Welcome to the Charity Splurge 2011 Challenge!

Thank you for visiting this blog! I'll be doing my best to introduce you all to interesting humanitarian causes and worthy organizations to support. Once a month I'll promote one, and you and all your friends will challenge yourselves to splurge on some charitable giving.

See the links at the left side for more information, and the showcases are in the entries below. Here is a badge (with other colors coming soon, thanks to Crystal Rider!) that you can display on your own website or blog to spread the others and help them say "Yeah, I can do that."



Happy splurging this year!

CS2011 Wrap Up

Now that this year and this project are drawing to a close, I figured it would be good to post my own wrap up and final reflections. Originally I had thought of having this being an ongoing project, but it turns out it's very difficult to even pick out twelve causes among thousands!

Charitable giving is more effective when you chose fewer causes to give more to anyway, so I plan on leaving this project up as a reference and guide for people who would like to get involve but aren't sure what their primary interests are, or even what is out there that would interest them.

I'm happy to have done this, but I'm learned some of the downfalls of having such a wide giving portfolio as well. Evidentally, at least one of the organizations I gave to sold my contact information out (and I've got a good guess which one) and I've received direct mailings for foundations for multiple different diseases and starving children--I even got one today in German! But really, if someone is going to spend the money to send me not only paper, but pennies and tote bags, I don't really think my contribution is needed!

Over the course of this project, I've determined which ones mean the most to me and which I've had the best experience giving to.

While I'm not planning on regular additional contributions out of my own pocket (for now), I will continue to recycle my microfinancing loans for Kiva and keep using GoodSearch for Love146. The North American Friends of the Asian Rural Institute reached out to me about getting more involved, and I'll be doing some volunteer Japanese-to-English translations for them as needed. I'll continue to sponsor a HeroRat, I just don't know yet if it will be Chosen One or one of their up-and-coming stars.

Not that I'm capping my giving to just these organizations--as local needs arise throughout the year, I'm likely to participate as I see it worthy to. Sometimes it helps to be flexible, too. Last March while I was helping at a fundraiser for relief for Japan some ladies dropped off some women's clothing and diapers. In an emergency situation abroad it's just not efficient to send physical goods, so I gave them to a local crisis pregnancy center and then contributed to the fundraiser for about how much the goods were worth. I wound up giving more out of pocket than I planned, but it honored those ladies' generosity and wound up helping someone else in the process. If you're open for these things, the opportunities will come.

Generosity doesn't have to be planned, and I don't think it should be. When it comes to development and putting your money where it's going to be most effective, though, you're going to have a wider and deeper impact by making a plan. If an organization can anticipate a regular amount of support each month, that helps them with their financial planning. If you focus all of your charitable giving for the year to only one or two causes, then the amount you contribute will be able to go further rather than being stretched thin.

It's a sad fact that most normal people can't afford to give as much as they'd love to. Just because I'm not giving to all of these organizations again doesn't mean I don't care about the work they're doing, which is why I'll continue to advocate and bring them up whenever there seems to be an appropriate place to do so. Sometimes getting someone else aware of something will do more than $10 would.

Nevertheless, let's not forget how quickly $10 will add up when put together with other peoples' $10. Generosity never has to be about the amount.

Happy giving, everyone.

December's Showcase: Institute for Transportation & Development Policy

Look, I'm not being cliche for December! I'll bet you weren't expecting the final showcase to be about public transportation.

This is a good example of how societies can be dramatically improved--efficiency-wise, environmentally, and from certain standpoints, economically--and is a "good idea" that "should happen," but is faced with a lot of resistance when it comes to real-world application.

For instance, I live in Colorado Springs. I would love to to see my city become more of a hot-spot tourist destination because it would bring income into the city and because we've got some pretty nice sights here to share (even though I've seen the Garden of the Gods so many times that it's just normal landscape to me, I've enjoyed sharing it with exchange guests my family has hosted). Frankly, however, our public transportation options suck, and while there are walking trails that go on forever, it's not pedestrian-friendly for everyday life. If you don't have a car, you're pretty much stuck.

Even if people complain and say "we need better public transportation here," no one is really willing to give up the convenience of their cars or pay higher taxes to establish better systems. Sigh... such is the story of many good ideas.

It might just be because of the utter lack of it here, but I really like public transportation (and I am very stubborn about not wanting to get a car, but that's mostly because I don't want to pay for a big piece of metal that will continue to cost me money in loan payments, maintenance, insurance and gas, but that's really just a matter of me whining). I mentioned in the previous entry that I love Japan, which I do, and I love the train systems there. Sure, I had to walk a lot (and got soaked a few times in typhoons), but I could pretty much wake up, decide on a little town to go check out, and then find a train to take me there.

I also love China. To be a little more specific, Hangzhou is one of my favorite cities in the world. It's part big-business and shopping and part tourist destination (for good reason, but I digress). While I studied there for three months, I could go pretty much anywhere. Granted, that was because there were cheap taxis everywhere, but most things I needed on a regular basis were within easy walking distance, and the air-conditioned buses went almost everywhere I ever wanted to go. There were many days when I would just start walking for miles, see where I would wind up and what kinds of places I would discover, and when I felt satisfied, I just needed to find the nearest bus stop and I knew I'd have a way back. It was nice to have both freedom and security.

Part of what made it so walkable was that a lot of the city was planned to accommodate people without cars (that's not to say they don't have congestion problems, though). One of the ways they've done this is to implement a city bike-rental system. You sign up for a card which has a certain amount of cash put on it, and you use that card to unlock and pay for bikes that fill stalls all around the city. You use it for a certain period of time, and then you can just return it to the nearest stall. You can read more about that system here.

Why do I bring this up on a blog about humanitarian organizations aiming to alleviate poverty? Because good ideas should be shared, that's why! But if good ideas are going to work, they need something to back them up, and help see them through. Sometimes that requires a think tank. Hence, this month's showcase is the Institute for Transportation & Development Policy (ITDP). They work with governments and developing cities around the world to make informed plans for more effective public transportation to support growing city populations.

Cutting down on carbon emissions is just one goal. They also want to make transportation safer, and enable the underprivileged living in big cities to have access to what they need without having to buy cars and get stuck in traffic jams--more transportation options means more possibility for employment, which means more means by which to support oneself and one's family.

And I'll state it again--public transportation makes any city more attractive to tourists! Plagued with problems as it is, we live in a remarkable world, and I'd like to see more people enabled to go out and mingle with it.

Payment Procedures

You all probably know the drill by now. Go to the DONATE page, and be ready with your credit card. Part of what ITDP does is make publications about more effective transportation, and you'll be able to share their knowledge when they send you their annual magazine. After all, ideas should be shared if they're ever going to become more than that!

November's Showcase: Asian Rural Institute

While this is a blog aimed at anyone in any developed country, frankly, most of the people I know reading this are American--which means "November" is synonymous with "Thanksgiving," which further translates to "duh. Focus on a food-based organization this month." Fine. I'll be cliche and focus on food.

Food is under appreciated anyway. I say this not in the good old guilty way we're used to hearing (that we have an abundance of it here and starving children halfway across the world would love to take our obesity problem off our waists) but that it's one of the most constant needs in our lives. We will always need it, and we're constrained by our need for it multiple times a day. We can go without proper shelter or bathing or clothing, but those lacks won't typical pain us as fast as a lack of food will.

Nevertheless, it's one of the most enjoyable needs we have! It's immediately satisfying, it comes in almost limitless variety, and it brings people together. If you want to take the wonder of food a bit further, let's consider for a moment how the earth's ecosystems are so perfectly designed so that one creature's digestive system actually supports other creatures on the same food chain (and tangent food chains). It's so complex but works so well! (And on that note, I've always pondered how indebted we are to plants, because this whole system would fall apart if it weren't for photosynthesis).

I love food. If I had enough disposable income, I would be a dedicated foodie (or just hire a private chef, and someone to wash the dishes).

I also love Japan, and cultural exchange, and focused organizations that work to help the underprivileged around the world help themselves. Extra points if said organization is environmentally responsible. These are all things that make the Asian Rural Institute (ARI) cool.

In a nutshell, they bring leaders (50/50 gender ratio) from rural communities around Asia (and Africa and the Pacific!) to the farm in northern Japan for a nine-month training program to prepare them to bring sustainable farming methods back to their respective communities. It is an accredited school, so they do plenty of research in addition to their daily chores to tend the farm, which includes crops and animals. The community lives on the food that they produce together.

Of course, they were affected by the earthquake last March, and perhaps more so affected by the radiation from the Fukushima plant (they're located in Nishinasuno, Tochigi, between Tokyo and Fukushima). While the radiation levels in their soil are higher than normal (still safe, though) and their facilities had some damage, they were still able to welcome this year's participants as planned. Kudos, ARI.

Something else cool about ARI: You can join them for a while! Their volunteering program is fairly flexible and can put people with a variety of talents to work. (Hint hint: this is a good way to go study Japanese, but you don't need to know any Japanese to participate.) You can read more on the Volunteer page.

Hopefully this was a little more surprising than just another giant "feed the children" organization. While I think there will always been some need for handouts--be it in villages in Africa or in our local soup kitchens--there are really too many of those organizations to pick just one. My suggestion is that if you do choose to give to one, make sure that what they're handing out is nutritional (like enriched peanut butter) instead of just a tummy-filler.

Payment Procedures

To give from America and have your gift be tax deductible, visit the partner site and give here. You can scroll down and see what kinds of specific needs the money goes towards.

They do have a $25 minimum donation requirement, as do many other organizations. Frankly, it is more effective to pick a single cause or two and give more to them instead of giving a little to several different organizations, but this blog project is for sampling purposes and only challenges everyone to $10 a month. If $25 is really going to make you uncomfortable, then you can fulfill the challenge by supporting your local soup kitchen. Granted, this is a cliche month to do that and they could use help all year round, but the local underprivileged need and can enjoy food just as much as everyone else.

October's Showcase: Love146

If you're like me, the first thing that comes to mind for October is Halloween. Let's talk about something that is truly scary.

Out of all the causes I have listed in this project, human trafficking is one of the issues that stirs me most. I'll spare you the horror stories and tell you about how I started learning more about this.

Fundraising idea!

About a year ago, I attended a couple monthly dessert houses. A member of the group would host them at their house and 30 or 40 people would come, usually all young adults. Local artists would display their work, local musicians would take turns at the mic, people would talk, and a dozen or so people would volunteer to bring desserts and teas. Each dessert house would have a cause or organization for the theme, and time would be set aside for someone to introduce an organization and what they do. Cash donations were free-will, but $10 was the suggested amount.

Actually, it was after attending one of these dessert houses that I got the idea for this blog! Love146 was presented at the first one I attended, but I found out about a few others at these as well.

Why is it called that?

This story I will pass on because it stuck out in my mind. When the people who started the organization were doing an undercover investigation of a child prostitute house by posing as customers, they were able to view the young girls from behind a window to choose which one they wanted, and then pay for different things they could do to them. The girls were all wearing dresses with numbers pinned to them, and they had lifeless expressions. All except the one wearing the number 146, who still looked like she had some fighting spirit left in her. She left such an impression on them that they kept her number, but they never did see her again after that.

There are plenty of horror stories, and human sex trafficking--of grown women, boys and girls who are barely toddlers, both sold knowingly or tricked--is a very widespread problem, but it's very difficult for governments to do anything to stop it. They lack the resources to go after traffickers, track down the victims' families, or even have any place to put the victims. Frequently the victims are too ashamed to return to their families, and after being repeatedly raped and undergoing multiple forced abortions, both physical and mental recoveries are very difficult.

What does Love146 do?

It is not Love146's position to go in and expose the traffickers, but they are able to educate the locals so as to prevent them from unknowingly feeding the system and allowing their loved ones to get hurt, they're able to perform research on the system, and they are able to provide after care for the victims once they are rescued.

At the safe houses, the victims receive medical care, education, professional counseling, and perhaps most importantly, care, comfort and understanding. The purpose is to take them from the depths of darkness to a point where they are able to sustain themselves with new skills and make a new life for themselves. I've read the details of what kind of care they provide, and indeed, this seems like the safest kind of place many of the victims could hope to get to.

Prevent horror stories

Part of the reason I bring this up is not just to support Love146, but also to spread awareness. This is not just a problem in Nepal, it's likely a problem in your own 1st world city.

There are two kinds of trafficking you should be aware: local people being trapped and forced into providing sex or pornography material, and people from abroad being kidnapped and brought to where customers have more money to spend on them.

In both cases, you should be suspicious if someone--like a waitress, dancer, or masseuse--is not allowed to talk to anyone, or if the owners seem especially defensive if anyone asks about them. Part of the way they keep a hold on their victims is to prevent them having the chance to call for help, or to threaten them into silence. This is generally true of both international and local cases.

Please, please take a look at the SlaveryMap to see what kinds of cases have been reported recently in your area. There is also more information on this site about how to report suspicions to the right authorities.

This is definitely the topic of this project that I get most emotional writing about. Besides supporting the work Love146 does, please keep your eyes open and spread awareness about human trafficking.

Payment Procedures

Giving is pretty straightforward: Make a donation here, and also check out their store, Facebook cause, and texting options at the bottom of the page. They're also on GoodSearch, which I'll be using again this month.

September's Showcase: One Laptop per Child

Well, but this time school has started again in the United States. Kids are strapping back on their backpacks and skipping or trudging to school where they'll be overwhelming with recess dilemmas, school lunches, and an overwhelming amount of information available through computers. No matter how much we argue until we're blue in the face about the quality of the education they get, you have to admit, at least they're getting one, and technology has become an indispensable part of that.

Which brings me back, of course, to economic development and how you have to think about it from many different angles for it to be effective. This month's focus is education.

The more educated a population is, the higher earning potential it has, the better quality of services it can provide, and the lower the child mortality rate. Thus, more widely available education is good.

Issues with getting kids to school and making sure girls are equally educated and providing teachers are entirely different complex issues with a number of solutions already in action around the world, so let's set those aside and just focus on the quality of the education.

We'll switch gears for a moment: globalization and technology. These are also things we can argue ourselves blue in the face about whether they hurt or help societies (especially in developing nations), but we can safely say they exist and they are changing the world, and if the world wants to develop, it must adapt to them.

Therefore: more educated populations need to have applicable skills, which means that they must be able to use technology.

Kids do have a knack for figuring out technology, as Sugata Mitra's experiments reveal. He embedded computers at child height in regions where children probably had never seen computers, and they would gather, play with them, and very quickly figure out how to use them. But computers are expensive and breakable! How can you bring computer and technological communication skills and internet access to kids all over the world, even way out in Micronesia?

One Laptop per Child fixes that. They provide small, highly durable (I cannot stress enough how durable), energy efficient, and education-oriented laptops to underprivileged children all over the world. Yes, even in the United States! They are not cheap, of course, and for that reason they are not handed out like toys. They are tools to help make educated individuals, and from there, educated populations.

Then we can start arguing about brain drain and outsourcing. Well, in any betterment of society, nothing stays simple. At least this organization has a very simple, straightforward function.

Payment Procedures

While the default donation page requests donations of $50-$1000, you still have the option of entering a lower amount of your choosing. For $199, you could also pay for an entire laptop and receive a card crediting you (or whoever you give in the name of) for it. You could also give stock, but that's not my area of expertise. I'm a cheap graduate who can only afford to work with cash.

August's Showcase: Seeds of Peace

This is likely the charity I have put the most thought and concern into. Considering that this is the month of Ramadan, I wanted a peace-related cause to feature. Choosing Seeds of Peace was difficult for two reasons:

1. Peace is difficult. Peace is really, really difficult and messy, and many well-intentioned peace operations don't have the impact they aim for (or at least the ones that do succeed frequently are given due credit because someone else is always ready to take credit for the successes). Even considering the rise in privatization of peace negotiations, it is hard to find an organization that stands apart from everything that I wish to fund.

Seeds of Peace sticks out to me for a few reasons. First, it is recognized (although not as much recently), and it does active work where it is needed, such as in the Middle East and South Asia. Second, it's not a "feel good" kind of peaceful way of bringing people together and wishing for peace. Rather, it takes youth from conflict-prone areas and provides training and workshops for future leaders in addition to providing friendships from group they previously held prejudices toward. They don't just hand them a diploma and congratulate them on finishing the program and get ready to welcome the next group--they provide a network of support and regular updates to their graduates. The purpose is to build consistent leaders for peace within the affected communities, not to try to bring peace in from outside. This is why I really like them.

2. The second reason this was a difficult decision was because I'm taking a risk on this one and breaking my own rule for only supporting financially sound organizations. Sadly (and startlingly), Seeds of Peace has a zero-star rating on Charity Navigator. I spotted this several months ago, but I have been following the organization since then to see if they would make any changes.

Sure enough, they have. They've hired a new head of development, which is a good sign because one of the major strikes against them was that they hadn't been growing for a few years. I've watched them add new ways to give (which I'll get to) to make sure they stay connected and relevant. They've also posted an official response to the Charity Navigator rating which addressed everything they were rated poorly on, and how it has been addressed and has been improving since that information was collected in a year of restructuring. It was the response I had been waiting for that answered all of my own questions about the course the organization is taking.

Charitable organizations, like any other kind of organization, can make mistakes, hit low points, and find it necessary to restructure themselves. I've seen it happen to companies who still remained good companies at their core, but did take some time to recover. In light of the state of the world economy, it's still happening to plenty right now. I believe enough in the work of Seeds of Peace and the angle it takes to want to support now while it is in need, but shows many signs of taking action to fix its problems.

Payment Procedures

Of course, I'm doing my $10 directly on the Make a Donation page, but this is where it gets interesting!

As you see here, they have arranged five ways for you to shop, set up wedding registries and do general internet searches like you would anywhere else, only using those particular sites will pay the organization of your choice! I highly suggest checking out those links even if Seeds of Peace is not your organization of choice. Though it's hard to break the search engine habits I already have, I am committed to using GoodSearch throughout the month of August for all my personal searching needs.