The Importance of Being Earnest (in Giving)

great initiative :-) people should be more aware that some of us cry for Omni stopping the development of Callisto.. But look at the third world in comparision our problems are so tiny as they litterily need to search for food in order to survive :-) great thing Mashugly. I myself am a donator to Greenpeace because I really think the environment is very important maybe even as important as funds like unicef because Greenpeace is fighting to also keep our planet liveable in a few hundred years. So I also hope that you put Greenpeace to one of the charities

Elrithranduil-

We're definitely planning on featuring at least one environmental group and possibly a few more. Thanks for the Greenpeace suggestion.

Thanks for reminding me 'bout that literature test I have coming up this friday >

MercyCorps (www.mercycorps.org) is one of the most "responsible" charities, over 90% of their donations go directly to aid. I'd recommend we support them as one of the charities.

Also, how about making the donator label more distinct, i.e. 'Site Donator' for someone who supports hosting, and 'Life Donator' for someone who supports the charities. (Cheesy titles, I know, but you get the point.)

This is the charity organization that I support on a monthly basis.

http://www.utangranser.se/templates/aboutug.asp?artid=94582

I think they have a very good approach in fighting poverty, the only problem for this very website to support them is that their information is pretty much all in Swedish. It would, however, be nice if someone could find a similar English organization.

Hear, Hear!

Well done you guys! Not that I have the need to say this but I donate cash on a daily basis and I am the co-founder/admin of Pays2Share and we donate to international charities like the UNICEF and many others.

Honestly, it makes me so glad and proud to be part of this community.

Here's the tenative list, based on research done through a few sites, mainly Charity Navigator.

Compassion International

Convoy of Hope

Doctors Without Borders

Mercy Corps

American Red Cross

Salvation Army

Manna Worldwide

Feed the Children

Send a Cow (Quite possibly the coolest charity. Evar.)

Children's Miracle Network

CARE

Environmental Health Coalition

These are some of the best of the best. I think most, or all of them, are 4 star charities if they're listed. If not, they are organizations I have personally been a part of and can vouch for their effectiveness and use of funds.

Good work, Mash,

Here is a site to consider : www.data.org

as Bono said, it is about justice.

I'm a po college student. What can I offer other than money?

So, I'm sure I'm wrong in some geopolitical way, but what Africa really needs is for someone to go there and say Hay, you people are grubbing in the dirt for the food and water to survive. Let's teach you to produce something, so you can have a better life. Let's teach people how to build, let's teach people how to farm, let's teach people how to irrigate, let's teach people how to generate energy.

Sun (they have lots) > Energy (solar, wind) > Water (desalinization and filtration) > Irrigation > Agriculture > Fed People

One thing the United States excels at is doing.

gwprod12-

That's actually what the "Send a Cow" group does. Not only do they actually give needy families a cow to grow/milk/eat, they also teach them sustainable farming and living techniques.

Very cool stuff.

As for what you can offer other than money, your time is always appreciated. Just about all of those groups listed above can use volunteers. If you'll send us a picture of you doing work for one of these organizations (along with something that shows your name and the organization's logo, if possible), we'll update your status too. The key is just getting involved.

I want to suggest a organization called Fe y Alegría (literally Faith and Joy). It's a social organization that focus on the education of the poorest people in latin-america, giving tools so they can break out of the vicious circle of extreme poverty

Fe y Alegría was founded in 1955 in by a Jesuit Father. It works in: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Spain and Venezuela.

On 2004 (I couldn't find a newer statistic) thir programs reached almost 1.3 million people (at the moment, not accumulative).

They give formal education as well as especial targeted programs to attend to the specific needs of the people in regions with special conditions, giving them down to earth tools that will help them to get out of their situation.

I have personally been involve with some activities with them on the past and I know some urban and rural schools of them.

http://www.feyalegria.org/

Hey, why doesn't the whole community hold hands, and get on a plane overseas? We'll pick our destinations carefully, and organise different groups to go to different countries and communities. Once there we'll stay for a few months each and keep swapping around. If we have enough people we will make a difference.

As sarcy as this may sound. I am completely serious. Mash, I applaud you on your humanitarian efforts. You must have seen some terrible things.

However, I honestly believe that giving to charities is only going one quater of the way. It is helpful to the very few. The amount of effort and money needed cannot be donated by any one country, or many countries together. Charities do their good, there is no doubt about it, but there is this nagging thought in the back of my mind that says to me - charity isn't for them, it's for us. It's so us here, worrying about our little problems like drivers not working, and audio ports being swaped around, can feel a little more comfortable when we are worrying about the rest of the world. The twenty dollars a month gives us a greater sense of security and happiness.

Like what Mash has done, and what so many have done before, the real thing is to go over there. Help with you hands, with your soul and mind.

But is that even enough? It's all you can do, yourself. Yet, I fear this problem is far to huge for a mear 200,000 people to make some kind of a difference. I dare say 1 million people would have trouble making any kind of a difference. Our governments, and our corporations, like it or not, are the only institutions that can make a difference. They have the money, the power, and the worfkforce to change the world. Yet they don't. And why don't they? Why should they. There goal is too look after their own people. Helping another nation out means we're only going to have to build more nukes to protect ourselves against later when they become powerful. If anyone here has played "civilization" (or studied history, i guess...) they'll know what I'm talking about. Keep the rest of the world meak, so we'll be the best. So our population will drive the biggest cars, and eat the biggest burgers.

The base line is. These people in impoverished nations live that way so we can talk about our computers and eat real huge burgers (metaphorically speaking). It is because of us. They make the sacrifice, so we can be happier. The sad truth, but there it is.

Not to say that a difference can not be made. You'll need to weild the power that can move mountains. You'll need to be Tony Blair, or George W, or maybe the owner of that huge ass company. Maybe we should be forcing our own government to make a difference? We vote for them, so they should do what we want...

Oh man, this issue is so huge it does my head in. If I think about it too much I'll be going for hours. It's not about money or power, it's about the way we think as a species, it's the biggest damn problem we have. War not peace. Constant rivarlry. It'll be the end of us. We need to change our instinct for survival. We need to take survival for granted and stop bloody fighting for it all the time. And of course lend a little of our survival to those that do need to fight for it. But we need to do it as a world, as a species.

So what have I done? Nothing at all. A lot of talking and that's about it. And like so many before me.

Mash, good work encouraging people to give. Giving is great, it's the best thing we've got going for us as a people. Good work making people think about it too. Yet, I cannot help knowing that no matter what any one of us does, no mountains will get moved, and little change will come about.

Unless...

I just wanna say Mash, it great to see people doing overseas work, like missions and stuff. I am going to Uganda in November and I can't wait to serve God and the people there We get to build a house!!!!

Also, re donating I hope that whatever method you choose that its avalible International. For people like me in AUS

Tim

However, I honestly believe that giving to charities is only going one quater of the way. It is helpful to the very few. The amount of effort and money needed cannot be donated by any one country, or many countries together. Charities do their good, there is no doubt about it, but there is this nagging thought in the back of my mind that says to me - charity isn't for them, it's for us. It's so us here, worrying about our little problems like drivers not working, and audio ports being swaped around, can feel a little more comfortable when we are worrying about the rest of the world. The twenty dollars a month gives us a greater sense of security and happiness.

You're certainly right that part of the reason we give to charity is what it does to us. But maybe that's the only thing that can change that rivalry "instinct" you speak of - a constant reminder as we cut the check every week that this twenty dollars will add years to someone's life. In the feeding centers I worked in in Africa, I saw the products of those 20 dollar donations. It'll feed a kid for a month and, for some of them, it's the only chance they've got.

You're right - giving isn't enough. But it is a start. If every member of our forum gave 1 dollar... pocket change... we could feed 2,000 kids for a month. Imagine that. We could feed 4-5 villages of kids.

But more needs to be done. We need politicians and lawmakers who realize that all of us are God's kids, not just those inside our borders.

I just wanna say Mash, it great to see people doing overseas work, like missions and stuff. I am going to Uganda in November and I can't wait to serve God and the people there We get to build a house!!!!

That's awesome! Tell us all about it when you get back.

Hey guys,

I just tried to donate and noticed that you only accept paypal!

Paypal is not yet supported in my country, therefore, I am unable to donate- perhaps you guys use another merchant account provider?

It's a start, you're right. It is more than that too, it's the start of something that's gonna change the world.

Things will change, they always do. I'm actually a great optimist (I've changed from being a great pesimist), I believe humanity will realise this. Will forget their instincts and see everyone as what we are, a collective unconcious. We all deserve to eat no matter who we are, and what we have done, where we live, and who we vote for.

When our generation gets into power, things will change, when our childrens' generation gets into power things will change even more. Peoples' attitudes change all the time, the only bad thing is, it can take many generations for us to see, and sometimes it takes a world war .

Here's the tenative list, based on research done through a few sites, mainly Charity Navigator.

Mash,

Have you looked at World Vision at all? If not even supporting them the traditional way, they have a really interesting "Gift Catalog" site:

http://donate.wvus.org/OA_HTML/xxwvibeCCtp...p?section=10024

You can add things to your shopping cart like "Send One Child To School For A Year ($75)" or "Give A Farm To Sustain 10 Families ($2180)". It's a really interesting idea worth checking out.

Mash, shard - anyone?

Mash, shard - anyone?

Hey TeKKi! Yeah, we're looking into it. I'll pm with details when I get them!

Looking forward to receiving your pm