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Charities that Do Good Work Without Oversoliciting

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Every year at this time, I, like countless other Americans, review my finances and figure out how much to give to the various charitable causes I support.  As per my previous post, I am often annoyed that some groups which do good work show little respect for their contributors (and potential contributors) by regularly sending appeals for donations, sending unsolicited gifts and asking for more money in letters confirming a contribution.

In this post, I’d like to single out three groups which send out only a handful of solicitations each year (in the case of one group, no more than two) and whose thank-you notes are just that, thank- you notes and not appeals for contribution.  They do good work by respectively, helping injured service members across the country, providing housing for the mentally ill homeless in Los Angeles and promoting free market ideas in our nation’s capital.

I encourage you to support these organizations:

  1. “The Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund provides financial assistance and quality of life solutions for Marines, Sailors and other military personnel assigned to Marine Forces, injured in post 9-11 combat, training, or with life threatening illnesses, and their families.”  Click here to donate.
  2. The Lamp Community helps “people living with severe mental illness move from streets to homes. Lamp offers immediate access to affordable, safe and permanent housing without requiring sobriety or participation in treatment.”  Click here to donate.
  3. “The mission of the Cato Institute is to increase the understanding of public policies based on the principles of limited government, free markets, individual liberty, and peace.”  They’re doing yeoman’s work on healthcare reform, promoting free market alternatives and challenging what was once the conventional wisdom on global warming.  Click here to donate.

Of course, there are many groups out there which do good work.  In my experience, these groups combine the good work they do for those in need of medical care, housing or an education in freedom while respecting those who want to help them meet those needs.

If your finances allow, be generous at this time of year, indeed, strive to be generous throughout the year.  Even if you don’t support these groups, please find a worthy cause to support.  Or a lonely friend to visit.  It’s not just through our donations that we can show our generosity.

Comments

  1. Great posts on charities. I can relate so much to your problems with charities that go overboard with constant solicitations. What’s more, they give your name and address to other charities that I am less interested in giving to. Frankly, I’d almost prefer just to hand out cash to a homeless person (which I don’t believe in doing for a variety of reasons, even though I do believe in helping the homeless) because at least that homeless person won’t have your address to keep asking you for more money each month. My frustration applies to charities as well as lobbying organizations and PACs. The number one reason I don’t give political contributions anymore is because I am certain, based on past experience, that my address will get passed around like a virus, and the average charity isn’t that much better. I feel bad for whoever lives at my old address; they probably still get a lot of garbage in their mailbox. As for my current mailbox, I want to keep it hidden from all those PACs and organizations that used to beg me monthly for money. To paraphrase Obi Wan, “This is not the mailbox your looking for.” As a result, I am careful not to make contributions to any but a small handful of organizations. After all, the same great organizations I’ve always supported can use extra dollars at least as well as some new organization. The fact that so many organizations, even ones that perform decent work, have their fundraising performed by some impersonal third party that doesn’t necessarily believe in the work but that just cares about raking in dollars makes it easy to take a cynical view of charities in general.

    Even so, it is important for conservatives to support charities. While we may believe that government should have just a limited role in helping those in need, we still believe such people ought to be helped. Charities are superior to government in that regard just as private companies are superior to government in providing goods and services. Charities provide a free-market for acting on our values just as private companies provide a free-market for getting goods and services. In both cases, competition for dollars makes organizations seek to please the person holding the dollars by performing well. Government has no real incentive to do anything efficiently or effectively with our money, whether that’s for our benefit or for our less fortunate neighbor. Groups like Semper Fi and the Lamp Community perform great work largely because they get held accountable by donors. The government gets tax money whether it performs well or not, and we see what the results are of that.

  3. My husband and I made a donation to Honor Flight this summer (Honor Flight is a grass roots charity that helps fly elderly WWII vets to see the WWII memorial).

    We have gotten a thank you note and no further requests for solicitations. The community band my husband and children play in have gone to the airport several times to play for returning vets through the program.

  4. Weird story: I gave to the Alzheimer’s fund that Nancy Reagan set up when Ronnie passed. It was a great cause and a well-run charity.

    But, they must have assumed that I was elderly and sold my name to like twenty radical old-age shake down groups. Don’t think I had even hit thirty-five at that point, but I still jokingly carry the AARP card they mailed me. I break it out at birthdays.

    Anyway, hadn’t heard of The Lamp Community, but I will check them out. This is a great post, Dan. Thank you.

    Best wishes,
    -MFS

  5. Many charities need physical volunteers as well. Most companies try and organize opportunities for community service. I know, Operation Gratitude will be flowing with over 600 such volunteers today.

    Money is good, giving of yourself, is also a great idea.
    Americans are amazing people, we are the most generous with our money and time in helping others.
    Thanks for the timely reminder, Dan.

  6. Don’t think I had even hit thirty-five at that point, but I still jokingly carry the AARP card they mailed me.

    A few years ago, I got a letter from the VFW stating they had found records that I served in the war in Korea and they wanted me to join. I was born in ’73.

    I didn’t reply back and never heard from them again, but I’ve always been curious what the heck that was about. A curious part of me wanted to take them up on that offer, but that would have been dishonorable.