Want to volunteer or intern at a great Pittsburgh non-profit? Whether you’re new to Pittsburgh and want to learn about the city’s charities, trying to change up your routine with some local charity work, or just want to volunteer or intern at a neighborhood non-profit, everyone knows that the best way to find the right place for you is from the people who’ve been there!
Here’s a list of volunteers’ and interns’ favorite Pittsburgh charities. Every non-profit on this list earned has an overall score of 4 or greater out of 5 on GreatNonprofits.org, and must have been reviewed by at least 10 volunteers. If your favorite Pittsburgh non-profit or volunteer gig is missing, find it on GreatNonprofits.org, write a positive review, and show your co-volunteers how to start adding reviews and get it on the list! (more…)
How often do you read reviews of products, restaurants, or movies before you make a purchasing decision?
Do you use TripAdvisor or Amazon reviews or browse the Zagat guides? Most shoppers rely heavily on customer reviews. In fact, 65 percent of customers report reading reviews “always” or “frequently” before deciding to make a purchase. The same also applies to charities. And if you think the large national charitable organizations have the advantage, think again.
Check out full article by CEO Perla Ni in this month’s issue of Advancing Philanthropy!
Want to volunteer or intern at a great Atlanta nonprofit? Whether you’re new to the city and want to learn about its charities, trying to change up your routine with some local charity work, or just want to volunteer or intern at a neighborhood nonprofit, everyone knows that the best way to find the right place for you is from the people who’ve been there!
Here’s a list of volunteers’ and interns’ favorite Atlanta charities. Every nonprofit on this list has earned an overall score of 4 or greater out of 5 on GreatNonprofits.org. If your favorite Atlanta nonprofit or volunteer gig is missing, find it on GreatNonprofits.org, write a positive review, and show your co-volunteers how to start adding reviews and get it on the list!
(more…)
Want to volunteer or intern at a great Boston nonprofit? Whether you’re new to the city and want to learn about its charities, trying to change up your routine with some local charity work, or just want to volunteer or intern at a neighborhood nonprofit, everyone knows that the best way to find the right place for you is from the people who’ve been there!
Here’s a list of volunteers’ and interns’ favorite Boston charities. Every nonprofit on this list has earned an overall score of 4 or greater out of 5 on GreatNonprofits.org. If your favorite Boston nonprofit or volunteer gig is missing, find it on GreatNonprofits.org, write a positive review, and show your co-volunteers how to start adding reviews and get it on the list!
(more…)
Hurricane Isaac landed in Louisiana on the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. The Gulf Coast was pelted with rain and residents are dealing with flooding and power outages. GreatNonprofits released a list to inform potential donors, volunteers and people seeking help about the best nonprofits involved in the area. It’s a subject close to our hearts, we decided to launch GreatNonprofits.org after struggling to identify top local nonprofits helping Katrina victims seven years ago.
TOP-RATED DISASTER AID NONPROFITS FOR HURRICANE ISAAC RELEASED
Redwood Shores, Calif. (Wednesday, August 29, 2012) – In the wake of Hurricane Isaac’s convergence on still-vulnerable New Orleans, charity ranking website greatnonprofits.org has released a list of organizations doing work in the area that have been highly-rated by volunteers, donors and actual people helped by these charities.
The list offers up more than just the usual large organizations, and seeks to highlight small, lesser known nonprofits most effectively helping victims of Hurricane Isaac. Charities such as Big Bend Disaster Animal Response Team, working to retrieve pets left behind by evacuees. Many of the charities work on helping disaster victims deal with homelessness and job loss issues, like Coastal Women for Change and Community Center of St. Bernard. The lists of nonprofits covers charities whose missions span from providing food and shelter, to helping the local wildlife recover following the disaster.
(more…)
Want to volunteer or intern at a great Chicago non-profit? Whether you’re new to Chicago and want to learn about the city’s charities, trying to change up your routine with some local charity work, or just want to volunteer or intern at a neighborhood non-profit, everyone knows that the best way to find the right place for you is from the people who’ve been there!
Here’s a list of volunteers’ and interns’ favorite Chicago charities. Every non-profit on this list has earned an overall score of 4 or greater out of 5 on GreatNonprofits.org. If your favorite Chicago non-profit or volunteer gig is missing, find it on GreatNonprofits.org, write a positive review, and show your co-volunteers how to start adding reviews and get it on the list!
(more…)
Want to volunteer or intern at a great New York City nonprofit? Whether you’re new to New York City and want to learn about the city’s charities, trying to change up your routine with some local charity work, or just want to volunteer or intern at a neighborhood nonprofit, everyone knows that the best way to find the right place for you is from the people who’ve been there!
Here’s a list of volunteers’ and interns’ favorite New York City charities. Every nonprofit on this list has earned an overall score of 4 or greater out of 5 on GreatNonprofits.org. If your favorite New York City nonprofit or volunteer gig is missing, find it on GreatNonprofits.org, write a positive review, and show your co-volunteers how to start adding reviews and get it on the list!
(more…)
Want to volunteer or intern at a great San Francisco nonprofit? Whether you’re new to the city and want to learn about its charities, trying to change up your routine with some local charity work, or just want to volunteer or intern at a neighborhood nonprofit, everyone knows that the best way to find the right place for you is from the people who’ve been there!
Here’s a list of volunteers’ and interns’ favorite San Francisco charities. Every nonprofit on this list has earned an overall score of 4 or greater out of 5 on GreatNonprofits.org. If your favorite San Francisco nonprofit or volunteer gig is missing, find it on GreatNonprofits.org, write a positive review, and show your co-volunteers how to start adding reviews and get it on the list!
What makes you want to give back? How can you actively work to raise generous children who find donating time to charity not just responsible but also fun? Check out these tips!
On the CBS Saturday Early Show, clinical psychologist Dr. Paul Donahue offered a few tips for raising a generous and compassionate child who loves to give:
- Teach giving, not taking, at home by encouraging kids to help out in the kitchen. Even young kids can make a real contribution to the family meal.
- Make sure older kids help their siblings. This collaboration – teaching them sports, reading to them, or helping with homework – creates a sense of everyone being in it together.
- Teach kids about respect and caring by being a model yourself. Your kids take cues from you.
- To teach kids about contributing to the community, go beyond donations of food or clothing and perform giving acts, like helping an elderly neighbor with household tasks.
(more…)
Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee
Nicholas Kristof gets an A for his picks of great charities! Despite the Three Cups of Tea controversy, he has chosen effective nonprofits according to reviews by volunteers, donors, and clients served. His final grade? A 91% success rate.
Kristof is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the New York Times. His writing focuses on the disenfranchised and abused, like victims of human trafficking, and what we can do to help them. He has traveled to 150 countries, often risking his life to report from dangerous places like Darfur.
We wanted to evaluate Kristof’s picks of nonprofits that readers should support. We took a look at some of Nick’s picks and compared them with reviewer’s ratings on GreatNonprofits.org. Kristof’s pick was judged as good if reviewers gave it an average rating of at least four stars out of five on our site — a requirement every nonprofit met except for the infamous Central Asia Institute. Kristof ended up with a 91% success rate. Congratulations to Mr. Kristof for all he has done to spread awareness and help people who need it most. We feel confident that most nonprofits Mr. Kristof recommends are outstanding organizations. Below are some choice reviews of Kristof’s picks from GreatNonprofits.org:
Acumen Fund
Nick says: “It invests money in for-profit businesses — like WaterHealth International, whose business model is to provide clean drinking water where none is available.”
GreatNonprofits users say: “I am an African that beleives in teaching people to fish not giving them fish. The investments Acumen make in entrepreneurs in developing countries encourages both a return on investment in cash terms and a huge return on investment in human terms” Read More
Afghan Institute of Learning
Nick says: “It is led by Sakena Yacoobi, a force of nature who was educated in the United States, and it now serves 350,000 Afghan women and children annually… Yacoobi runs education programs, training centers and clinics, emphasizing local buy-in and self-reliance.”
GreatNonprofits users say: “I was very impressed by their grassroots, community-based approach to providing education, training and health services to Afghans, particularly to women and children. AIL actually listened to the Afghans they were working with and provided services that they requested and, in turn, asked for input from the people.” Read More
Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee 
Nick Says: “A Bangladeshi antipoverty organization… it emphasizes organizing village women and promoting education, health and microfinance.”
GreatNonprofits users say: “Seeing a woman proudly display the hair dryer for her salon business in Uganda that a BRAC loan enabled her to buy, watching families gather on poultry vaccination day in Liberia… seeing a women proudly showing her rice plot which demonstrated the in-line planting method for rice all gave me a clearer picture of the good work BRAC does. The scale and breadth of their programs is truly stunning. They start small, think big and scale up. They fix what doesn’t work and stop what can’t work.” Read More
(more…)
The famed San Diego Zoo is managed by a nonprofit
Are you getting excited about watching the upcoming Olympics? Have you ever browsed Wikipedia? Do you listen to All Things Considered in your car? Guess what? You can thank nonprofits for all of the above. You might be surprised by how much we owe to nonprofits. Check out our list of 15 surprising things we have nonprofits to thank for:
Central Park first opened in 1857 and is managed by the Central Park Conservancy, a nonprofit.
The famous San Diego Zoo, housing over 3,700 animals, is managed by the nonprofit Zoological Society of San Diego.
Microfinance started gaining momentum in the 1970s, through the efforts of such pioneers as Grameen Bank, which led to the American offshoot Grameen Foundation USA.
Most canine search and rescue teams are managed by nonprofits with volunteer dog and people pairs, such as the American Rescue Dog Association, the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation, Inc and the Search and Rescue Dogs of the United States.
National Disaster Search Dog Foundation
Earth Day, first taking place on April 22, 1970, was created by the Earth Day Network.
The Smithsonian Institute, established in 1846, runs the largest museum complex in the world.
Barney, Masterpiece Theater, The Teletubbies, and numerous other educational and kids’ TV shows are broadcast to American audiences by the nonprofit Public Broadcasting Service.
(more…)
Ellison's sailing team
Billionaire Larry Ellison, co-founder and CEO of Oracle, has been busy competing to own the biggest island with fellow billionaires Marc Benioff and Sir Richard Branson. But while he may be fabulous at island shopping, he’s not keeping up with them when it comes to another area: philanthropy. As we recently wrote, in addition to his beachfront mansions and jets, Ellison does have his own foundation. But in 2010, while the executive director of Ellison’s foundation was paid nearly a quarter of a million dollars in salary, the foundation only spent about $300,000 on charitable giving. That’s .00083 percent of Ellison’s estimated net worth. Even given this, Ellison still ends up on lists highlighting the most charitable CEOs in the US. Unless Ellison is a closet philanthropist, he’s losing the billionaire giving competition. But we haven’t lost faith in Ellison, maybe he just needs some suggestions on who to give to.
(more…)
Larry Ellison speaks, but presumably not about philanthropy.
Larry Ellison could use some lessons in philanthropy. The co-founder and CEO of Oracle and third-richest American (and sixth richest person in the world) according to Forbes, has recently made headlines for his purchase of 98% of the Hawaiian island of Lanai. It reportedly cost him between $500 and $600 million. So why exactly would Ellison purchase this sleepy island, with no traffic lights and a strong commitment to native Hawaiian culture and traditions? Rumor has it Ellison bought Lanai to trump his arch rivals, Sir Richard Branson and Marc Benioff. Ellison however, is dead last behind those rivals in terms of philanthropy. Only $300,000 from his foundation went to charities in 2010. That’s only .00083 percent of Ellison’s estimated $36 billion
net worth.
(more…)
brittanylynae via Flickr
Independence Day is a lot more than just barbecue parties and fireworks. Not that those things aren’t fun, (on what other day of the year can you wear overalls that are emblazoned with tiny American flags?) but on July 4th this year we challenge you to both celebrate and reflect on the true reason for the holiday.
It is a day to celebrate our country’s rich history and to remember the efforts made to secure our independence and the freedoms that come with it. In line with the spirit of the holiday, here is a list of reviewed nonprofits dedicated to the preservation and celebration of our country’s history. Nonprofits who work to uphold the spirit of patriotism, justice and equality.
1. Soldiers Undertaking Disabled Scuba Diving Inc.
“…They take wounded warriors returning from battle and restore some of the mobility they may have lost due to injuries. It must be very liberating to be unshackled from gravity and learn a skill which will last a lifetime. The physical and emotional benefits must be so uplifting!”
2. Intrepid Museum Foundation, Inc
“…I can think of no other organization that does as much good with the contributions they receive…. Films and speakers, overnight trips for schools and scout groups in the newly refurbished lower deck. Space exploration, aircraft from every era of aviation history. Special displays highlighting the US Navy’s early work in integrating our armed forces. It is a wonderful organization, and I am proud to support it.”
3. Telluride Historical Museum Inc
“…Telluride is an incredibly special place and without the Telluride Historical Museum to preserve and share its rich history the specialness of its past would be lost….”
4. Operation Understanding DC
“OUDC has been such an important part of my life and continues to impact me years after I graduated from the program. It has helped shape my education, career path, my way of thinking, my identity, and my understanding of history.”
5. Hope for the Warriors
“H4W gave me a reprieve from the daily struggle that is living with a combat injury, and more than that they showed me how much people care about us… I contacted a few of the people that helped me over a year later and they still remembered me.”
(more…)
Hey Nonprofits, we’ve got some great new tools for you! As we close our June Awards and congratulate the winners of our LGBTQ and Children and Families Awards, we’ve put together some screen shot examples of how to use our many badges on your own website. Also if you’ve ever had trouble claiming or updating your nonprofit’s profile, or wondered how to add photos, we hope our new video tour of the process (at end of post) will help you make your GreatNonprofits profile work to get you more attention and reviews.
(more…)
TOP CHILDREN AND FAMILIES CHARITIES NAMED BY GREATNONPROFITS
More than 100 Organizations Honored Nationwide
Redwood Shores, Calif., July 1, 2012 – GreatNonprofits.org announced today that over 100 charities from more than 40 states will be receiving a Top-Rated status on the public review website based on positive user reviews.
The charities, nominated by the public, ranged from Neighbor Ride, a nonprofit helping the elderly get around by offering ridesharing, to Little Helping Hands, a resource for volunteer opportunities for young kids. CHERUBS, another organization honored with the distinction helps expecting parents of babies who have been diagnosed in the womb with congenital diaphragmatic hernia. Other charities help out pregnant moms, like The Fistula Foundation, dedicated to eradicating the pregnancy injury worldwide.
The winning results show the many aspects of child care and family life that nonprofits are involved in. The nonprofits showcased are generally smaller and less well-known – charities that may not have access to an advertising budget. “We encourage volunteers, clients served and donors to share their experience with a charity on our site to give that charity the recognition it deserves,” said Perla Ni, CEO of GreatNonprofits.
The full list of winners of the Children and Families Top-Rated Awards can be found here.
About the Awards:
The 2012 Children and Families Awards ran throughout the month of July 2012. Reviews appear on GreatNonprofits.org as well as on GuideStar.org and CharityNavigator.org. Organizations receiving ten or more positive reviews are listed as one of the 2012 Top-Rated Children and Families Nonprofits.
About GreatNonprofits:
GreatNonprofits is a place to find trustworthy nonprofits. Our mission is to inspire and inform donors, and volunteers, enable nonprofits to show their impact, and promote greater feedback and transparency.
photo: LaDawna via Flickr
Thursday the Supreme Court upheld the Obama Administration’s individual insurance mandate. Mitt Romney has pledged to appeal the law immediately if elected.
How will the mandate affect you? If an individual chooses not to keep health insurance, that person would be responsible for paying the IRS one percent of his or her income. There will be exceptions made for religious and financial reasons. It will be unlawful to not buy health insurance and to not pay the IRS the additional money.
(more…)
Karen Klein is 68. Think she’s past the age of being bullied? Apparently not.
YouTube viewers everywhere were outraged after watching video of four 12 and 13-year old boys harassing Klein while she acted as a middle school bus monitor in Greece, New York. In the video, the kids call Klein vulgar names, curse at her, cruelly make fun of her weight and hearing aid and even go as far as suggesting that her family killed themselves to not be near her. According to reports, Klein’s son committed suicide about 10 years ago. The kids go on for nearly 20 gut-wrenching minutes while Klein tries to ignore them, at one point saying simply, “Unless you have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” Throughout the bullying, not one person steps in to help Klein while one of the boys tapes the entire thing. (more…)
avrilllllla via Flickr
With Lilo’s latest legal trouble; a car accident on Malibu’s Pacific Coast Highway in a rented Porsche, and reports of partying in Hollywood into the wee hours just after checking in to the hospital, we’re thinking of ways the fallen star could slow down and give back. (Or at least get some of her court-ordered community service hours out of the way!)
1. Helping out My New Red Shoes
This nonprofit helps give homeless children confidence by providing them with new clothes and shoes for the first day of school. Having previously come out with her own clothing line, this is right up Lohan’s alley. And although she recently had a wardrobe malfunction on the set of her latest project, “Liz and Dick,” she should be able to handle picking out clothes for children despite not being able to keep them on herself. And if she is found to have violated the terms of her probation from a 2007 DUI conviction, she won’t be needing her own closet full of clothes anyway—what with her wardrobe consisting of purely orange jumpsuits.
2. Getting Behind the Wheel for Neighbor Ride
Lindsay could use some slow and steady driving practice. Neighbor Ride, an organization helping seniors with transportation, could be just what Lilo needs. Lohan would be limited to a 900 square mile-area in Maryland, without having to wear an ankle bracelet.
3. Donning some Gloves for a Beach Cleanup
As we mentioned before, Lohan recently crashed her rented car (into an 18-wheeler) in broad daylight in Malibu. Now according to her eHarmony profile featured on Funny or Die, in addition to car chases on the Pacific Coast Highway, Lohan loves long walks on the beach. And alcohol. What better way to give back than pick up pieces of her front bumper while drunkenly stumbling down the shore. Sure she just totaled an $80,000 Porsche…cheers!
4. Donating hair (er…extensions) to a Cancer Charity
Unless her hair is too damaged from her switch from red to blonde to black back to red, Lohan has plenty she could donate to a charity that helps cancer patients get wigs . Just like formerly-troubled pop star Britney Spears did back in 2007 when she hit a rough patch, Lohan could possibly find the whole cutting-off-all-your-hair thing therapeutic. This could really do wonders for reinventing herself, as well as the child receiving her hair, since Lohan’s hair could really bring joy to the life of any young “Parent Trap” or “Mean Girls” fan. I mean, a lot of people wish they had someone else’s hair, but who actually gets to wear their favorite movie star’s hair?
5. Putting on a Tool Belt for Habitat for Humanity
Lastly, in case Lilo can’t get her acting career back on track, volunteer work building houses with Habitat for Humanity can prep her for a new career in construction. She’s already an expert in getting hammered. However, Habitat builds homes all over the world and, given Lohan’s history of drug abuse, it may be best that she not build in countries with a major drug trade.
What would you have Lindsay do? Do you think it’s important for stars to give back?
Trading homeless puppies for panhandling in San Francisco
San Francisco is bringing new meaning to the phrase “begging for a puppy.” In fact, the city is hoping that its panhandling population will trade one for the other. The city has long battled its panhandling problem with everything from outlawing sitting on the sidewalk to local employment programs with not much luck. Now that already overpopulated local animal shelters are seeing a huge influx in surrendered dogs due to the economic downturn, a new program pairing problem pups with certain panhandlers might be part of the solution. (more…)
Loading ...