just another idea for those of you like me who always start late with christmas/holiday cards-

this site link below lists a number of charities that offer holiday cards
and if you read the icons listed you can see how much of your money will go to the charity. I like that feature.

Here is a link that might be useful: charity linked Christmas/holiday cards

I love Kiva.Org. Ordinary people give small loans to the working poor around the world. Sometimes you hear about how a cow or some chickens can change a family and you wish you could figure out how to help. Here is the answer. I have only done 2 small micro loans so far, $25 each but the best part about this is that as the entrepreneurs pay back the loan, the money gets deposited into your account and as soon as you hit $25 you get to lend your original $25 to someone new. It's like the gift that keeps on giving. I love that you can read the back stories and pick who you want to help. I just got to relend my first $25 about 2 weeks ago. Very neat organization.

Here is a link that might be useful: Kiva

Heifer International - check them out, including the websites that show how much of your donation actually goes to helping people in need, and you'll be impressed!

World Wildlife Fund

Habitat for Humanities

Goodwill Industries - they provide job training for people with barriers to employment. This is the approach of: give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

Good ideas, here, for the easily confused and sometimes skeptical, like me. I also like Toys For Tots this time of year, but I have never "invesitated" them to be sure nothing is going amiss. I just can't stand to think of children with nothing to open on Christmas morning.

JoanM, I had never heard of Kiva, and I think it sounds so intriguing. I'm going to check that one out for sure. Thanks for all the comments, everyone. I'm making a note to not forget those less fortunate this year.

Marcia

As a cancer survivor, the American Cancer Society has become our main charity- to send funds. However, we love Habitat for Humanity and have spent much time building, painting and yes- landscaping for new projects! It is fun establishing relationships with the families, and very rewarding. We also gift our no-longer-needed furniture and items to their store. We also like the Foundation for Fighting Blindness and although we haven't contributed in the last couple of years to this, plan to regularly again.

Through our church we have participated in after school and tutoring programs for kids needing extra help. I guess that's really not a charity, but the same mindset is there for me. However, this time of year we really have only taken on Christmas Angels. We love doing that. Sometimes we do children, and love going through their lists, but twice we've done seniors, and enjoyed that also.

Joanm, I also love your Kiva idea. I really would love to be a part of that. I plan on spending time looking at the site in more detail. Thanks.

Kiva is also one of my faves. It's so simple really and I feel I can help others in the agriculture sector.
I also like Worldhelp children sponsership and ICH;the International Center for Hope in Izhevesk,Russia.
Right now my church is partnering with one of our missionaries to build a well and school in the Sudan. It's part of our "I am Africa"campaign.After all the years we sat and did nothing about Dafur, I 'm happy for the priviledge to do something.

Whenever you see a disaster on the news, who's there first??? The Salvation Army.

Also, we unfortunately donate to the American Cancer Society through their website. I say "unfortunately" because it seems like everyone we know who dies, dies from cancer, so we send a donation to the website, and they send the family a card from us. They even send a thank you card to the family that they can send to you.

I read a big article in the paper about the Shriners. They do all their own fundraising, so they have a very low overhead. That means almost all the money goes to the children.

I also like St. Jude's Children's Hospital and your local animal shelter.

JulieYF, I like the ones you mention, too. The Shriners do such wonderful work with children who have been burned, you can't NOT want to help them out. And St. Jude's has been helping children since *I* was young, and that's a LONG time. I remember way back when it was DANNY Thomas who promoted it and not his daughter, Marlo. He's been gone a long time now, and Marlo is no spring chicken any more, either. Man, I'm OLD!

Habitat For Humanity is doing such good work, and helping to build a school in Africa is a marvelous undertaking.

You are all inspiring me! Such a generous group, with so many good ideas for how to help others! Wonderful!

Marcia

St. Jude's Hospital- my niece was 18 month old when she passed away from a rare form of leukemia. I love the Salvation Army Angel Tree. Susan G. Komen- I'm a breast cancer surivor (2 years).

Beverly

Habitat For Humanity - volunteer in their store instead of building a house . 93.7% of that money goes towards building a house . 100% of monetary donations are used for housing .
habitat.org

Hospice - what a blessing for those of us with relatives and friends near the end of their lives . I think the world of the Hospice of Ft. Myers . Has to be one of the best in the entire US . They were so kind and caring as my Mother slowly died from cancer .
http://www.floridahospices.org/

Battered Women's Shelter for me. They help people who really need it.

As an Army Mom, how could I forget - any charity that helps our veterans and our troops!

Susan G. Komen helped to pay for my mammogram when I lost my health insurance.

Julie

Everyone I know is poor and I think it's better just to try to help the people around me myself than donate to some chain charity. Most charities spend too much money on advertizing and corporate execs to be effective. When our house was destroyed by the 4 hurricanes that hit Florida in 2005 we were homeless, no clothes food or blankets and we couldn't get any help from ANY charity though we wasted massive amounts of time trying to get help from them all. From then on I'll never donate to a Salvation Army or Red Cross or anything like that again.

I am a big supporter of Echo. Or big by my means, anyway.

American Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders

John