Charities A-Z

This is a list of notable charities, listed in alphabetical order. For evaluating charities, an excellent site is Charity Navigator.

Your help is needed! If you have links to other high-quality charities or feedback on these, please send us your suggestions!

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) – “We work also to extend rights to segments of our population that have traditionally been denied their rights, including Native Americans and other people of color; lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender people; women; mental-health patients; prisoners; people with disabilities; and the poor.”
American Red Cross – “the nation’s premier emergency response organization”
Arbor Day Foundation – they “inspire people to plant, nurture, and celebrate trees.”
Charity Navigator – service for finding and evaluating charities
Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) – “MSF provides aid in nearly 60 countries to people whose survival is threatened by violence, neglect, or catastrophe, primarily due to armed conflict, epidemics, malnutrition, exclusion from health care, or natural disasters.”
Heifer International – donate livestock to families in need who then promise to pay forward the donation to others
Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation (HRRF) – “provides financial assistance to children and women affected by the genocides in Rwanda and other African nations”
Hunger Site, The – Click to give free food. Also click to give for: Breast Cancer, Child Health, Literacy, Rainforest, Animal Rescue.
International Planned Parenthood Federation – A “global service provider and a leading advocate of sexual and reproductive health and rights for all”
Lotus Children’s Centre – orphanage in Mongolia: “a place that provides children who come from some of the most terrible backgrounds; abandonment, sexual abuse, malnutrition and domestic violence; a chance to change their lives for the better. Through quality education, meaningful activities and by creating small family groups (10 children to one housemother), the Lotus Centre tries to give children a chance to make a positive future. Today 148 children call the Lotus Centre their home.”
Mickaboo Companion Bird Rescue – “We are a small bird rescue organization located in the San Francisco Bay Area. We are dedicated to rescuing parrot-type birds that have been either neglected, abused, sick, or injured. We rehabilitate them when necessary, and place them in safe, caring foster homes until a permanent home can be found. Our goals are: To ensure that birds in our care will have a safe, loving environment for life. To educate bird owners on the most current care information, so that their birds? medical, emotional, and dietary needs will be met.”
National Wildlife Federation – “National Wildlife Federation inspires Americans to protect wildlife for our children’s future”
Nature Conservancy – “The Nature Conservancy’s mission is to preserve the plants, animals and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive. They have developed a strategic, science-based planning process, called Conservation by Design, which helps us identify the highest-priority places, landscapes and seascapes that, if conserved, promise to ensure biodiversity over the long term. In other words, Conservation by Design allows them to achieve meaningful, lasting conservation results.”
Oxfam America – “Oxfam America is an international relief and development organization that creates lasting solutions to poverty, hunger, and injustice”
Oxfam International – “Oxfam International is a confederation of 13 like-minded organizations working together and with partners and allies
around the world to bring about lasting change. We work directly with communities and we seek to influence the powerful to ensure that poor people can improve their lives and livelihoods and have a say in decisions that affect them.”
Parrot Trust – “As a leader in parrot conservation and welfare, the World Parrot Trust works with parrot enthusiasts, researchers, local communities and government leaders to encourage effective solutions that protect parrots.”
Peregrine Fund – “works nationally and internationally, to conserve birds of prey in nature”
Planned Parenthood Federation of America – “delivers vital health care services, sex education, and sexual health information to millions of
women, men, and young people. For more than 90 years, Planned Parenthood has promoted a commonsense approach to women’s health and well-being, based on respect for each individual’s right to make informed, independent decisions about sex, health, and family planning.”
Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN) – “The nation’s largest anti-sexual assault organization”
Seva – “Seva (say-va) is a Sanskrit word for service. Seva Foundation was formed in 1978 with a mission to alleviate suffering caused by disease and poverty.”
Stone City Pagan Sanctuary – “Our purpose is to provide gathering space and facilities for Pagan community events, and permanent sacred spaces dedicated to the Old Gods. Stone City does not serve one single tradition or subset of the community exclusively – our intention is to be available to multiple traditions as a place for gathering, worship and support. Our community of friends and supporters is wonderfully diverse, representing people with backgrounds and practices including witches from many traditions (Feri, Gardnerian, Reclaiming, California Eclectic, and more), Druids, Thelemites, practitioners of Celtic and Norse faiths, Kemetics, members of NROOGD and CAW, shamans and animists, Buddhists, and others. We are dedicated to fostering ties between traditions and strength within the Pagan community.”
Survival International – “the only international organisation supporting tribal peoples worldwide”
Ten Thousand Villages – a fair trade retailer
Town Cats – “A Nonprofit, No-Kill Feline Adoption Center/Shelter and Feral Cat Advocacy Organization serving Santa Clara County, California.”
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) – “mobilizes political will and material resources to help countries, particularly developing countries, ensure a “first call for children” and to build their capacity to form appropriate policies and deliver services for children and their families.”
UNICEF United States Fund – “The oldest of 37 national committees for UNICEF worldwide, we are part of a global effort to save, protect and improve children’s lives”