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Every year, Kids Wish Network raises millions of dollars in donations in the name of dying children and their families. Every year, it spends less than 3 cents on the dollar helping kids... In the past decade alone, Kids Wish has channeled nearly $110 million donated for sick children to its corporate solicitors. An additional $4.8 million has gone to pay the charity's founder and his own consulting firms... But Kids Wish is not an isolated case... An old-fashioned investigative reporting piece into the worst charities in the US. [more inside]
posted by latkes on Jun 6, 2013 - 75 comments

One man's attempt to rebrand Abercrombie & Fitch as "The World's Number One Brand of Homeless Apparel". SLYT
posted by dobbs on May 14, 2013 - 49 comments

The last King of Rwanda, Kigeli V Ndahindurwa, lives on public assistance in low-income housing, at a dead end between US Route 66 and State Route 655 in Oakton, Virginia. 'He ruled Rwanda for just nine months in the 1960's before fleeing a revolt and has spent the last half century in exile, powerless to stop the violence that ripped through his country. He is 76 years old now, his tottering seven-foot-two-inch frame stooped by age and the vagaries of fate.'
posted by zarq on Mar 29, 2013 - 26 comments

As a young boy Henri Landwirth survived the death camp of Auschwitz. He lost his childhood to the war and was determined that this should not happen again in the future. Later, as a successful hotelier in Florida, he helped arrange free vacations for children with life-threatening diseases to Walt Disney World and SeaWorld. Sadly, the time it took to set up a vacation was long and when one child, Amy, died from leukemia before her wish could be fulfilled, Landwirth founded "Give Kids The World." [more inside]
posted by IndigoSkye on Mar 21, 2013 - 12 comments

NYT: Larry Selman died Sunday morning of heart failure. He was 70. Larry was the feature of the Academy Award nominated "The Collector of Bedford Street" (wikipedia). [more inside]
posted by Wordshore on Jan 25, 2013 - 4 comments

A London resident named Steven Whyley has just finished running the courses of all of London's Underground routes to raise money for brain cancer research. But because this is MetaFilter, it's interesting to note that he did so in honor of another, younger person who was also raising money for brain cancer -- until he succumbed to the same disease. [more inside]
posted by wenestvedt on Jan 9, 2013 - 4 comments

AKIRA Fan Builds Kaneda’s Motorcycle and Rides for Charity
posted by Blazecock Pileon on Dec 9, 2012 - 20 comments

A Norwegian group called Radi-Aid has launched an appeal to ship radiators from Africa to Norway. They have also released a video to highlight the plight of freezing children during Norway's harsh winter. [more inside]
posted by MuffinMan on Nov 19, 2012 - 34 comments

"One tragic event and two acts of generosity brought the [Board Game Geek] community together: the result was the Jack Vasel Memorial Fund." [more inside]
posted by Midnight Rambler on Nov 11, 2012 - 17 comments

José "Pepe" Mujica had been the President of Uruguay since 2010 and is considered to be the 'World’s poorest president'. "His humble lifestyle is reflected by his choice of an aging Volkswagen Beetle as transport, his only asset. The Economist describes him as "a roly-poly former guerrilla who grows flowers on a small farm and swears by vegetarianism". He also donates 87% of his state salary to charitable causes. He does not believe in God." [more inside]
posted by growabrain on Nov 11, 2012 - 38 comments

Ad creatives, designers, animators, directors, illustrators and more have taken time out to dress up their favourite worst feedback from clients, transforming quotes that would normally give you a twitch, into a diverse collection of posters.
posted by Fleebnork on Nov 8, 2012 - 52 comments

Neil Gaiman reads a story that scared people. A new Neil Gaiman story is available from Audible. It's free, and every copy downloaded means a donation to DonorsChoose or BookTrust. (Neil does ask that you wait to listen to it until after dark.)
posted by kristi on Oct 26, 2012 - 22 comments

“If I had depended on Yéle,” said Diaoly Estimé, whose orphanage features a wall painting of Mr. Jean and his wife, “these kids would all be dead by now.” (SLNYT)
posted by Nomyte on Oct 12, 2012 - 14 comments

Bret and Jemaine of Flight of the Conchords interview some New Zealand schoolchildren to find inspiration for their new charity single, Feel Inside.
posted by av123 on Aug 26, 2012 - 35 comments

All Star Celebrity Bowling: Over the last two months, Chris Hardwick and the folks over at The Nerdist have hosted a charity bowling tournament with some of their famous friends. The series has been hugely addictive and very entertaining. [more inside]
posted by quin on Jun 6, 2012 - 10 comments

Scrabble, as played by Eddie Guerrero's rules
posted by frimble on May 23, 2012 - 20 comments

He is vengeance. He is the night. He is 7 years old, and he is Batman.
posted by Smart Dalek on Apr 20, 2012 - 11 comments

Scott Harrison, the founder of charitywater.org, was in many ways "uniquely qualified" [his words] to set a life goal for global clean water with 100% of the donations to this charity transparently and deliberately accounted for via GPS photos and the random live stream of a well-digging! Interview [Warning: Kevin Rose inside] [more inside]
posted by TangerineGurl on Apr 5, 2012 - 11 comments

Homeless people are being used as mobile hotspots at SXSW, as part of a project called Homeless Hotspots. According to the official website, "Homeless Hotspots is a charitable innovation initiative by BBH New York. It attempts to modernize the Street Newspaper model employed to support homeless populations." Reactions online have been mixed. Some commentators are outraged, while others wonder whether the project is helpful or exploitative.
posted by asnider on Mar 12, 2012 - 73 comments

Thinking of donating clothes to Africa? Buying shoes so that someone else can have a pair (or just go a day without shoes)? How about buying charity products or visiting impoverished nations to volunteer? Please reconsider. Your good intentions are likely just paving the path to Hell (or economic danger) with Stuff We Don't Want.
posted by divabat on Mar 7, 2012 - 86 comments

From Michigan to Nebraska, from Washington State to North Carolina, anonymous donors have been paying off "layaway" tabs for holiday-shopping families.
posted by Potomac Avenue on Dec 16, 2011 - 82 comments

Tuesday at Christie's, Elizabeth Taylor's collection of jewelry brought $115.8 million most of it earmarked for her AIDS and other charities. [more inside]
posted by Anitanola on Dec 14, 2011 - 23 comments

Just in time for the gift-giving season, Humble Indie Bundle 4 has been released. Available for MacOS, Windows, and Linux on a pay-what-you-want scheme, this release (currently) includes Jamestown, Bit.Trip Runner, Super Meat Boy, Shank, and Nightsky HD. Pay more than the average donation and get Gratuitous Space Battles and Cave Story+ included in your Bundle. When purchasing, you can choose how your money will be allocated between developers, charities (Child's Play Charity and American Red Cross), and a tip to the Humble team. [more inside]
posted by hippybear on Dec 13, 2011 - 43 comments

"Imagine if you had never been homeless before and you'd just lost your job and you lost your home. What would you do? Would you immediately go begging or knocking on a door? No, you would downsize, move into cheaper accommodations, if that did not work you'd move in with friends or relatives and then you'd move into a cheap motel and then ... where would you want to go before winding up at a shelter door? You would much prefer to live at a park with your family and your dog." ... "In just about every major city, there are tent cities. Unfortunately, we're in a growth industry and the numbers are going to continue." -- Michael Stoop, a community organizer for the National Coalition for the Homeless, explaining that the surge in American tent city shantytowns, first highlighted on MeFi in 2008/09: 1, 2, 3, has not slowed. The Great Recession: Life in Tent City, Lakewood NJ / Photo Gallery / Video. [more inside]
posted by zarq on Nov 10, 2011 - 40 comments

Threadless has created a t-shirt line for UNICEF in which the shirts cost the same as what's depicted on them. So this one, of a cargo flight, costs $300,000. This one, for insecticide-treated mosquito nets, might be more in your price range.
posted by me3dia on Oct 25, 2011 - 43 comments

Is all publicity good publicity? Rhythmix is a UK music charity that works with vulnerable young people. The name is trademarked. Rhythmix is a band created last week by the X Factor in the UK. Sim Co want to trademark it. The show seems to believe all publicity is good publicity. The Charity says "it is obviously wildly inappropriate, whatever the legalities, for a group on the X Factor to share the name of a charity working with bereaved young people, young people with learning difficulties, young people in prison". The show admits it knew about the Charity, but went ahead anyway. The Internet is annoyed.
posted by RegMcF on Oct 10, 2011 - 30 comments

There's a new Humble Indie Bundle out. (Previously, Previously, also Previously.) The popular pay-what-you-want game distribution offers up Crayon Physics Deluxe, Cogs, VVVVVV, Hammerfight, and And Yet It Moves for all three major OS platforms, and works with Steam. You set the price; you decide what charity gets the money. [more inside]
posted by hippybear on Aug 2, 2011 - 48 comments

After Twitter user @fart directed several non-sequitur tweets at Shrek soundtrack favorite band Smash Mouth's Twitter account, something strange happened: people across the Internet began demanding that the band eat a lot of eggs for charity. What began as a Twitter meme quickly spread across the Internet, from newspaper comment sections to YouTube (actually kind of catchy song!). Predictably, Wikipedia editors spent more than a page arguing over whether or not this was notable. Others on Twitter speculated about the band's reaction. Today, the band finally broke the silence: Smash Mouth has agreed to attempt to eat 24 eggs if they receive $10,000 in donations to St. Jude's Children's Hospital. [more inside]
posted by cobra_high_tigers on Jul 5, 2011 - 61 comments

New York Attorney General: Coalition Against Breast Cancer - "Scam". 'The state of New York sued a breast cancer charity on Tuesday, accusing it of soliciting more than $9 million and spending virtually none of it on the cause.' 'The Coalition Against Breast Cancer, based in Long Island, told donors their money would go toward research and mammogram screenings, but spent most of the $9.1 million it collected over five years on fundraising fees, salaries and benefits and personal goods, the state attorney general alleges.' But what about all those "pink" products that tout a donation to a charity when you buy? [more inside]
posted by VikingSword on Jun 30, 2011 - 41 comments

21-year-old inventor Tim Pryde has come up with an alternative to the much-circumnavigated "chuggers" (chuggers previously) ‒ solicitous-but-impossibly-cute robot "Don-8r". [more inside]
posted by greenish on Jun 24, 2011 - 25 comments

"Using pejorative terms like "handouts" and "doling out", some parts of the media are mounting a campaign to suggest Britain should be embarrassed by our level of aid giving. But the idea that aid is generous is absurd. Some families, inspired by religious tradition, think it is appropriate to give 10% of what they have to charity, £10 in every £100 of earnings. In 2010, the UK gave not £10, not £1, but 56p ($0.91) in overseas aid for every £100 ($163) we earned as a country. On average, since 1990 we have given even less, 35p ($0.57)." [Giving aid to poor countries is hardly a great act of generosity] [more inside]
posted by vidur on Jun 14, 2011 - 59 comments

In 2009, Ctrl.Alt.Shift, the "youth initiative of Christian Aid," held a national competition in the UK for aspiring filmmakers aged 18 to 25. Their mission: create a short film treatment based around three key issues: "War + Peace," "Gender + Power" and "HIV + Stigma." The results were then screened to an audience at the 2009 Raindance Film Festival. The films: 1000 Voices, HIV: The Musical, Man Made, No Way Through and War School. (All YouTube links. Vimeo links and descriptions of each film are inside this post.) These films deal with adult subject matter and may be disturbing for some viewers. Some may also be nsfw. [more inside]
posted by zarq on May 24, 2011 - 3 comments

Down and out in Toronto and New York: Freelance film critic Steven Boone recounts his experiences with the soup kitchens of Toronto and New York in First rate, second rate: In and out of the soup kitchens of Toronto and New York
posted by Harald74 on May 3, 2011 - 7 comments

MIT now owns non-voting majority of Bose thanks to a generous alum. NYT, CNN.
posted by staggernation on Apr 29, 2011 - 68 comments

Last Friday the blogger “Our Man in Abiko” launched an effort to produce a crowd-sourced collection prose, photos and illustrations that would be compiled into a self-published book to benefit the victims of the Japan earthquake | The title of the book is 2:46: Aftershocks: Stories from the Japan Earthquake. [more inside]
posted by nickyskye on Mar 29, 2011 - 7 comments

Want to help out after the earthquake in Japan? Huffington Post has info on how best to donate to disaster relief and Charity Navigator has information on what organizations are working there. On the nerdier side of things, the fandom community over at Livejournal is auctioning off their art, from fanfiction to scarves to editing, at help_japan and quite a few of the DeviantArt kids are making "Pray For Japan" (and "don't pray, just act") themed art to encourage people to donate. (More on the DeviantArt stuff.) Some Etsy users are also selling crafts for earthquake relief*. [more inside]
posted by NoraReed on Mar 15, 2011 - 32 comments

Homelessness: Cutting out the middle men (Economist) "The most efficient way to spend money on the homeless might be to give it to them". [more inside]
posted by asymptotic on Feb 18, 2011 - 64 comments

If you want to race in the swamp you'll need a buggy. [more inside]
posted by vapidave on Feb 15, 2011 - 9 comments

How Private Is 'Private Charity'? Private charity may be more accurately described as "private donations coupled with involuntary, tax-financed public subsidies." And it's not fair: "very low-income people paying only payroll taxes get hardly any leverage for their donations. Very high-income people in states with high income-tax rates – such as New Jersey and New York – can through the tax code virtually double the money funneled to a charity per dollar of their own sacrifice." (previously)
posted by kliuless on Jan 17, 2011 - 39 comments

The Price of Altruism - George Price, a (troubled) father of group selection thru his discovery of the eponymous Price Equation, has a rather interesting biography... [more inside]
posted by kliuless on Jan 15, 2011 - 9 comments

Not a Dry Eye in the House. Maggie Doyne — Why the human family can do better. Maggie's story, and Maggie's blog: Life at Kopila Valley Children's Home. Instead of going home to the States to start her University education, Maggie decided there were more urgent things that needed doing right there and then in Nepal. More background and story from NJ.com..
posted by thisisdrew on Jan 13, 2011 - 9 comments

There is Housing Works in NYC, which raises money for community based AIDS/HIV treatment and housing for the homeless. Here in Chicago we have Open Books, who uses the money raised from selling donated books to run literacy programs and tutoring programs for children. Now Minneapolis is getting Boneshaker Books; an all volunteer run radical bookstore that will house the Women's Prison Book Project and offer bike book delivery.
posted by bibliogrrl on Jan 11, 2011 - 17 comments

Chrome for a Cause. From now until December 19th, every tab you open on Chrome with this extension installed will help raise funds for five different charities (The Nature Conservancy, Charity: Water, Doctors Without Borders, Un Techo para mi Pais and Room To Read).
posted by fight or flight on Dec 16, 2010 - 35 comments

The second Humble Indie Bundle just got put up for sale. This time, the bundle contains Braid, Cortex Command, Machinarium, Osmos and Revenge of the Titans - all DRM free. You decide what you want to pay for the games, and as with the previous bundle, you can choose to let part of your payment go to the Electronic Frontier Foundation and/or the Child's Play Charity. [more inside]
posted by ymgve on Dec 14, 2010 - 66 comments

Giving What We Can is a movement founded by Toby Ord , a 31 year old Oxford academic on slightly more than average income who plans to give away a million pounds during his lifetime. [more inside]
posted by philipy on Dec 13, 2010 - 52 comments

Ladies, do you love the idea of Movember but find yourself distraught that you can't directly take part? Well, mark your calendars for tomorrow, because that's the day you too can make a difference. [more inside]
posted by jbickers on Nov 17, 2010 - 46 comments

Skateistan - To Live and Skate in Kabul (9:16) is a short documentary based on the work of the NGO Skateistan (previously), who provide lessons in skateboarding, environmental health, information technology, art and language to hundreds of boys and girls in Kabul, Afghanistan. (via) [more inside]
posted by Ufez Jones on Nov 12, 2010 - 5 comments

What would you do with $11,255,272? Violet and Allen Large gave most of it away. [more inside]
posted by Brodiggitty on Nov 4, 2010 - 46 comments

The birth of Wonder Woman - notes sent between William Moulton Marston and artist H. G. Peter show the genesis of the character . Meanwhile today is the 5th Annual Wonder Woman day - a Portland and Flemington, New Jersey event supporting Domestic Violence Programs. Not able to get over to Excalibur Comics or Comics Fusion to take part in the events or activities? There's still a few hours left in which you can take part by bidding on artwork online (previously).
posted by Artw on Oct 24, 2010 - 19 comments

Please be advised that *Bacon Kevin Bacon is not edible.
posted by shiu mai baby on Oct 1, 2010 - 32 comments