Forgot about the ACLU. I’m a card-carrying member, or at least I will be again when I find the card.
I donate to a scholarship fund at a university and to the brain injury foundation.
then, random smaller contributions to a variety of things like ACLU, Planned Parenthood, etc.
I support the county animal welfare league, the county shelter for women and children, a county effort to get school supplies and coats to local kids - I like to keep my dollars local. But just today, we gave to Toys for Tots - they were collecting outside WalMart, and since we no longer have tots in our family, it was fun going thru the toy aisles picking out a few things to donate.
Non-financially, I do a lot of knitting and crocheting of items that go to veterans’ homes, nursing homes, and homeless shelters. Some of the yarn I use is donated, but I also buy a lot myself. And I don’t know that this counts as a charity, but our daughter teaches 5th grade in a fairly poor county, so we buy supplies for her classroom or give a few bucks to the PTA, since they help out kids in need in the school.
My donations are all small, in total I donate about 1-2 % of my income.
- Amnesty Interntional. I’m a member and I write letters for them;
- LeprosityRelief because their fundraising is very good and because leprosy is kind of the original biblical charity;
- Local cat rescue;
- Political Party for Animal rights;
- Kiva micro lending loans, I’m currently on my 80-eth loan;
- Burn victims. I actuall mean to cancel that one but I never get around to it.
I hand out cash to those I think need it at the time.
Ronald McDonald House - from personal experience, it’s a great help to families with sick children.
Oo yeah, I forgot about this - I’ve knit teddy bears for the Mother Bear Project, which ships them to children orphaned by (or whose families were otherwise devastated by) AIDS in various poor countries. I read about one child who had to grab her knit teddy (with a heart sewed on the chest) before escaping some kind of impending disaster; when asked later, she said she had to have her teddy “because it means someone loves me” and I damned near broke down crying. One year I knit one in my mom’s name and showed it to her at Christmas before I mailed it out, telling her I wanted one of those kids to know as much love as she showed me. 
I’ve also knit lots of little wool hats, socks, and mittens for afghans for Afghans. Donations of very warmly knit (animal fibers only) items go to poor villages in other humanitarian shipments.
Forgot about the ACLU and the local NPR jazz station.
In any given year, my tax records show the following:
My alma mater’s scholarship fund
My church
The local food bank
Goodwill
Boy Scouts of America (This won’t be there anymore until they make some changes)
2-3 different cancer funds
2-3 different environmental groups (Sierra Club, Nature Conservancy, WWF)
I usually donate when my friends do a walk or run for charity. The ones I donated to this year were SGK Race for the Cure, March of Dimes (twice), Suicide Prevention and Autism Speaks.
I have a regular monthly charge for the Humane Society.
I donate goods to the local Humane Society.
I donate blood.
My local humane society.
Hoof & a Prayer Horse Rescue
ASPCA thru United Way, deducted from my paycheck directly
Local food bank
Above & Beyond Setter Rescue
PAAWS- Performing Animal Actors Welfare Society
I know there are others, but they are not regular. So, mainly animal charities.
Best Friends Animal Society
Local animal shelter
Local Homeless Youth shelter
the non-profit org I work for
Iowa Public Radio
Iowa Museum Association
and when we have extra through bonuses or such, ACLU and Amnesty International
I don’t.
However, if I had money to spare:
Heifer International
Red Cross
Girl Scouts/Girl Guides
Boy Scouts
Royal National Lifeboat Institution
Heifer International
My local Humane Society, in Andre Norton’s memory
NOW
I donate things to Berry Good Buys, which helps support a battered women’s shelter
I donate money AND time to a local women’s clinic which performs abortions as well as other services.
I sponsor one of my favorite authors who runs in an animal rescue donation drive, also in Andre Norton’s memory
I used to give to my local PBS station on a regular basis, but then they started calling me on the phone, even after I asked them not to. So, after three calls, I quit donating to them.
I used to donate blood. One of my little sisters died of leukemia when she was a year old, so I tried to find a similar case and when I donated, half the time I’d have the blood center credit the child’s account, and half of the time I’d put the credit on my account. I’m not allowed to donate any more for health reasons, but I did it as long as I could. I HATE getting blood drawn, but it was partially a challenge to myself. It also was a great comfort to my parents to know that I remembered my sister in this fashion.
I should probably start donating to the ACLU.
I give time and money to Chako Pit Bull Rescue.
I give time to various other dog rescue organizations by driving transport from time to time.
I give time at the Sacramento City Animal Shelter.
I donate food to Titanic’s Pantry, pet food bank at the above shelter.
I buy Girl Scout cookies.
I donate items to Goodwill.
I have more time than money, so most of my “giving to” comes in the form of time at various animal related charities.
I don’t have money to give but I always take my good used clothing to Neighborhood Christian Center, a church charity I volunteered with for a while. Still would if I had the gas to get there. They do really good things and I worked in the office long enough to see where everything goes: to those who honestly need it. If I had money they’d get that too. They have a clothes closet, a food pantry, a parenting program with classes and car seats on top of a package every month that includes diapers and clothing. They have an after-school program with computers and a gym, they have a heater program for the elderly in the winter and an A/C program in the summer. They have a utility and rent/mortgage assistance programs and a parents night out. There’s a Christmas toy store and a gift/food basket for the elderly. Also they work with a larger group to provide funds and even cars to students preparing for college. And everyone who works there is just generally good-hearted and compassionate. I can’t speak highly enough about them!
I’m a pensioner, and as such, I can’t really give, but in the past, I’ve given to various cystic fibrosis causes due to knowing several people with it, as well as public radio.
I saw a thread on this: as much as I feel bad that people are going through cancer, I have a hard time donating to it because I don’t know where the funds really go. EVERYBODY donates to cancer. So, why don’t we have a cure?
If I have saleable things, they go to Goodwill.
I give a lot of time to the Renaisance Entertainers Services and Crafters United Foundation, more commonly known as RESCU. They provide assistance with medical costs to Renaissance Faire participants, as well as coordinating things like having mobile dentists and eye doctors come out to Faire sites.
ACLU
local food bank
my parish church
the local monastery of the Benedictine order of which I am an oblate
Planned Parenthood
local Catholic soup kitchen
and lots of one-time random things.
I give money to a lot of charities, I try to spread it around. I make sure any money is going directly to the cause, my wife is in the non-profit business so she can find out (non-profit business, there’s an oxymoron for you). I give money to the Pediatric Aids Foundation in the name of a dear departed friend, and in general prefer charities that benefit children. My favorite charity is a program to give presents to poor kids at Christmas. We buy the toys, sometimes do the work of collecting and organizing them, and helped the organization get themselves organized because they weren’t always collecting the donations promised. It may not seem like a big deal to some, but occasionally we get a thank you note from the families. It’s all anonymous with names and addresses blacked out, but I treasure those notes. Knowing that I’ve brought some joy to a child who has little in his young life is the greatest reward I’ve ever received.