my church which has a charity angle. They reply with thanks, provide the necessary info for tax purposes, don't 'hit me up' for more, and report regularly of who/what gets the needed help.

Anyway, one idea that came to mind - your local hospice/s.