I am only going to post each part to this list of charities once as there is ALOT of information... I am currently working on part 2 but as you can see I am very pationate about doing this as a group and hope that you all will be interested in helping me... Below is part 1 of a list I am putting together of different charities... I have given the name of the charity, the website address for each charity, and a description of each charity to help you all choose. Please take your time with this but I do hope that some of you will take the itme and read about these charities and help me in choosing one to donate our group project to. Thanks so much in advance for your time!
~Andrea~
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~:: WORLD VISION ::~
DESCRIPTION: As many as 10,000 people have died monthly since the conflict began in Darfur, Sudan, mainly due to pervasive – and preventable – disease and hunger. Brutal ethnic conflict has driven over 2 million people into homelessness, their huts and villages pillaged, burned, and destroyed.
Victims end up living in ramshackle huts in numerous camps along the edge of the Sahara. Displaced families have meager access to food, water, clothing, and shelter.
Health care is also extremely limited. And killings and sexual assaults are rampant.
Families barely survive, living in conditions that World Vision has rarely seen in its many years of serving the needy. The lives of thousands of children are threatened, their fathers, homes, and communities lost. They face a bleak future.
Your gift to World Vision today will enable us to provide lifesaving food and relief to the children and families of Sudan, rebuilding lives and communities and restoring hope.
~:: MAKE A WISH FOUNDATION ::~
http://www.wish.org/help/donate
DESCRIPTION:Since 1980, the Make-A-Wish Foundation® has enriched the lives of children with life-threatening medical conditions through its wish-granting work. The Foundation's mission reflects the life-changing impact that a Make-A-Wish® experience has on children, families, referral sources, donors, sponsors and entire communities.
The Make-A-Wish Foundation was founded in 1980 after a little boy named Chris Greicius realized his heartfelt wish to become a police officer. Since its humble beginnings, the organization has blossomed into a worldwide phenomenon, reaching more than 144,000 children around the world.
Although it has become one of the world's most well-known charities, the Make-A-Wish Foundation has maintained the grassroots fulfillment of its mission.
A network of more than 25,000 volunteers enable the Make-A-Wish Foundation to serve children with life-threatening medical conditions. Volunteers serve as wish granters, fundraisers, special events assistants and in numerous other capacities.
As the Foundation continues to mature, its mission will remain steadfast. Wish children of the past, present and future will have an opportunity to share the power of a wish®.
~:: RAINN- RAPE, ABUSE, AND INCEST NATIONAL NETWORK ::~
DESCRIPTION:The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) is the nation's largest anti-sexual assault organization and has been ranked as one of “America’s 100 Best Charities by Worth magazine.
National Sexual Assault HotlineAmong its programs, RAINN created and operates the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1.800.656.HOPE. This nationwide partnership of more than 1,100 local rape treatment hotlines provides victims of sexual assault with free, confidential services around the clock. The hotline helped 137,039 sexual assault victims in 2005 and has helped more than one million since it began in 1994.
National Sexual Assault Online HotlineRAINN will soon expand its hotline services with the National Sexual Assault Online Hotline, which will be the nation's first secure web-based hotline that provides live, secure and completely confidential help to victims 24/7 through an interface as intuitive as instant messaging.
Helping Policymakers and the MediaInnovative partnerships allow RAINN to reach millions of Americans each month with important information about sexual assault prevention, recovery and prosecution. RAINN is a frequent resource for television, radio and print news outlets — as well as local, state and national policymakers, law enforcement and rape treatment professionals — on the issues related to rape and sexual assault.
Educating America to Prevent Sexual AssaultIn addition, RAINN uses its extensive entertainment industry and community-based relationships to put critical information into the hands of young women and men at concerts, on campus and in communities. Through these many close partnerships, RAINN educates more than 120 million Americans each year about sexual assault.
RAINN also publicizes the hotline's free, confidential services; educates the public about sexual assault; and leads national efforts to improve services to victims and ensure that rapists are brought to justice.
We Can’t Do It AloneWe are proud to count entertainers, athletes, media networks and corporations as our partners. We are equally proud to have the financial and volunteer support of tens of thousands of individuals across the U.S.
Recognizing RAINN's effectiveness, efficiency and professionalism, Worth magazine selected RAINN as one of "America's 100 Best Charities.” More than 84 cents of every dollar raised is spent directly on sexual assault program services. RAINN was founded in 1994 by Scott Berkowitz, who continues as the organization’s president.
~:: PETA- PEOPLE FOR THE ETHICAL TREATMENT OF ANIMALS ::~
DESCRIPTION:People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), with more than 1.6 million members and supporters, is the largest animal rights organization in the world.
PETA focuses its attention on the four areas in which the largest numbers of animals suffer the most intensely for the longest periods of time: on factory farms, in laboratories, in the clothing trade, and in the entertainment industry. We also work on a variety of other issues, including the cruel killing of beavers, birds and other "pests," and the abuse of backyard dogs.
PETA works through public education, cruelty investigations, research, animal rescue, legislation, special events, celebrity involvement, and protest campaigns.
~:: National Alliance to end Homelessness ::~http://www.endhomelessness.org/
DESCRIPTION: MissionThe National Alliance to End Homelessness is a nonpartisan, mission-driven organization committed to preventing and ending homelessness in the United States.
Our Work The National Alliance to End Homelessness is a leading voice on the issue of homelessness. The Alliance analyzes policy and develops pragmatic, cost-effective policy solutions. We work collaboratively with the public, private, and nonprofit sectors to build state and local capacity, leading to stronger programs and policies that help homeless individuals and families make positive changes in their lives. We provide data and research to policymakers and elected officials in order to inform policy debates and educate the public and opinion leaders nation
~:: ANIMAL WELFARE INSTITUE ::~http://www.awionline.org/
DESCRIPTION:AWI is a non-profit charitable organization founded in 1951 to reduce the sum total of pain and fear inflicted on animals by humans.
Since its founding in 1951 the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) has sought to reduce the sum total of pain and fear inflicted on animals by people. In the organization’s early years our particular emphasis was on the desperate needs of animals used for experimentation. In the decades that followed we expanded the scope of our work to address many other areas of animal suffering.
Today one of our greatest areas of emphasis is cruel animal factories, which raise and slaughter pigs, cows, chickens and other animals. The biggest are in our country, and they are expanding worldwide.
Another major AWI effort is our quest to end the torture inflicted on furbearing animals by steel jaw leghold traps and wire snares. AWI continues its work to protect animals in laboratories including promotion of development of non-animal testing methods and prevention of painful experiments on animals by high school students. Representatives of AWI regularly attend meetings of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora to fight for protection of threatened and endangered species. Similarly, we attend meetings of the International Whaling Commission to preserve the ban on commercial whaling and we work to protect all marine life against the proliferation of human-generated ocean noise including active sonar and seismic air guns. AWI works to minimize the impacts of all human actions detrimental to endangered species, including the destruction of natural forests containing ancient trees, and pollution of the oceans destroying every kind of marine life.
~:: THE BREAST CANCER RESEARCH FOUNDATION ::~http://www.bcrfcure.org/
DESCRIPTION:The Breast Cancer Research Foundation is an independent 501 (c) (3) not-for-profit organization whose mission is to achieve prevention and a cure for breast cancer in our lifetime by providing A minimum of 85% of all funds raised goes to breast cancer research grants and awareness programs. critical funding for innovative clinical and genetic research at leading medical centers worldwide, and increasing public awareness about good breast health. In 2006, the American Cancer Society estimates that there will be approximately 212,920 new cases of invasive breast cancer in women in the United States, and 1,720 in men. An estimated 40,970 women and 460 men will die from the disease. According to the National Cancer Institute, breast cancer accounts for about 15 percent of all cancer-related deaths in women in the nation.
Since its inception, the Foundation has raised $150 million - nearly $27 million in fiscal year 2006 alone - to support clinical and genetic research at medical institutions across the globe conducting the most advanced and promising breast cancer research that will help lead to prevention and a cure in our lifetime. In October 2006, over $24.3 million was awarded to 115 researchers across the United States and in Canada, Europe, Israel, and Latin America. BCRF support for promising yet untried ideas is crucial at this time of reduced federal research support, when only 6% to 8% of meritorious, peer-reviewed proposals are being approved for funding by the National Institutes of Health.
The Foundation invests in the most brilliant minds in breast cancer. For example, Harvard Medical School investigators announced in February 2006 that they have created the first publicly available library of reliably expressible proteins of a human disease, in this case for breast cancer. The scientists, whose work has been funded generously by BCRF since 2001, have identified 1,300 genes potentially involved in breast cancer development. Their achievement will allow researchers to track cancer-causing proteins, with the goal of learning how to impede them. This will radically improve breast cancer treatment and prevention and save the lives of thousands of women and men. It adds to recent important discoveries, also supported by BCRF, in the areas of targeted therapies for breast cancer and nutritional prevention of cancer recurrence.
BCRF has received exceptional recognition from several organizations that monitor and provide comprehensive, unbiased information on charities. Most notably: in 2006, the Foundation has received the highest rating from Charity Navigator, four stars, for the fifth consecutive year, which means BCRF has outperformed 97% of more than 5,000 evaluated charities in efficiently managing its finances! The American Institute of Philanthropy has awarded BCRF an "A" rating in its Charity Rating Guide since 2002. BCRF is recognized by AIP as one of the "Top Rated" cancer organizations, and it is the only breast cancer organization to appear on its "Top Rated Charities" list. In December 2004, Money magazine named BCRF one of America’s top eight charities.
The Foundation welcomes and depends on contributions from all those concerned with women's health. Working together, we know we can find a cure in our lifetime.
~:: CHILD FIND OF AMERICA INC ::~http://www.childfindofamerica.org/
DESCRIPTION:In 2004-2005, Child Find helped 15,000 families nationwide. Child Find of America Inc. is a national not-for-profit organization that: locates missing children through active investigation
Prevents child abduction through education
resolves incidents of parental abduction through mediation.
Founded in 1980 by the mother of a missing child, Child Find has helped locate, return to a legal environment and positively impacted the lives of thousands of children.
In the 2004-2005 fiscal year, 90 cents of every dollar Child Find received was spent on its programs: Location, Mediation and Public Information. Worth Magazine named Child Find one of America's 100 Best Charities in December 2001, and Child Find received an "A+ Top Charity" rating by the American Institute of Philanthropy, a nonprofit charity watchdog.
~:: RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE CHARITIES::~http://www.rmhc.org/rmhc/index.html
DESCRIPTION:A strong mind. A strong body. And a safe, supportive place to grow. These are things that every child needs - and deserves.
Helping to provide these things is what we do.
By creating, finding and supporting programs that directly improve the health and well-being of children, Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) is working to better the lives of children and their families around the world.
The three core programs of RMHC - the Ronald McDonald House, Ronald McDonald Family Room and Ronald McDonald Care Mobile - are focused on helping families in need. Our cornerstone Ronald McDonald House program began in 1974 based on a simple idea: Provide a "home away from home" for families of seriously ill children receiving treatment at nearby hospitals. Since that time, more than 10 million families around the world have benefited from the comfort provided by a Ronald McDonald House.
The Ronald McDonald Family Room program extends the comfort of a Ronald McDonald House to a hospital setting. Typically located just steps from neonatal or pediatric intensive care units, the Family Room provides a place to escape the stress and tension of the hospital.
Through relationships with local health care providers, the Ronald McDonald Care Mobile program brings cost-effective medical, dental and health education services directly to underserved children in both rural and urban areas around the world.
In addition to supporting the core programs, RMHC and our global network of local Chapters in 49 countries have awarded more than $440 million dollars in grants and program services worldwide to make an immediate, positive impact on as many children as possible. Together with support from hundreds of thousands of passionate and caring volunteers, donors and RMHC staff, we've had plenty of success.
~:: THE CONSERVATION FUND ::~http://www.conservationfund.org/
DESCRIPTION:Pioneering a brand of conservation driven by effectiveness, efficiency, and environmental and economic balance, the Fund, a non-membership, non-advocacy organization, is America’s foremost conservation nonprofit. Boasting a 1% fundraising ratio and 96% program allocation, The Conservation Fund earned an “A+” and was recognized as the nation’s top rated environmental nonprofit by the American Institute of Philanthropy, a prominent charity watchdog. Since 1985, the Fund and its partners, dedicated to tangible, on-the-ground results, have protected more than 5.5 million acres of our nation’s outdoor heritage – our wildlife habitat and watersheds, working landscapes and community open-space. Partners in Land and Water ConservationOur partners are the driving force behind our conservation programs, from public agencies to corporations, nonprofit organizations to private citizens. By focusing on their needs, we strive to be the conservation partners of choice, helping those we work with take the lead in the conservation of America's Land Legacy. Land ConservationThe Fund helps local, state and federal agencies, and nonprofit organizations acquire property from willing sellers to protect open space, wildlife habitat, public recreation areas, river corridors and historic places. Sustainable ProgramsThe Fund works with communities as well as different sectors of industry, including forest and chemical companies, developers, and ranchers to demonstrate sustainable practices that balance economic and environmental goals. Leadership TrainingThe Fund serves as a national resource for environmental organizations by providing financial resources and technical assistance as well as formal training to land conservation professionals from all sectors.
~:: SAVE THE REDWOODS LEAGUE ::~http://www.savetheredwoods.org/
DESCRIPTION:Save-the-Redwoods League has never wavered from its primary purpose of acquiring and protecting redwoods. The League's objective, since its formation in 1918, has been to ensure that these ancient forests survive and flourish forever. Year after year, the support of individuals, public service organizations, private foundations, as well as the support of the state of California, have enabled the League to help build an unparalleled system of 39 superlative Redwood State Parks.
Since its formation, the League has assisted in the purchase of more than 6 of every 10 acres of protected redwoods in California's State Parks. The League has helped preserve 165,000 acres of ancient redwoods. In addition to extensive work in the heart of the North Coast's redwood region, the League has assisted in the development of many parks in the southern range of the redwoods including Portola, Butano, Big Basin, Julia Pfeiffer Burns, Wilder Ranch, and Limekiln State Parks. The League is the only organization focused on conservation of the redwood forest throughout its natural range.
Our primary conservation tool is acquisition of forestland at fair-market value from willing sellers. Purchases are based on professional appraisals. The League also funds restoration, supports research to expand knowledge of redwood forest dynamics, and educates the public about redwoods and the redwood forest ecosystem.
The coast redwood (Sequoia Sempervirens) is naturally found only in a narrow coastal band running from the Big Sur Coast to southern Oregon. Of the nearly 2,000,000 acres of the original ancient forest, approximately 96% has been logged in the past 150 years. Today, only 80,000 acres of these ancient giants survive, inspiring awe in those who visit.
Over the last 85 years, the League has purchased hundreds of strategically located parcels of forestland that have resulted in the formation of today's redwood parks. Much like pieces of a puzzle, the League has connected parcels of land, creating living ecosystem corridors that fit into a larger conservation picture. With only 4% of the ancient redwood forest still in existence, the League is committed to protecting the remaining groves.
Partnerships with other conservation groups and public agencies are essential to our success. We have worked with the Trust for Public Land, The Nature Conservancy, the Sempervirens Fund, a number of local land trusts, California Department of Parks and Recreation, U.S. Bureau of Land Management, and the National Park Service, among many others.
The former director of California State Parks, Rusty Areias, has described Save-the-Redwoods League as "an example of what can occur when good business sense and unselfish devotion to principles are tenets of equal force."
To many of the people who contribute to Save-the-Redwoods League, it makes no difference that they will never see, except in photographs, the magnificent redwood forests that they are helping to save. For these people, it is enough to know that the redwoods still exist and that, as a result of their generous support, the redwoods will be protected in public parks for everyone to enjoy forever.
Saving primeval forests and their surrounding habitat is a costly endeavor, but with the generosity of our members, we continue to be extremely successful. The League is always seeking members who will join in the fight to save forests that the majestic redwoods and sequoias call home.
~:: THE RED CROSS ::~http://www.redcross.org/
DESCRIPTION:Since its founding in 1881 by visionary leader Clara Barton, the American Red Cross has been the nation's premier emergency response organization. As part of a worldwide movement that offers neutral humanitarian care to the victims of war, the American Red Cross distinguished itself by also aiding victims of devastating natural disasters. Over the years, the organization has expanded its services, always with the aim of preventing and relieving suffering.
Today, in addition to domestic disaster relief, the American Red Cross offers compassionate services in five other areas: community services that help the needy; support and comfort for military members and their families; the collection, processing and distribution of lifesaving blood and blood products; educational programs that promote health and safety; and international relief and development programs.
The American Red Cross is where people mobilize to help their neighbors—across the street, across the country, and across the world—in emergencies. Each year, in communities large and small, victims of some 70,000 disasters turn to neighbors familiar and new--the nearly one million volunteers and 35,000 employees of the Red Cross. Through over 800 locally supported chapters, more than 15 million people gain the skills they need to prepare for and respond to emergencies in their homes, communities and world.
Some four million people give blood—the gift of life—through the Red Cross, making it the largest supplier of blood and blood products in the United States. And the Red Cross helps thousands of U.S. service members separated from their families by military duty stay connected. As part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, a global network of 181 national societies, the Red Cross helps restore hope and dignity to the world's most vulnerable people.
An average of 91 cents of every dollar the Red Cross spends is invested in humanitarian services and programs. The Red Cross is not a government agency; it relies on donations of time, money, and blood to do its work.
The American National Red Cross is headquartered in Washington, D.C. John F. "Jack" McGuire is Interim President and CEO, and Bonnie McElveen-Hunter is Chairman of the American Red Cross.
~:: ACTION AGAINST HUNGER ::~http://www.actionagainsthunger.org/
DESCRIPTION:Action Against Hunger is an international, non-governmental, non-religious, non-profit organization that was created in Paris in 1979. Since then, the organization has developed within the framework of an interdependent international network, with headquarters in Canada (Montreal), France (Paris), Spain (Madrid), the UK (London), and the US (New York).
Action Against Hunger's mission is to save lives by combating hunger, malnutrition, physical suffering, and associated distress that endanger the lives of children, women, and men in emergency situations of war, conflict, and natural disaster.
ACF's involvement typically begins with emergency relief in response to a crisis, but relief is always reinforced by longer term programs enabling victims to regain their autonomy and the means to live independently of external aid. In carrying out our activities, all members of ACF's International Network adhere to a charter of principles that forms the foundation of our humanitarian commitment: free and direct access to victims, impartiality, independence, nondiscrimination, professionalism, and transparency.
In the short term, we address hunger and malnutrition by providing food and water in emergency situations. In the long term, we provide training in nutrition, food security, water and sanitation, and health care to ensure self-sufficiency, thus helping to rebuild communities. Action Against Hunger's Scientific Committee pioneered the therapeutic milk formula (F100) that is now widely used by all relief organizations and has significantly decreased the global mortality rate of severely malnourished adults and children younger than five years old from 25% to 5%, enabling them to lead healthy lives.
Action Against Hunger is directly at work in more than 40 countries on five continents with teams of fieldworkers consisting of nearly 400 specialists in the fields of nutrition, agriculture, water and sanitation, and public health. Action Against Hunger relies on the skills of its local teams of 6,000 people to develop programs that are well adapted to the needs of its beneficiaries.
Action Against Hunger intervenes in the following situations:
In emergency situations of war, conflict, and natural disaster that threaten food security; In situations of social/economic breakdown, linked to internal or external circumstances, which place particular groups of people in extremely vulnerable positions; In situations where survival depends on humanitarian aid. The aim of all our programs is to enable vulnerable populations to regain their self-sufficiency as quickly as possible.
ACF's History
In 1979, "boat people" fled Indochina, the Khmer Rouge were expelled by the Vietnamese army, ldi Amin Dada was expelled by the Tanzanian army, and the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. That same year, a group of French doctors, scientists, journalists, and writers created AICF (Action Internationale Contre la Faim / International Action Against Hunger) with Professor Alfred Kaestler, Nobel Prize recipient for physics, as its first chairman. While hunger had been addressed in general campaigns against poverty and poor public health, AICF was established specifically to combat hunger worldwide.
AICF's first initiatives provided assistance to Afghan refugees in Pakistan, rescued Ugandan populations from famine brought on by civil war and severe drought, and helped Cambodian refugees in Thailand. AICF expanded to intervene in all of the major humanitarian crises of the 1980s and '90s, including those in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Cambodia, the Caucasus, Ethiopia, Haiti, Iraq, Rwanda, Somalia, and Sudan.
In 1985, American Friends of AICF was established in the United States to expand support for AICF, its implementation capabilities, and its advocacy efforts. The American organization was registered as a 501 (c)(3) tax-exempt organization and was awarded Private Voluntary Organization status by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in 1988. American Friends of AICF changed its name to AICF-USA in 1992 when it developed its own programs in Bosnia, Cambodia, Rwanda, and Somalia.
AICF was established in Spain in 1994, in the UK in 1995, and in Montreal in 2005. Today all five organizations are known as the International Network of Action Against Hunger, which is comprised of Action Against Hunger (USA), Action Contre la Faim (France), Acción Contra el Hambre (Spain), Action Against Hunger (UK), and Action Against Hunger (Canada). All organizations share the same name, logo, mandate, and charter of principles, and they combine human, financial, and technical resources to strengthen their capacities.
Today the international community recognizes Action Against Hunger as a leader in the fight against hunger with our innovative and life-saving therapeutic feeding centers and supplementary feeding programs. We have a proven ability to respond to both emergency and rehabilitation needs, and ACF's quarter century of expertise in nutrition, health, food security, water and sanitation enables us to bring a wealth of experience to the design and implementation of our integrated, comprehensive programs.
~:: THE MENTAL HEALTH RESEARCH ASSOCIATION ::~http://www.narsad.org/
DESCRIPTION:Imagine a world without mental illness. NARSAD: The Mental Health Research Association believes such a reality is possible and works every day to try to attain it.
How does NARSAD expect to achieve this vision? With a unique approach that relies on science. First, NARSAD invests in the best and brightest scientific minds throughout the world to unravel the complexities of schizophrenia, depression, anxiety and many other psychiatric diseases. Then, NARSAD continues to support the researchers as they use their findings to develop the next-generation of diagnostics and treatments for these conditions. With enough effort, NARSAD expects scientists someday to discover preventions and cures for these devastating illnesses.
For the past 20 years, with the help of thousands of donors, NARSAD has given $199.3 million and 2,948 grants to researchers who have helped pioneer breakthroughs in deciphering how the brain develops, how its component parts act and how this key organ may differ in people with mental illness. Their efforts have led to new drugs, devices and rehabilitative approaches to care for people with a wide range of brain and behavior disorders.
Today, though, is an unprecedented time in the history of medicine. Amazing technological advances occur daily in understanding the cellular causes of neuropsychiatric conditions and in seeing the brain at work. NARSAD-funded scientists now are using the latest innovations from the human genome project to understand the relationship between genes, the environment and mental illness. They are peering inside the mind and putting together a picture of how people with mental illness think, feel and perceive the world. It is only a matter of time before scientists will be able to conquer these disorders.
If you are here at our web site, most likely either you or someone close to you has been recently diagnosed or is living with a major psychiatric disease. What can NARSAD do for you? NARSAD can provide you with vital information and news regarding treatments and research about psychiatric diseases. These pages also describe how NARSAD funds research, what research NARSAD supports and how you can help.
Indeed, NARSAD needs your help. NARSAD relies on the support of volunteers and donors who believe, like NARSAD does, in employing science to create a better future for our loved ones.
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END OF PART 1
Please take the time to let me know if any of these charities interest you... Thank you for your time!
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