One of the best gifts you can give at Christmastime is…
To your favorite charity or non-profit
Having worked for several non-profit organizations, I can tell you that they sorely need your support, especially as we dip further and further into recession. If you support the cause of a particular charity or non-profit, I would encourage you to give whatever you can this season to them.
If you don’t know of any, can I recommend two?
- LDS Humanitarian Services
This is a humanitarian services / disaster relief organization run by my church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. When they say ‘the Mormons were the first ones here’ after a natural disaster, they aren’t kidding. We have stockpiles of food and supplies located around the world which are mobilized sometimes days before an actual disaster hits. - The Perpetual Education Fund
This fund’s earnings are made into loans to students in developing countries. They use the money to get a trade education and break the poverty cycle. I was a missionary in Brazil when this program was announced, and saw firsthand the incredible power of this program.
The reason why I recommend these charities to you is because 100% of your donations go to the actual program. 0% go to the church or administrative costs. These programs are run by competent volunteers.
If you have a favorite charity, feel free to post a link to it so we can all help out!
Reading With Conviction supplies books to the Texas Prison system to support literacy programs. Literacy has an inverse relationship with recidivism, so these dollars come back into your pocket by taking repeat offenders and converting them to productive citizens.
Every penny you donate will be used for one purpose only: purchasing books.
Reading with Conviction is a 501(c)3 registered charity, so your contributions may be deductible. Please donate at http://ReadingWithConviction.org
Umm, or, you can give to “The Human Fund,” a fake non-profit George Costanza created to avoid buying gifts.