Cleaning off my desk. Part 1
This has been on my to-do list forever. I start a little sometime, but my goal is to finish today. I save a lot of stuff I might want someday. Even with so much on line now, I don't want to hunt for a certain website, so have lots of addresses on little pieces of paper. So my hope is between this blog, and Pinterest, I can remove most of the stuff.
Here goes.
https://www.planetearthsingles.com/orion/joinpes/join.php Don't know if I will ever use this...Had it for years, but kept it "just in case". So I will keep it here.
http://www.ralphs.com/community/Pages/community_contribution.aspx Apparently I have sign up each year for Ralphs to give a percentage of what I spend to a charity of my choice. There are other stores too, but the one I signed up for with Ralphs gives me a reminder, that sits on my desk for a year or so. Maybe this will help.
Ok, only half done, but it feels really good. If I am going to make my annual Christmas Eve visit to church, better go get ready.
https://www.paypal-donations.com/about.html Just spent an hr. looking for this stupid site. Did I save it here last year and forget? Lets try this again.
https://www.missionfish.org/donation/MFSController?ACTION=BrowseAction&SUB_ACTION=GetSearchResult
Or maybe its this one. Frustration!
Pay Pal Donations This one?
Just to be sure I have it....First Charity Navigator which goes through Network for good when you make a donation. Then for the ones less than $10.00, I go through www.pay pal-donations.com which goes through Mission Fish. Paypal can be anonymous, and they are currently not charging a processing fee. But its kinda a pain in the butt you have to do each one separate. Network for good is kinda easier, but it has to be an even amount of at least $10. and there is a processing fee. I think its about 5% a bit less than a stamp. And it keeps a nice record of them.
I was hoping to try a few through their websites, with my new alias e-mail...but some did not use pay pal, so would need my real info,and even if they did, pay pal needs my real info. So unfortunately that really did not work for me. Still have a couple checks to write and mail tomorrow.
But mostly the donations are over. I dread them so. I am not doing them with the joy of giving. It so pisses me off that they seem to spend most of what I give killing trees and mailing me more stuff to ask me for more. I know I should just pick a few, and screw all the rest, but I just have not been able to bring myself to do that. I hoped doing stuff anonymously on line would help me fall off mailing lists, but that has not happened. I wanted to think if me and everyone else gave just a few dollars a year, we could save the world. Its not working out that way. I can't save the world, and am so tired of being asked to. I want to give with a joyous heart, but its become such a big ordeal it is far from it. Almost done except recycling all the dead trees, and sneaking little pieces into Dr's office waiting rooms etc. Hoping someone will see and want to help save the world also.
I really got away from the clean the desk part of this post. And am still not done. So to be continued....
Showing posts with label charity donations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label charity donations. Show all posts
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Charity Navigator
This is a gr
eat site to help people and charitable causes connect.
You can search by organization name or type of charity. They do the homework for you. They can tell you if the organization is using their funds wisely. It can be a little misleading in this economy. Hopefully most charities have some investment funds, that may well have tanked this year, so cut them some slack for that. You can find out if the CEO has a reasonable salery, and my personal favorite; how much they spend on fundraising.
You can give the charity your info, or be anonymous. You can keep all your tax record deductions in one place. You can pay with a credit card (I don't recommend that) or link your checking account to Pay Pal. I chose that way. That took a while...like several days for me, but I finally got it, and it will be easier next time. .
They say its better to not spread your donations too thin, but I have trouble saying no to all of them. Its silly. Its not like they are sitting by the mailbox, saying "Where is her annual $7.00 gift? Doesn't she care about us anymore? We could feed an animal for a week on that". Yet I guess that's how I feel. Anyway my point is it can be very easy to give to the cause of your choice. Any little bit you can spare would be appreciated. (possibly less so by mail than on line.) I received 90 requests so far in 2009! Sometimes I feel like they spent all of the little gift I gave them sending me mailings to ask me to send more. That's why I am switching to anonymous on line giving for a big hunk of the causes I support.
Check them out. You may be astonished at how many there are out there. Hey its the holidays, send a little to the animals or the environment, etc. It will mean more than some of the junk you buy people cause you think you have to get them something.
eat site to help people and charitable causes connect.You can search by organization name or type of charity. They do the homework for you. They can tell you if the organization is using their funds wisely. It can be a little misleading in this economy. Hopefully most charities have some investment funds, that may well have tanked this year, so cut them some slack for that. You can find out if the CEO has a reasonable salery, and my personal favorite; how much they spend on fundraising.
You can give the charity your info, or be anonymous. You can keep all your tax record deductions in one place. You can pay with a credit card (I don't recommend that) or link your checking account to Pay Pal. I chose that way. That took a while...like several days for me, but I finally got it, and it will be easier next time. .
They say its better to not spread your donations too thin, but I have trouble saying no to all of them. Its silly. Its not like they are sitting by the mailbox, saying "Where is her annual $7.00 gift? Doesn't she care about us anymore? We could feed an animal for a week on that". Yet I guess that's how I feel. Anyway my point is it can be very easy to give to the cause of your choice. Any little bit you can spare would be appreciated. (possibly less so by mail than on line.) I received 90 requests so far in 2009! Sometimes I feel like they spent all of the little gift I gave them sending me mailings to ask me to send more. That's why I am switching to anonymous on line giving for a big hunk of the causes I support.
Check them out. You may be astonished at how many there are out there. Hey its the holidays, send a little to the animals or the environment, etc. It will mean more than some of the junk you buy people cause you think you have to get them something.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Good search - navigate and donate for free.
I have lost this post twice today. I hit save, where did it go? Getting annoyed.
I wanted to talk about donating to causes. Hopefully most people have something they care enough about to donate a few bucks now and then. For some its breast cancer, or veterans, or hungry children or preventing animal abuse. What ever, there is a lot of need out there. If everyone gave just a little it would really add up. The price of one latte, or God forbid, a pack of cigarettes, or a few beers multiplied by the millions of people out there could change lives.
I certainly can not afford to give much, but for years have given a few bucks once a year to about a dozen organizations. For me its mostly animal organizations. (with the exception of a few natural disasters...Katrina, California wildfires..) I take maybe 1% or so of what I make that year, divide it up and send checks in Dec. Yeah, I wish it could be more. But its not. Even most really bad money years I gave something. Its kinda a karma thing.
But the part that pisses me off is, when I send a few dollars, then every month or so they keep asking me for more, until I feel they spent all I gave on mailings asking me for more. Why did I bother? If I could afford more I would have sent it the first time.
All letters now go in a pile that I seldom read, and I sort through them in Dec, and send checks. The ones that bug me the most now get less. I do read the "newsletters, and magazines" they send though, eventually. I am years behind, but feel like I should read them. I would prefer to be reading some of the books I have chosen, then spending my time reading a lot of what they send...but that's my compulsive reading thing. . I just read its more effective to just support a few, but its hard to cut them off after all these years. There are on line sites you can be anonymous at. Two that seem to be legit are Justgive.org, and Network for Good. However they charge 3-4.75% to cover their costs. That might be reasonable yet it annoys me.
A few years ago I discovered Charity Navigator. Its a great way to check that the organization is legit, and tell you how effectively they run their organization. Like if they are spending half the money they receive on fundraising, while a similar one is only spending 5%, I will reward the
more effective ones.
http://www.caringconsumer.com/charities.asp Please also check out that your donations are not contributing to animal suffering here. There are research alternatives to torturing and killing animals that are every bit as effective. Now if they want to test on human prison volunteers...I am fine with that.
There are places that have free giving, like Freerice.com, they can be fun and educational while also giving to worthy causes painlessly. I am looking for more like that. Some of the big stores have the option of liking your stupid swipe cards to a charity. That makes them less stupid, if for every thing you normally buy, the store donates to the charity of your choice. More on that.
If you click on my GOOD SEARCH title you can donate to the charity of your choice just by using them for a search engine. It seems simple enough. If it does not cost me anything and someone will benefit, why the heck not? I am going to try it. Hope you will too.
I wanted to talk about donating to causes. Hopefully most people have something they care enough about to donate a few bucks now and then. For some its breast cancer, or veterans, or hungry children or preventing animal abuse. What ever, there is a lot of need out there. If everyone gave just a little it would really add up. The price of one latte, or God forbid, a pack of cigarettes, or a few beers multiplied by the millions of people out there could change lives.
I certainly can not afford to give much, but for years have given a few bucks once a year to about a dozen organizations. For me its mostly animal organizations. (with the exception of a few natural disasters...Katrina, California wildfires..) I take maybe 1% or so of what I make that year, divide it up and send checks in Dec. Yeah, I wish it could be more. But its not. Even most really bad money years I gave something. Its kinda a karma thing.
But the part that pisses me off is, when I send a few dollars, then every month or so they keep asking me for more, until I feel they spent all I gave on mailings asking me for more. Why did I bother? If I could afford more I would have sent it the first time.
All letters now go in a pile that I seldom read, and I sort through them in Dec, and send checks. The ones that bug me the most now get less. I do read the "newsletters, and magazines" they send though, eventually. I am years behind, but feel like I should read them. I would prefer to be reading some of the books I have chosen, then spending my time reading a lot of what they send...but that's my compulsive reading thing. . I just read its more effective to just support a few, but its hard to cut them off after all these years. There are on line sites you can be anonymous at. Two that seem to be legit are Justgive.org, and Network for Good. However they charge 3-4.75% to cover their costs. That might be reasonable yet it annoys me.
A few years ago I discovered Charity Navigator. Its a great way to check that the organization is legit, and tell you how effectively they run their organization. Like if they are spending half the money they receive on fundraising, while a similar one is only spending 5%, I will reward the
more effective ones.
http://www.caringconsumer.com/charities.asp Please also check out that your donations are not contributing to animal suffering here. There are research alternatives to torturing and killing animals that are every bit as effective. Now if they want to test on human prison volunteers...I am fine with that.
There are places that have free giving, like Freerice.com, they can be fun and educational while also giving to worthy causes painlessly. I am looking for more like that. Some of the big stores have the option of liking your stupid swipe cards to a charity. That makes them less stupid, if for every thing you normally buy, the store donates to the charity of your choice. More on that.
If you click on my GOOD SEARCH title you can donate to the charity of your choice just by using them for a search engine. It seems simple enough. If it does not cost me anything and someone will benefit, why the heck not? I am going to try it. Hope you will too.
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