Americans, we are told, are most generous people.  We give to one another in many ways. Perhaps the most important donations we make are in our loving and kindly interactions with others each day of the year, our lending of helping hands when difficulties arise, our voulunteering in the greater community, and our providing the broken-spirited with a shoulder to lean on.

At this time of year for seasonal as well as financial planning reasons, those Americans who are fortunate enough to be able to do so, execute most of their charitable contributions. Without prying or tooting a self-aggrandizing horn, I thought it would be interesting and enlightening to discuss the giving habits or styles of the BooTrib Community.
Speaking as a member in mediocre standing, I use the week between Christmas and New Year to support my favorite non-profits in a tax-decuctible way.  And while John Hancocking this evening, I became aware that my cheek muscles were starting to ache, and realized that I had been smiling all the while I was draining my purse.

A moment’s thought, and I decided my happy feelings were because I truly cared about the organizations I was donating to. They are folks doing the work in support of causes that I feel passionately about.  They are promoting agendas that are politically correct in the sense that, to my way or thinking, their causes are what politics should be about.

I don’t write mega-checks; I just re-cycle a bit of what some investments earned over the year, so it’s really not “my” money at all that I’m giving away since I didn’t earn it by the sweat of my brow.  In a sense, it’s Republican-like money, unearned spawn of itself.  So, it’s best to get rid of it!

Who are the charities I most adore?  Well, I support 10 each year.  Not always the same 10, but pretty much so.  They range from broad internationals to small narrowly-focused locals. I see the categories of charitable work I go in for are wide-ranging, too: from international development to animal shelters, from medical research to environment causes.

And I try to avoid supporting the really BIG charities, the popular ones, the amorphous do-alls, and the super high profile ones like United Way, the Special Olympics and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.  I have nothing against them!  I just feel that my small drop in the bucket might make a more effective (and I confess — satisfying) splash in a different container.

I try to choose charities that give most of their money directly to those who need it, whether the homeless or the physician.  And I try to support charities that reflect my personal values — hence that warm feeling at check-writing time.

Here’s my Top 10 Favorite Charities for 2006

  1. Oxfam International
  2. International Medical Corps
  3. Ashoka
  4. American Foundation for AIDS Research
  5. The Conservation Fund
  6. Planned Parenthood
  7. National Alliance to End Homelessness
  8. Habitat for Humanity (for my neighborhood)
  9. Humane Society Adopt-a-Pet (for my neighborhood)
  10. Farm Shares (for my immediate neighborhood)

I’d like to read about your favorite charities and something about your rationale for choosing the one’s you support.  I know many of you give to charities for deeply personal reasons and may not wish to reveal those to us.  But anyone who does want to share, I can’t think of a better way to wash away that horrible lingering miasma of commercialism and materialism that seems to overwhelm the run-up to Dec. 25th.

Your comments will probably allow us all to get a head start on a Happy New Year.