There is so much need in America right now. It feels like new charities are being formed every minute. Late night TV show hosts often highlight a different charity every night, based on the celebrity guest’s preference. Many of us would like to donate but are not sure which charity will make the best use of our money.
According to Wikipedia, Charity Navigator is a charity assessment organization that evaluates charitable organizations in the United States, operating as a free 501(c)(3) organization that accepts no advertising or donations from the organizations it evaluates. It was launched in spring 2001 by John P. (Pat) Dugan, a wealthy pharmaceutical executive and philanthropist. Initially, Charity Navigator provided financial ratings for 1,100 charities and now has data on 9,479. In 2011, Kiplinger's Personal Finance selected Charity Navigator as a money management Innovation for "helping millions of people become philanthropists," and it is on Time magazine's top 50 websites of 2006 list. You can donate to a charity through the Giving Basket on Charity Navigator’s website at http://charitynavigator.org.
The goals of Charity Navigator per its website are:
· Equip the entire philanthropic ecosystem with the tools needed to make impactful investments.
· Expand the number of people who understand and commit to the idea of intentional philanthropy.
· Deepen the world’s commitment to giving.
Its mission is to make impactful philanthropy easier for all, and its vision is a world where philanthropy is inclusive, vibrant and effective.
10 of the Best Charities That Everyone’s Heard Of
Per the Charity Navigator website, there are 10 of the best charities that everyone’s heard of throughout the country and the world. They are large, complex organizations with budgets exceeding $100 million and at least $65 million in net assets. They became household names in part because of their exceptional financial management — no easy feat considering the scope and size of their operations. Charitable givers should feel confident that these national institutions put their donations to good use.
1. Ronald McDonald House Charities Inc.
According to Wikipedia, Ronald McDonald House Charities https://www.rmhc.org/ is an American independent nonprofit organization whose stated mission is to create, find, and support programs that directly improve the health and well-being of children. Gerald Newman, chief accounting officer for McDonald's Corp., was one of the founders of Ronald McDonald Children's Charities and was president of RMHC.
The first Ronald McDonald House was opened in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1974. There are 368 Ronald McDonald Houses in 64 countries and regions. These provide a place to stay for families with hospitalized children under 21 years of age (or 18, depending on the House), who are being treated at nearby hospitals and medical facilities. Ronald McDonald's Houses provide over 7,200 bedrooms to families around the world each night, with an estimated value of $700 million in lieu of hotel costs.
International
In 1981, the first Ronald McDonald’s House outside the United States opened in Toronto, Ontario. The first Ronald McDonald House in Australia was opened in Camperdown, New South Wales, the same year. The first Ronald McDonald House in Hong Kong was opened in 1996 in Shatin. The first in-hospital Ronald McDonald House in the Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa region opened at Queen Sirikit National Institute of Child Health in Bangkok, Thailand, on June 7, 2011. On May 21, 2016 Ronald McDonald Barnefond (Ronald McDonald Children's Fund), along with Stine Sofies Stiftelse, opened the world's first camp and learning center for children in Norway.
2. The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International
According to Wikipedia, the Rotary Foundation https://www.rotary.org/en/about-rotary/rotary-foundation is a non-profit corporation that supports the efforts of Rotary International to achieve world understanding and peace through international humanitarian, educational, and cultural exchange programs. It is supported solely by voluntary contributions from Rotarians and friends of the Foundation who share its vision of a better world.
The Foundation was created in 1917 by Rotary International's sixth president, Arch C. Klumph, as an endowment fund for Rotary "to do good in the world." It has grown from an initial contribution of $26.50 to more than $1billion. It has one of the largest and most prestigious international fellowship programs in the world.
Since the PolioPlus program's inception in 1985 more than two billion children have received oral polio vaccine. To date, 209 countries, territories and areas around the world are polio-free. As of January 2012, India was declared polio free for the first time in history. As of June 2011, Rotary has committed more than $850 million to global polio eradication.
Since 1978, projects that improve health, alleviate hunger, or promote human development in 74 countries have been funded at a cost of $74 million.
Up to 100 fellows are selected every year for Rotary Peace Fellowships in a globally competitive process based on personal, academic, and professional achievements. Fellows earn a master's-level degree or a professional development certificate in peace and conflict studies at one of six Rotary Peace Centers at leading universities in Australia, England, Sweden, Japan, the United States and Thailand.
3. Matthew 25: Ministries
According to Wikipedia, Matthew 25: Ministries https://m25m.org/ is an international humanitarian aid and disaster relief organization headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. It provides humanitarian aid and disaster relief to the poor throughout the U.S. and around the world. It collects excess products from corporations and manufacturers as well as the general public and ships these donations to those in need. The name of the organization is derived from the Bible verse Matthew 25:34-40 "… For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me … "
Matthew 25: Ministries began as the result of a trip Founder and President Reverend Wendell Mettey made with a group of doctors and nurses to Nicaragua in 1990. Seeing the poverty there, he felt he needed to find a way to help the people of Nicaragua. He was able to develop a system to collect and redistribute food, clothing, personal care, cleaning, medical and educational supplies which were no longer useful by U.S. standards.
Since 1991, Matthew 25 has established partners throughout the United States and around the world. It has grown from a small group of individuals carrying supplies in suitcases to an international humanitarian aid and disaster relief organization distributing over 14 million pounds of products around the world each year. In 2012, Matthew 25 surpassed $1 billion in aid shipped around the world since 1991.
Matthew 25: Ministries has responded to a variety of natural disasters including: Hurricane Katrina, the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami, the 2012 Colorado wildfires, Hurricane Sandy, Oklahoma tornado in 2013, Typhoon Haiyan in 2013 and the Ebola outbreak in Liberia in 2014.
4. Vitamin Angels
According to its website https://www.vitaminangels.org/, Vitamin Angels is a charity that provides lifesaving vitamins to mothers and children under five at risk of malnutrition — reducing preventable illness, blindness and death — to create a healthier world. It reaches underserved populations one community at a time through a vast network of nonprofit partners. It delivers vitamins to 70 million children in 70 countries, using 1.600 field partners. It believes vitamins are a proven solution to reducing global malnutrition. To make a holistic and lasting impact, it also provide deworming tablets for children and promotes nutritional counseling for mothers in need.
Vitamin Angels will be spearheading a global effort to reduce newborn mortality rates by scaling up its prenatal multivitamin program to meet the needs of 50 million women annually by the year 2030. With an estimated 7,000 newborns dying daily per data released by UNICEF, Vitamin Angels is rallying support to address the pressing need. By increasing the distribution of prenatal multivitamins to existing and new field partners, the organization will support improved birth outcomes and save newborn lives on a global scale.
5. World Resources Institute
According to Wikipedia, the World Resources Institute https://www.wri.org/ is a global research non-profit organization established in 1982 with funding from the MacArthur Foundation [under the leadership of James Gustave Speth. WRI's activities are focused on seven areas: food, forests, water, energy, cities, climate and ocean. It offers services including global climate change issues, sustainable markets, ecosystem protection and environmental responsible governance services. WRI has maintained a 4 out of 4 stars rating from Charity Navigator since October 1, 2008. In 2014, Stephen M. Ross, an American real estate developer, gave the organization $30 million to establish the WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities.
Some of its initiatives include:
· Aqueduct, an initiative to measure, map
and understand water risks around the globe.
· Champions 12.3, a coalition of executives to accelerate progress toward United Nations Sustainable Development Goal Target 12.3 to tackle food loss and waste.
· LandMark, a platform providing maps and information on lands that are collectively held and used by Indigenous peoples and local communities.
· Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance, a partnership of NGOs, customers, suppliers and policymakers working to increase global use of clean and renewable energy. It has 300 members including Google, GM, Facebook, Walmart and Disney.
6. Samaritan’s Purse
According to Wikipedia, Samaritan's Purse https://www.samaritanspurse.org/ is an evangelical Christian humanitarian aid organization that provides aid to people in physical need as a key part of its Christian missionary work. The organization's president is Franklin Graham, son of Christian evangelist Billy Graham. The name of the organization is derived from the New Testament parable of the Good Samaritan. It works in more than 100 countries and its international headquarters are in Boone, North Carolina.
Bob Pierce founded Samaritan's Purse in 1970 with a vision "to meet emergency needs in crisis areas through existing evangelical mission agencies and national churches." Pierce had previously founded World Vision in 1950.
Franklin Graham met Pierce in 1973, and they made several trips together to visit relief projects and missionary partners in Asia and elsewhere. Graham became president of Samaritan's Purse in 1979 following Pierce's death in 1978.
As the organization grew, Samaritan's Purse not only funded mission partners but also began to develop its own large-scale relief projects:
· Providing medical care in the midst of conflicts in Somalia in 1993, Rwanda in
1994, Sudan since 1997, Kosovo in 1999,
· Rebuilding or repairing thousands of houses following Hurricane Mitch in 1998, the El
Salvador earthquakes in 2001, the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
· Chartering emergency airlifts to Indonesia and Pakistan in 2005, North Korea in 2007 and
Myanmar and China in 2008.
· Distributing food to hundreds of thousands of displaced people in Uganda and Darfur.
7. Direct Relief
According to Wikipedia, Direct Relief https://www.directrelief.org/ — formerly known as Direct Relief International) is a nonprofit — nonpartisan organization with a stated mission to “improve the health and lives of people affected by poverty or emergency situations by mobilizing and providing essential medical resources needed for their care." The organization is headed by an independent Board of Directors and President and CEO, Thomas Tighe. It has provided relief for 12 hurricanes, seven earthquakes, three volcanic eruptions, four disease outbreaks including COVID-19, five wildfires and one typhoon.
In 1945, William Zimdin, an Estonian immigrant to the United States and businessman, began sending thousands of relief parcels to relatives, friends, and former employees in Europe to help with the aftermath of World War II. In 1948, Zimdin formalized his efforts with the establishment of the William Zimdin Foundation. Dezso Karczag, a Hungarian Jewish immigrant assumed management of the foundation following Zimdin's death in 1951. Karczag changed the organization's name to 'Direct Relief Foundation' in 1957. The organization assumed the name "Direct Relief International" in 1982 and "Direct Relief" in 2013.
In September 2016, Direct Relief began working with Matthew Moffit after he raised $300 online for a non-profit called Child's Play in 2009. To raise the money, Moffit and friends played Legend of Zelda for about 36 hours straight while hosting a live online broadcast of their marathon. Several months later, Moffit raised $3,300 for the American Cancer Society.
Direct Relief and Moffit partnered to produce Zeldathon. The charity is meant to be promoted to other gamers who would raise money for the group. Since Moffit and Direct Relief partnered, Direct Relief Gaming has raised $1.6 million for the organization.
In 2018, Direct Relief donated a record amount of medical supplies and direct funding to help local health centers in the U.S. along with 100+ other countries. Direct Relief provided about $1.2 billion worth of wholesale materials to health centers in 2018. In order to ensure the organization's ability to help no matter what the environmental conditions were, Direct Relief built a solar-powered and Tesla battery micro-grid on a warehouse in California to stay running at all times.
8. Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
According to Wikipedia, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation https://www.cff.org/ is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in the United States established to provide the means to cure cystic fibrosis and ensure that those living with CF live long and productive lives. The Foundation provides information about cystic fibrosis and finances CF research that aims to improve the quality of life for people with the disease. The Foundation also engages in legislative lobbying for cystic fibrosis.
The Foundation was established in 1955 by a group of volunteers in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In addition to providing grants for research into cystic fibrosis and supporting clinical trials, the foundation promotes and accredits 115 specialized centers for treatment of individuals with cystic fibrosis. The Foundation has over 80 chapters and offices across the United States. In 1989, scientists working for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation discovered the gene that causes cystic fibrosis, considered the key to developing a cure for cystic fibrosis.
From 1982 until 1999, sports journalist Frank Deford served as chairman of the Foundation. The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation has been a pioneer of cystic fibrosis treatment, having played a major role in the development and use of five FDA-approved therapies, including ivacaftor (Kalydeco). The latest FDA approved drug is Trikafta, which was passed by the FDA in 54 days and is able to help up to 90% of the cystic fibrosis community.
In 2014, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation sold the rights to the royalties of the drugs for $3.3 billion, 20 times the Foundation’s 2013 budget.
One of the biggest signature events is the Great Strides walk, established in 1989. It is a sponsored walk akin to Race for the Cure, where participants walk 10 kilometers (6.2 mi) to raise money to support research for cystic fibrosis. There are Great Strides walks in over 560 locations throughout the country.Great Strides has succeeded in raising over $180,000,000 for cystic fibrosis research.
Some other signature events include the CF Cycle for Life, CF Climb, Xtreme Hike and Team CF. The list of national events includes Ultimate Golf Experience, American Airlines Celebrity Ski and Volunteer Leadership Conference.
9. Catholic Medical Mission Board
According to Wikipedia, the Catholic Medical Mission Board https://cmmb.org/ is an international, faith-based NGO, providing long-term, co-operative medical and development aid to communities affected by poverty and healthcare issues. It is headquartered in New York City. The history of CMMB — known as a committee of the Catholic Hospital Association until 1927 — dates back to 1912, when a personal tragedy inspired CMMB’s founder Dr. Paluel J. Flagg to commit to medical missionary work, beginning with leprosy patients in Haiti.
For many decades, CMMB prioritized the shipping of medical supplies and equipment to missionaries and health partners around the world. In 1949, Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, television personality and national director of the Society of the Propagation of the Faith, joined CMMB’s board and served for 26 years.
CMMB’s health programs include Children and Mothers Partnerships or CHAMPS, shipping of medical supplies, placement of international medical and nonmedical volunteers, HIV/AIDS, prevention and treatment of neglected tropical diseases and disaster relief to areas that experienced natural or political catastrophes. CMMB actively works with the U.S. government on programming, such as the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief or PEPFAR and USAID.
10. The Carter Center
According to Wikipedia, the Carter Center https://www.cartercenter.org/ is a nongovernmental, not-for-profit organization founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. He and his wife Rosalynn Carter partnered with Emory University just after his defeat in the 1980 U.S. Presidential elections. The center is located in a shared building adjacent to the Jimmy Carter Library and Museum on 37 acres of park land, on the site of the razed neighborhood of Copenhill, two miles from downtown Atlanta, Georgia. The library and museum are owned and operated by the United States National Archives and Records Administration, while the Center is governed by a board of trustees, consisting of business leaders, educators, former government officials and philanthropists.
The Carter Center's goal is to advance human rights and alleviate human suffering, including helping improve the quality of life for people in more than 80 countries. The center has many projects including election monitoring, supporting locally led state-building and democratic institution-building in various countries, mediating conflicts between warring states and intervening with heads of states on behalf of victims of human rights abuses. It also leads disease eradication efforts, spearheading the campaign to eradicate Guinea worm disease.
In 2002, President Carter received the Nobel Peace Prize for his work “to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights and to promote economic and social development” through the Carter Center. In 2007, he wrote an autobiography entitled “Beyond the White House: Waging Peace, Fighting Disease, Building Hope,” which chronicles the first 25 years of The Carter Center.
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