The charities on this page fall into three categories:
1. Sites that allow you to support a cause through buying products
2. Links to charities
3. Charities that earn money from sponsors for each click from you to their Web site, so you can donate without spending a penny. Sometimes they're associated with a triva or vocabulary game. These sites are marked with an asterisk -- "*".
Here are the sites that allow you to shop and still help others.
The online gift shop at The
North Shore Animal League has interesting merchandise and purchases help to support the programs for their
programs. NSAL is based here in Long Island, but its work isn't limited to NY. For instance, NSAL took in animals displaced by Hurricane Katrina).
Ten Thousand Villages is an organization that has been
working since 1946 to pay fair prices to artisans for handicrafts from around the
world. For instance, you can buy embroidered pillows made by women in Calcutta, India, or or soap stone sculptures that help the Undugu Society of
Kenya's work with poor children.
Presents for Purpose says
"Shop in Style and Make a difference. It was created by two cancer survivors
and they donate 25 percent of profits to a charity you pick and the options include cancer
research, HIV/AIDS education and infant health, among others.
AIDS
Nutrition Services Alliance (ANSA)
Network of volunteer organizations that
provide meals and visits to AIDS patients.
Alley
Animals
Volunteer organization that feeds and
rescues stray animals in Baltimore, Md., nurses them back to health and finds them
good homes.
America's
Second Harvest a.k.a. Feeding America
A network of food banks that distribute
food donated by food growers, manufacturers, distributors and retailers.
American Foundation for AIDS Research (AmFAR)
The
Animal Rescue Site*
Sponsors pay for each click generated by
users. The site works to help some of the 27 million unwanted animals who
are turned into shelters each year in the U.S. Each click to this site provides a bowl of food for an animal at the world's largest pet adoption center, North Shore
Animal League America, or at one of the Fund for Animals' world renowned animal sanctuaries, including the Black Beauty Ranch in Texas and the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in California.
The Bengal Rescue Network
The Bengal Rescue Network lists Bengal rescue groups across the United States and Canada. You can also sign up for its discussion group form the home page.
Bonded
Logic
This Arizona-based company recycles jeans and denim fabric donated to them and
turns it into safe, non-toxic insulation, much of which, right now, is then
donated to Habitat for Humanity to insulation the homes they build.
The
Breast Cancer Site*
Sponsors pay for each click generated by users. The site helps to offer free mammograms to underprivileged women nationwide, women who otherwise would never be able to have access to early detection tests. The Breast Cancer Site was originally launched in October 2000. Proceeds benefit the National Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc.
The
Child Health Site*
Sponsors pay for each click generated by
users. More than 200,000 children die every week from preventable causes, and many millions more suffer from preventable disease, curable blindness, landmines and other crippling accidents. Funds raised by The Child Health Site go to its charity partners who use the money to distribute vitamin A, which strengthens young immune systems and prevents as many as 400,000 cases of childhood blindness each year; administer oral re-hydration formula to children with severe dehydration, a serious killer of children under five worldwide; make a prosthesis (usually a foot or a leg) to enable child amputees to walk and lead active lives; restore lost eyesight through simple surgeries that reverse blindness caused by cataracts and trachoma; test pregnant mothers for HIV as a step toward preventing mother-to-child transmission of the AIDS virus.
Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation
The
Comix 4 Sight
Help save comic book writer John Ostrander's eyesight. You can either donate directly or bid on eBay auctions of comic book-related items.
Doctors
Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)
Delivers emergency aid to victims of
armed conflict, epidemics, and natural and man-made disasters, as well as those
lacking health care due to social or geographical isolation.
Dress
for Success
Empty your closet of business clothes
and help low-income women enter the workforce.
The
Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation
The foundation is the leading
worldwide, non-profit organization dedicated to identifying, funding and conducting pediatric research that will lead to better treatments and prevention of HIV infection in infants and children, to reduce and prevent HIV/AIDS transmission from mother to child and to accelerate the
discovery of new treatments for other serious and life-threatening pediatric diseases.
Free Kibble*
Sponsors pay for each click generated by
users. Founded by 12-year-old Mimi Ausland, from Bend, Oregon, Free Kibble and its sister site Free Kibble Kat* provides high quality, all natural kibble to animal shelters in 11 states (Oregon to Florida) to help hungry pets. As of March 14, 2009, the group had donated 60 tons of kibble. Visit the sites each day and answer a trivia question. Whether you get it right or wrong, free kibble is donated by Castor and Pollux Pet Works for each click. It's fun and it helps animals.
Free Rice*
Sponsors pay for each click generated by
users.Talk about a win/win. Play a vocabulary game and each right answer translates into a donation of 10 grains of rice to feed the hungry. The game is totally addictive and helps you build your vocabulary. There's no limit on how much you can play.
Great Lakes Bengal Rescue
A volunteer-run organization that serves the Great Lakes-Midwestern region of the United States.
Helen
Keller Worldwide
This 88-year-old organization is one
of the oldest international, non-profit organizations devoted to fighting and
treating preventable blindness worldwide.
Hero Initiative
The first federally chartered not-for profit corporation (under section 501 (c) (3)) that provides a financial safety net by assisting with emergency medical aid and financial support for comic book creators in need. Most trade organizations from plumbers to pottery creators have this sort of support but prior to March 2001 it did not exist in the comic book profession, even though most of the writers and artists who toiled on beloved characters like The Flash, Green Lantern, Captain America, etc. did so as work-for-hire employees and never saw a penny of royalties. The Hero Initiative helps these creative men and women in their time of need.
Hugs
for Homeless Animals
Organization of the "snuggle"
program. It also has an excellent resource list to find animal shelters and
rescue organizations all over the U.S. and around the world.
The
Hunger Site*
Sponsors pay for each click generated by
users. The money raised purchases staple food that is distributed to those in need by
the site's charitable partners Mercy Corps and America's Second Harvest. All of
the money raised goes directly to the aid of hungry people in more than 74 countries, including those in
North America, Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Latin America.
Little
Shelter Animal Rescue
An animal rescue organization based in
Huntington, NY.
Make-a-Wish
Grants the requests of children with
life-threatening illnesses.
Mercy
Corps
This not-for-profit group works to alleviate suffering, poverty, and oppression by helping people build secure, productive, and just communities. Since 1979, Mercy Corps has provided more than $640 million in assistance to 74 countries with more than 91 percent of the agency's resources allocated directly to programs that help those in need.
North Shore Animal League America
Founded in 1944, this non-profit humane organization
supported only by donations. The League strives to find the best home for each
animal, even if the pet is blind, deaf or otherwise disabled. Over the years,
the League has saved more than 800,000 lives through programs such as Pet
Adopt-a-thon, Tour For Life, Sponsor A Dog and the Animal Poison Hotline.
The League rescues animals from local animal control facilities and shelters and
prepare them for adoption, along with other homeless pets left in their care. The
League's adoption procedures include a pre-adoption interview, reference checks, and in-home follow-ups after the adoption. Special programs, such as Sponsor A Dog, Sponsor A Cat, and Help Me Heal assist animals with special needs. The League operates an adoption center, veterinary hospital, emergency medical service, training center and other facilities,
all of which are open 365 days a year.
Operation
Smile
A private, not-for-profit, volunteer
organization providing reconstructive surgery and related health care to
children and young adults in developing countries and the United States.
Oprah's
Angel Network
Oprah Winfrey's charitable organization which includes, among many other things, the O Ambassadors program, which teaches children the joys of helping others. The site is regularly adding new programs so check it regularly.
Pet
Peeves
A Long Island charity that helps abused and homeless animals.
Prosthetics
Outreach Foundation
A charity that works to restore mobility and independence to disadvantaged amputees worldwide by providing the best available practical solutions for prosthetic care and rehabilitation. The use of landmines in Vietnam, Cambodia, Nicaragua, Angola and other countries have created a growing population of amputees in the poorest parts of the world.
Race
for the Big Cats*
Sponsors pay for each click generated by
users. The site works with the Wildlife Conservation Society to protect
endangered snow leopards, tigers and jaguars, with 100 percent of the money
raised going directly to conservation programs.
Race
for the Oceans*
Sponsors pay for each click generated by
users. The site works with Oceana, a new non-profit, international advocacy
group working to protecting the world's oceans to sustain the circle of life.
Race
for the Primates*
Sponsors pay for each click generated by
users. The site works with Jane Goodall Institute, which was founded in
1977, to use education, conservation and development, and wildlife research to make a difference for all living things.
Obviously, it also works to preserve endangered primate species.
Race
for the Rainforest*
Sponsors pay for each click generated by
users.The site now also donates money per click to the preservation of the American prairies and marine wetlands in addition to rainforest conservation.
The
Rainforest Site*
Sponsors pay for each click generated by users. Money
raised goes to purchase and preserve rainforest land in Ecuador, Mexico, Peru,
Paraguay and other areas around the world. The site works with The Nature
Conservancy, The Rainforest
Conservation Fund, The World Parks
Endowment and The Friends of Calakmul
to carry out this work. In just its first year of operation, The Rainforest Site
raised enough money to preserve over 5,650 acres of endangered land, but
rainforests are still disappearing at an alarming rate.
Share Our Strength
Works to end hunger in the U.S. and around the world.
Also raises money through the "Taste of the Nation" dinners.
Shoe Bank
Founded in 1989, Shoe Bank's original goal was to put comfortable shoes on the feet of a few hundred homeless people in Dallas. Today it provides 20,000 shoes -- mostly for children -- in the U.S. and abroad.
Charities for Sept. 11 and its aftermath:
To avoid donation scams, go to: http://www.newyork.bbb.org/ or call 212-533-7500
To donate money:
--Salvation Army
1-(800) SAL-ARMY
--The United Way
The United Way of New York and the New York Community Trust have established a
fund to help the victims of the attacks and their families. The September
Eleventh Fund will provide immediate support to established emergency assistance
agencies. Anyone wishing to contribute may send their donations in care of
United Way, 2 Park Ave, New York, New York, 10016, or call: (212) 251-4035.
Donations are also being accepted on United Way of New York City's Web site: http://www.uwnyc.org.
--National Disaster Search Dog Foundation
This organization takes dogs from animal shelters and trains them to be
search-and-rescue dogs. The NDSDF provided many of the dogs being used in the
rescue and recovery efforts at the World Trade Center. http://www.ndsdf.org
Hotlines:
Main New York City Numbers:
- NYC Emergency Information: 212-560-2730
- NYPD Emergency Information: 212-741-4626 or 866-856-4167