Which charity?

Question

I have to write a paper about a charity and the good it does. I was thinking WaterAid, which focuses their attention on buying and supplying clean water to poor countries http://www.firstbook.org/site/c.lwKYJ8NVJvF/b.674095/k.CC09/Home.htm Which one should I choose?

Answer 1

I have to go with firstbook.org.  They have an awesome rating on charity navigator.  But I love things that grow and this is the kind of thing that can shape the future of a childs life.  It sparks a learning process and has the potential to return so much more than just reading.  Good luck on the paper!

Answer 2

Personally, my favorite charity is St. Jude Children's Research Hospital because it is run 100% on donations...no child is EVER turned away for an inability to pay...and some of their treatments have really made progress in the fight against different diseases.  My advice to you is find a charity./cause that you feel very passionately about...the paper will practically write itself.

Answer 3

Check out The Hunger Project (http://www.thp.org/). They are a really amazing and visionary organization who have a very different view of helping people from poor countries than the traditional "aid" approach. Over several decades, they have developed a methodology for going in and helping people in poor rural communities set up self-sustaining systems that bring them out of poverty. They have been very successful with this, and have done a tremendous lot with a relatively small amount of money.

Also check out Kiva.org (http://kiva.org/). They are based on the microcredit concept (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microcredit... where banks loan small amounts of money to poor people (more often women) in countries, and they use the loans to bring themselves out of poverty. This has become a very popular approach to really helping people--essentially, helping people help themselves. Kiva has developed this into an online system, where you can see the people who are requesting loans (they are vetted through local non-governmental organizations), and contribute as little as $25 towards their project.

They may be wanting to buy a cow so they can sell the milk to make money, for example. Or, supplies to open a shoe repair shop. The possibilities are endless!