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Where should you give your money to charity?
This site offers many interesting tips. Here are their recommendations for how to save lives. Their first pick, Population Services International, distributes condoms and insecticide-soaked bednets. Here is a New York Times article about their operation.
The pointer is from Michael Vassar, a regular MR commentator.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on December 20, 2007 at 11:40 AM in Economics | Permalink
Comments
"distributes condom and insecticide-soaked bednets"?
Really? What a horrible mental image.
Posted by: Mr Eugenides at Dec 20, 2007 11:57:12 AM
With a tip of the hat to Steven Landsburg, though, all of your donations should go to the charity you believe will do the most good. Don't diversify:
http://www.slate.com/id/2034/
Skeptical? Here is a mathematical proof:
http://www.slate.com/id/2034/sidebar/42581/
Being relatively new to this blog, I apologize if this topic has been previously debated, discussed, and dismissed.
Happy Holidays!
Posted by: Fly Fisher at Dec 20, 2007 12:34:26 PM
I think you meant "condoms and insecticide-soaked bednets". I'm having trouble trying to imagine condom-soaked bednets...
Posted by: Ansel F at Dec 20, 2007 12:40:25 PM
OK, but are those organizations going to leave me alone if I give them some money? Because whenever I give to a worthy cause, unsolicited, they put me on their mailing list and send me endless letters asking for more. I give to Oxfam once or twice a year - I think they are pretty good, but they are as guilty as the rest when it comes to bothering me.
Posted by: Mike Jenkins at Dec 20, 2007 3:30:12 PM
Mike: Tell them with your very first donation to toggle all privacy/no contact preferences on your donor record so they don't spam you or sell your information to other organizations to spam you. The latter is really important, because once your name and address are out there it's really hard to stay off lists, even if you've told to original charity not to stop sharing your information in the future.
Posted by: Jacqueline at Dec 20, 2007 4:23:27 PM
Why give to charity if I have to pay taxes? My own cynical view is that people who give to charity just want to show off how great and morally superior they are
Posted by: enrique at Dec 20, 2007 6:55:00 PM
Taking Landsburg's admonition to heart (or, um, digestive tract) I only contribute to the American Restroom Association (“America's advocate for the availability of clean, safe, well designed public restrooms”), a 501(c)(3) charity.
http://www.americanrestroom.org/admn/donate/index.htm
Posted by: guy in the veal calf office at Dec 20, 2007 7:21:55 PM
Also, don't forget to recognize who gives to charity and why. Arthur Brooks, the director of the Nonprofit Studies Program at the Maxwell School--my fair school--has written what I believe to be the seminal work on who gives and why:
"Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism"
http://faculty.maxwell.syr.edu/acbrooks/
Although he's clear in the book in saying that he's not in the business of judging what motivates people, he does attribute the propensity to give on certain characteristics. So when you're debating amongst your colleagues where to give, I think it's good to understand why.
Posted by: Tony at Dec 21, 2007 1:33:19 AM
"Because whenever I give to a worthy cause, unsolicited, they put me on their mailing list and send me endless letters asking for more."
Mike: Or you could just give to the Mercatus Center, and they'll send you beanie babies.
Posted by: Jacqueline at Dec 21, 2007 10:04:45 PM
Thanks for the link to givewell.net. I've been arguing with my spouse for years about my annual donations to universities on my c.v. But she's right--whether I give $1 or $1,000 (which I think of as not insignificant), it makes zero difference to the quality of education at these institutions which have endowments in the $billions.
I suppose my primary motivation has been gratitude because their degrees helped me to get jobs, but this reasoning makes as much sense as sending a thank-you check to Microsoft because its software helps me at work every day.
Posted by: Steve Y. at Dec 25, 2007 3:04:49 PM
Im from Georgia and encourage anyone who wants to help college students not only achieve academic work but
to aid them in doing good for the community to check this out. Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Partnership Foundation has
started a grant program to support college students in community service, that you can support by donating to the cause here http://www.jrcpf.org .
Its called Carter Candles -
Ignite Hope - Light a Candle - Change the World
Examples of Student Projects made possible by donations:
A student in ‘structural engineering’ designed and built a handicap ramp in a senior citizen’s home
A nursing student introduced disabled children to skiing through recreational therapy
A computer Science student taught computer and technology skills to middle school students
Environmental Science student cleaned a neighborhood with community members
An architecture major helped in historic neighborhood restoration
Education majors have taught reading skills to children in poor neighborhoods
A nutrition student taught senior citizens how to follow their physician’s diet by teaching in cooking classes
A medical student and a student in public health taught parents to recognize early signs of asthma in children
An accounting major helped a poor family file tax returns and claim refunds
Two students one from the US and the other from South America, have jointly won a grant to improve indoor air quality in a refugee camp in Honduras
In the UK students have received grants for addressing hate crimes and restorative justice
Other college community partnership examples are Rain Water Harvesting, Polio Eradication and Adult Literacy in India.
______________________________________________________________
Call (404) 713-0393
Email for More Info donate@servicebook.org
Visit http://www.JRCPF.org or
http://www.ServiceBook.org
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