
Ask HN: Could you recommend a charity? - TravelTechGuy
I&#x27;m looking to donate a small sum of money. I&#x27;m looking for a charity that meets the following criteria:<p>1. Actually helps people in need.<p>2. Uses the money you donate towards helping people, not salaries and marketing.<p>3. Allows donating using PayPal&#x2F;Google Checkout&#x2F;Other digital payment option (I just don&#x27;t trust IT volunteers with keeping my CC safe).<p>4. And finally, has to be non-naggy (i.e., the fact that I gave once does not mean you can spam my inbox with repeat requests).<p>Would appreciate your suggestions (and opinions of my criteria).
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mtmail
[http://www.givewell.org/](http://www.givewell.org/)
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GiveWell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GiveWell))
is in the business of evaluating other charities.

I think on (4) you can only win by using one-off email addresses.

~~~
TravelTechGuy
Not if you use PayPal and they get your email from them.

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toomuchtodo
[https://watsi.org](https://watsi.org)

Meets all of your criteria, and 100% of your donation goes directly to
providing care for those in need. They are also radically transparent; a
google doc link is on their site showing where every dollar is spent.

~~~
orlandohill
Chase Adam's Startup School talk on Watsi is well worth watching.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlT3UhC7NwQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlT3UhC7NwQ)

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niftich
To stay meta, 'GiveWell' evaluates charities [1] and produces a small list of
recommended charities every year [2].

[1] [http://www.givewell.org/how-we-work](http://www.givewell.org/how-we-work)
[2] [http://www.givewell.org/charities/top-
charities](http://www.givewell.org/charities/top-charities)

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zcollins
You should check out effective altruism

[https://www.effectivealtruism.org/](https://www.effectivealtruism.org/)

Focus on donating to high impact charities that use the money effectively

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veddox
About your first point: Evaluating how effective a charity is can be
incredibly tricky, especially when they operate in a culture that's foreign to
you. To be able to judge well, you would need to see them in action as well as
have a thorough understanding of the situation on the ground. (An approach
that worked brilliantly in one place can be the exact wrong thing to do in
another situation, for example.)

In my experience, tiny one-project charities often do some of the best work,
because they are often closer to the community and the day-to-day life of the
people they serve than the big, global charities. Having said that, only the
big charities have the necessary resources to tackle the big problems... I
guess that's a tension we just have to live with.

BTW, I'm glad to hear you thinking about donating, we need a lot more people
who do!

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JamesBarney
I personally donate to the Against Malaria Foundation. There is plenty of
evidence that it's an effective charity. It's the top recommended charity from
GiveWell. They mentions that you're probably giving someone's
son/daughter/brother/sister an extra year of life for every $70-$100.(hell of
a deal if you ask me)

[http://www.givewell.org/charities/against-malaria-
foundation](http://www.givewell.org/charities/against-malaria-foundation)

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DanBC
Gloucestershire Young Carers.

A carer is someone who provides care for someone, but who is not paid to do
so. The person getting care is normally disabled, and often a relative. A
young carer is someone under the age of 18.

These children face significant amounts of ignorance, not just from student
colleagues but also from some teachers.

And they face tricky problems. When a child reaches 17 - 18, and is thinking
about going to university they feel guilt about leaving their cared for
person, and also about putting younger siblings into the caring role.

I recommend the Gloucestershire branch because they're closest to me, but
there are others around the UK.

Here's their website:
[http://www.glosyoungcarers.org.uk/](http://www.glosyoungcarers.org.uk/)

Here's their twitter feed:
[https://twitter.com/Glosyoungcarers](https://twitter.com/Glosyoungcarers)

I'm not sure they meet your criteria for option 3, but I'm sure they can work
something out.

(I have no connection to this charity. I don't work for them, and I don't get
any service from them.)

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Alex3917
> Uses the money you donate towards helping people, not salaries and
> marketing.

How exactly do you intend to spend money helping people if not paying
salaries? Any time you spend money you're paying for either a product or
service, and either way that money goes for paying people's salaries. (Unless
you just want to give money to people directly as basic income or whatever.)

~~~
mtmail
There are charities that get their base costs covered by yet other investors
and can claim 100% of donations go to the cause.
[https://www.charitywater.org/100percent/](https://www.charitywater.org/100percent/)
for example has fancy New York offices they can use for free.

~~~
TravelTechGuy
Thanks mtmail! I spent the last 20 minutes reading their material,
disclosures, and the Charity Navigator review
([https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summar...](https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=12548))
- and decided to donate to them. You made my day!

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stevekemp
When I was younger I decided that there were too many charities out there, and
that when I get stopped in the street, or saw an advert my money would get
diluted if I were to give to them.

On that basis I picked three charities, and when it is the right time of the
year I give money to them, and only them.

One of the charities I chose is the RNLI, the only charity that saves lives at
sea - [http://rnli.org/](http://rnli.org/)

I picked them because they quite literally save lives, at their own risk. And
while sometimes that might be because people go to sea with no knowledge, much
like people go climbing mountains in their shorts and get caught out by snow,
I think that they do a job that SHOULD be done.

Anyway you might prefer to pick something local, something that helps/impacts
you, or you might be open to anything, I can't guess, but the lifeboat
association is one choice I thought was good 20 years ago, and I still think
that.

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pontifier
Your local Makerspace would love to get a donation I'm sure...

Disclaimer: I run a Makerspace, but I don't make any money from it at all.

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phonon
[https://tikayhaiti.org/](https://tikayhaiti.org/)

[http://blogs.barrons.com/penta/2014/08/29/how-to-wisely-
give...](http://blogs.barrons.com/penta/2014/08/29/how-to-wisely-give-
humanitarian-aid/)

 _All_ the money goes towards care. Right now the founder (an infectious
disease doctor who is uncompensated by the charity and frequently pays for
charity expenses out of pocket) is in Haiti to help with the aftermath of
Hurricane Matthew and help prevent another cholera epidemic from recurring.

[https://tikayhaiti.org/hurricane-matthew/](https://tikayhaiti.org/hurricane-
matthew/)

I volunteer for them as well (for some technical things, like the website.)

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willmacdonald
I am helping to raise money for Feedback Madagascar,
[http://www.feedbackmadagascar.org/eng/index.php](http://www.feedbackmadagascar.org/eng/index.php)

Endorsed by Sir David Attenborough.

Here is a list of what they do:
[http://www.feedbackmadagascar.org/eng/whatwedo/](http://www.feedbackmadagascar.org/eng/whatwedo/)

In a nutshell, they are helping the environment through education to replant
the local forests. These trees are a key part of the silk production, which
they harvest and sell.

The are also improving education and healthcare in one of the poorest
countries in the world.

PS They have a trusted party to handle the credit cards.

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ericzawo
Having got to know a few people who have made careers out of working for MSF I
can unreservedly say they are one of the brightest lights for helping the most
vulnerable people on Earth. I would highly recommend looking into them.
[http://www.msf.org/en/donate](http://www.msf.org/en/donate)

Here's a breakdown of their financial expenditures
[http://www.msf.org/sites/msf.org/files/msf_finance_summary_2...](http://www.msf.org/sites/msf.org/files/msf_finance_summary_2015-2.pdf)

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veddox
Do you know anybody involved in charity work? I personally only give to
charities that I have personal connections to. (Although I have plenty of
those connections, so there's no shortage to choose from ;-) )

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Gustomaximus
The hospital ship is one of the greatest charitable concepts for me.

[http://www.mercyships.org.au/on-the-hospital-
ship.html](http://www.mercyships.org.au/on-the-hospital-ship.html)

Imagine every wealthy country supported one of these traveling around the
world.

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raeven
[http://www.savebyseva.org](http://www.savebyseva.org)

Active right now in India, giving trauma treatment to freed child slaves.

They are collaborating with Kailash Satyarthi (Nobel Peace price winner 2014).

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283oe8w
[http://shaukatkhanum.org.pk/donating-to-
us/](http://shaukatkhanum.org.pk/donating-to-us/)

Money will be spent only on patients if you donate in zakat catagory

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sidcool
Doctors without borders and Engineers without borders

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ryanlm
Zuck's charity.

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lie07
kidds kids

