I’m looking for recommendations for charities to donate to.
I’m looking specifically for organisations that help people and/or the environment in the poorer countries of either Eastern Europe or Asia.
Callous as it may sound, I’m not interested in those that help pets, collect for disease research or are aimed at people in First World countries.
Having met people who have worked for various set-ups before, I am concerned as to how much of any donation cash actually goes to the cause and how much ends up spent on admin, so if anyone knows of a well-run charity (or even one that needs volunteers for brief periods) along the above lines pls let me know.
Thanks in advance
Go to www.guidestar.org. They will give you the skinny on just about every non-profit organization you can imagine. It’s a great site that gives you financials, so you can determine if your money is going to the cause or to some fat dude’s island vacation. The site’s coverage is quite extensive. Give it a look.
My personal favorite is the Chinese Alligator Fund (www.alligatorfund.org) which is trying to help prevent the extinction of alligator sinensis in the Anhui province of China. It’s administered by the Crocodile Specialist Group, (http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/natsci/herpetology/crocs.htm) which is run out of its own donations, so the CAF has 0% administrative costs.
Unfortunately, the web site is a bit out of date. The most recent thing it’s doing (recent as in happening now) is looking to repair dams in Zhong Qiao and possibly rent land in Shuang Ken to provide sufficient water and habitat for the gators.
It’s a tiny little charity, so it may not be what you’re looking for. On the other hand, it’s very easy for one person to make a big difference.
Heifer International provides animals to folks in Third World countries; recipients can sell the proceeds and agree to pass on offspring to others. Heifer also plants trees which protects farmland. Forbes recommended them as a charity providing high “bang for the buck”.
Northwest Medical Teams (http://www.nwmti.org/)- They provide disaster and basic health services. They have been quite active in Africa, Afganistan, and now Iraq.
Mercy Corps (http://www.mercycorps.org/) Also active in Africa, Afganistan, and Iraq, they are quite involved in the Iran Earthquake relief.
Although both are Christian organiations, neither one includes proselytizing in their program. NWMT comes first simply because its the one I am most familiar with, both are very good organizations.
*Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an international humanitarian aid organisation that provides emergency medical assistance to populations in danger in more than 80 countries. In countries where health structures are insufficient or even non-existant, MSF collaborates with authorities such as the Ministry of Health to provide assistance. MSF works in rehabilitation of hospitals and dispensaries, vaccination programmes and water and sanitation projects. MSF also works in remote health care centres, slum areas and provides training of local personnel. All this is done with the objective of rebuilding health structures to acceptable levels. *
While I was cleaning out my bookmark file, I came across this site: Idealist.org-Action Without Borders (http://www.idealist.org/). They have advanced searches which enable you to look for organizations that meet your criteria as well as look for volunteer opportunities.