I am a big fan of the Shriner’s Hospitals for Children. They are my own “personal” charity.
They run a chain of children’s hospitals across North America. They are leaders in research into the treatment of burns. The hospitals are very modern and have everything a major medical center should have except one thing. A billing office.
There is never a fee for any treatment. Please remember this in the event you should ever know a child in need.
What is the web site for the Shrine Hospitals you ask?
http://www.shrinershq.org/index.html
And you thought we just wore funny hats in parades.
heifer.org looks more like what you’re talking about. Very interesting - thanks for sharing!
I would give $200,000 each to these charities:
American Cancer Society - Cancer is an issue that has to be dealt with. The more money they have for research, the more we find cures.
ASPCA - Because animals deserve humane treatment too!
Jersey Shore Animal Center - This is a local animal shelter that had to give up alot of its land to the town so they could build a new highway. :grumble, grumble:
Alzheimers Association - My grandmother had Alzheimers and it is a terrible, terrible way to go. I would love to see them come up with either a cure or a way to detect Alzheimers before it sets in.
Ocean of Love - Another local charity. They are contacted by doctors and hospitals when children are diagnosed with cancer. They then contact the family and help any way they can…money, food, lodging, support, etc. They are wonderful people.
You can’t do much with a million dollars these days. I’d form my own foundation and call it “The Smile Fund”.
I’m put all the money into stocks with a good mutual fund and after 10 years it shoud be up to a healthy chunk of change. Then I’d convert it to an annuity, and I’d start using the annual spin off money for young people that really needed dental work, but couldn’t afford it.
OK Samir, I think you kind of missed the point of the excersize ;).
You can call it a billion if it makes you feel better.
Paul, that’s ridiculous.
You also ride around on silly little minibikes and go-karts modelled after 1967 Mustangs. 
Personally, I would give a big chunk of the money to Voice of the Faithful, the organization trying to effect change in the Church in the wake of the sexual abuse scandal. And I’d be sure His Holyness knew exactly where the money went, too.
As for the rest of the money, there are some local food pantrys and soup kitchens that can always use more funds.
I’ve often thought about this, so I can be prepared when I win the Lottery.
My snarky answer is that I would donate the $1M to say…Cal Berkeley, but only if they use it to endow a chair in Conservative Economics, or Male Studies, or some other subject that will honk off the liberals.
Otherwise, I think I would use it to buy vans and pay drivers for local area Food Banks. They have all the food they need, what they are missing is efficient ways of getting the food to those who need it.
Sorry.
The ERRC would get the bulk of the money to aid their fight for Romani rights in Europe. There are many Romani NGOs I could have gone for, but the ERRC are probably the largest and most respected of all of them.
The United Romani Educational Foundation is a US based organisation founded by Ian Hancock, former Romani representative on the United States Holocaust Memorial Council. The aim of the foundation is to provide scholarships for Romani students. The idea being that education will help the Romani people out of the awful situation that many face - a recent report by the World Bank concluded that many Eastern European Roma live in poverty equal to that of sub-Saharan Africa. It’s also a case of Romani people helping themselves and taking control of their own destiny, rather than relying on others.
If I had to donate a million dollars I would:
Either buy a million dollars worth of presents, dress as Santa and go to a childrens home, or a homeless shelter, or a third world country and give a community the best damn day of their lives.
Or I would find one person who needs help, whether there have an injury, a disease, a condition, heck they could just be really depressed and take them wherever they wanted to go and do whatever they wanted to do.
I know it seems daft spending the money on only a handful of people when it could go to help many more but I would rather help each person like that. Yup, I’m daft.
How about a chair in Books Written By White Dudes?
I’d donate it all to The Human Fund - “Money for People”
“WHO?”
“What?”
“Why?”
You all sound like Barbarino.
I’d set up a Trust Fund to buy books for libraries in Tennessee & Wisconsin.
Long-Term investments, no payouts until it had matured for 5 years, 50% of intrest/dividends to be paid annually thereafter, the other 50% re-invested.
I’d probably give it all to the Air Force Aid Society (AFAS). Or maybe just 90% of it, with the rest going to the Home for Peruvian Bastards.
I’d set up a foundation to help families with kids with autism access treatments. It would be partly to help access information and partly to help fund treatments whether it’s DAN treatments or conventional medical treatments which are not covered by the PBS (Prescription Benefit Something or Other). But I’d be doing a shitload of education about the options which are out there and which a lot of families are not finding out about.
I’d keep most of the money “at home.”
$200,000 to my church.
$200,000 to the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, specifically to be used for their Wings of Eagles program.
$200,000 to the local crisis pregnancy center, so no woman in my city will feel like she has to get an abortion because she is without resources.
$50,000 to my city’s Aids Task Force, because now I know firsthand just how expensive HIV drugs can be.
$150,000 to the local homeless shelter, because they do great work and are often criticized for it.
$100,000 to a local Methodist church that runs a medical ministry for people who don’t have insurance. They hook people up with medications, doctors will see them for a small fee (or nothing, sometimes) and pay for people’s medical tests.
$100,000 to Heifer International, and I’d donate it the name of the history professor I had last fall. He took up a collection for Heifer in his classes and made sure that all of his students knew about the great work that they do.
Most of this million would probably go to “Action contre la faim” (Action against hunger) a NGO which, besides funding emergency relief in case of famines also funds develpoment projects in develloping countries. I could give some money to “doctors without borders”, too, or similar organizations. In any case, the whole lot would go to the third world, which has dire needs. I can’t think of any local cause, in our affluent western countries, which is as critical as the issues people living in these countries are facing.
I would donate all the money to Early Literacy programs like America Reads…mostly because I volunteered for NH Reads through AmeriCorps*VISTA and felt that it was making a difference in young kids lives. An interest in learning at a very young age helps set a kid on the path of self-sufficency. That said I’d probably give $650,000 to NH Reads, $250,000 to ME Reads and $100,000 to VT Reads. In the Event that America Reads ceases to exist, I’m sure other literacy programs would spring up to replace it, much like a hydra’s head.
Hmmm… Now Lets see,
$350,000 would go for wine
$350,00 for women
$350,000 for song