Make-A-Wish Foundation

"Since 1980, the Make-A-Wish Foundation^® has given hope, strength and joy to children with life-threatening medical conditions. From our humble beginnings with one boy’s wish to be a police officer, we’ve evolved into an organization that grants a child’s wish in the U.S. every 40 minutes."

Today's non-profit feature is about one I have been hoping to review for quite some time now, and really reaches out to a lot of people. While their methods of charity may not be what some consider the best, it is definitely at least creative and inspiring.

Just about everyone knows how Make-A-Wish Foundation works, at it's most basic structure: a kid gets terminally ill, and the foundation uses donation money to grant the wish of the child. It is fairly simple, and sometimes even narrow-minded, but it does give the kid one last chance to do what he or she has always wanted to do.

First off, the child that has been terminally diagnosed must be referred to the foundation. Parents, other children, and the medical professionals involved with that child can refer someone they think is eligible to have their wish granted. "Between 2½ and 18 years of age at the time of the referral," and, "have never received a wish from another similar organization," are the two requirements.

Next, the child is then determined to be either medically eligible, or not. Life threatening conditions are a must for any approved submissions. Then, volunteers try to figure out what it is exactly the child wants, and finally, they do it for that child. They give kids a second chance to do what they want the most.

Check out Make-A-Wish Foundation, and maybe even help a kid out today who just wants to get in a final wish.

Teens Express

Today's post is about an organization called Teens Express, once known as Songs with Meaning, Inc. (SwM). Teens Express has provided "its program participants with a reliable, secure, and productive environment," for not only academic pursuits, but also for their life and creative skills, since 1998. They utilize practical and artistic workshops to better the youth of the area, as well as the adults charged with the care of those youth.

The Teens Express organization serves all youth in the Washington metro area, specifically in Wards 7 and 8, as well as Prince George's County, Maryland. The participants come from all sorts of ethnic and lifestyle backgrounds, including about 80% of whom are at risk of "not reaching productive adulthood, or falling prey to crime," and "other obstacles to obtaining a degree, or successfully entering the workforce."

Restore the Pledge

If you would rather not read all the way through the post, the link can be found here: Restore the Pledge [http://www.restorethepledge.com/]

Can you recite the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance? If you are an American, chances are it will be very easy for you. Now, for a trickier one: can you recite the original U.S. Pledge of Allegiance, as written by the first author to dream it up? I bet you had no idea that there were ever any other versions of our famous pledge. I would also bet that you are surprised to see one element missing:

"I pledge allegiance to my Flag and to the Republic for which it stands: one Nation indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all."

If you didn't catch it, nowhere in there does it mention God, either under or over.

Bhookh.com

 Bhookh.com

"Feed a Child with a Click"

Here's a little fact for you: hunger is the number one cause of death in India.

Have another: 1/3rd of the world’s hungry live in India.

One more?: 5 Indians die every minute from hunger.

This stark reality is hard to grasp for first-world citizens, because having food is the basest of necessities for us. We never worry where the next meal is going to come from, or even if it will be safe to eat. We have practically conditioned ourselves free of the worry of hunger.

TheNonProfits.com

 

TheNonProfits.com

"Free Donations Directory"

Here is a really cool site that I happened across while searching for click-to-give websites on Google. Apparently, this site actually has a huge list of good click-to-give organizations that you can simply click on and be done with. This website is basically a hub for the aforementioned charities, which makes this already easy way to donate even easier!

Quite a few of these links actually showed up on my blog as well, so you will recognize them while you are looking through if you have been following Brighter Earth even a little closely. I think that this list holds many future recommendations, so keep an eye out for them!

TheNonProfits.com is just a click away (literally!).

Rescue Ocean Wildlife

Today's Brighter Earth free non-profit charity website gives aid to the oceans and marine wildlife. The website goes by the name of Rescue Ocean Wildlife, and it's one more simple click-to-give site made by care2, a charity social network group of sites that bring together charitable people to find a good charity.

Here is an explanation of their site's mission, taken from the Rescue Ocean Wildlife front page:

"Your free click generates donations from our sponsors. You may click once a day, every day. 100% of the donations raised go directly to Oceana to save our oceans through policy, advocacy and research. Oceana's scientists, lawyers and advocates work around the world to protect corals, make seafood safe, save sea turtles and more!"

You may remember the care2 social community from a recent post by the name of Stop Violence Against Women, which was another one of care2's projects. If you're interested in learning more about care2, see the linked page to read about the charity network more in-depth.


All it takes is a click to save the ocean -- so why haven't you done your duty yet?

JustGive

JustGive

"The Destination for Charitable Online Giving."

This site is not quite like the rest of the organizations I post about, as it's not exactly free to donate. If you wish to donate to a specific charity, you will need to offer up the money yourself (or, of course, find someone else to offer it). Now, there are a billion charities out there to donate to, so why use JustGive?

JustGive can be imagined as a sort of 'hub' for charities, where donators in search of the perfect charity to contribute to will have no problem finding one. This is largely thanks to the GuideStar service, which provides access to almost two million different non-profit organizations!

If you have felt like it's time to make donations, then you definitely need to check up on JustGive!

Stop Violence Against Women

"Your free click generates donations from our sponsors. You may click once a day, every day. 100% of the donations raised go directly to Amnesty International to end the systematic violation of women's basic human rights."

Stop Violence Against Women is a simple click-to-give charity website that aims to end the horrible violence against women around the world. According to the TopTenz.net article "10 Best Creative Charity Websites" (which is a good read, by the way):

"Violence against women in cultures throughout the world seems to be an ever-growing problem. The website provides a button that you click that donates money so that women are able to write and send letters, explaining their abuse and situation in hopes for the problem to come to the forefront."

Plant A Billion Trees

Plant A Billion Trees

"One dollar. One tree. One planet."

Plant A Billion Trees is a campaign effort by the Nature Conservancy to plant 1 billion trees by 2015, thus restoring 2,500,000 acres, or 10,100 sq. km, of land in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil. By doing so, the Nature Conservancy hopes to slow climate change by restoring the Atlantic Forest, which, according to the Plant A Billion Trees site, "helps regulate the atmosphere and stabilize global climate."

The Plant A Billion Trees campaign pledged to plant 25 million trees as a part of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP)'s Billion Tree Campaign. The Plant A Billion Trees campaign also works with such partners as Disneynature, Planet Green, Penguin Books, Payless Shoesource, AT&T, Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund, and Visa, to maximize efficiency.

Supporters can donate as little as $1, and this will plant one tree; for every dollar donated, one tree is planted. At the time of writing this article, the Plant A Billion Trees campaign has planted almost 7.6 million trees as a result of donations to the program. By doing so, they are saving such species as the Green Lizard, the Prepona Butterfly, the Guapuruvu Tree, and the Scarlet Ibis (among others, found here.)

If you want to help save the environment, the animals, and the world, visit Plant A Billion Trees today.

Child's Play

Child's Play

"Gamers give back."

Child's Play is a charity that aids children's hospitals in acquiring gaming equipment for the children at the hospital. It is funded entirely on cash donations or purchases, and is tax deductible. The Child's Play charity is entirely non-profit, though they do spend 2-3% of the donations on such things as shipping, etc.

Direct donations of cash through PayPal are readily accepted, and quite appreciated; however, there is also the option to buy an item for the hospital. The hospitals write up a wishlist, and when it is finished, doners may buy the item on Amazonand have it sent to the hospital, through Child's Play.

The site was announced on November 24, 2003, by the creators of the popular Penny Arcade webcomic, with the intentions to aid the children in hospitals and to reverse the bad public image of videogaming. The original post by "Gabe" (aka Mike Krahulik) can be found here.

Within the first month of kick-off, the charity raised about $250,000; overall, Child's Play has earned $6.7 million for various children's hospitals around the world, in such locations as U.S., Canada, New Zealand, and England. If you want to contribute to this growing charity that supports not just one, but two causes, at once, check out Child's Play!

FreePoverty - Knowing Helps

FreePoverty

"Knowing Helps"

FreePoverty is a click-to-give site that is free and easy to use. It's in the form of a game, much like FreeRice, but it focuses solely on geography (instead of FreeRice's multiple subjects). As one plays the game, and answers correctly, a certain amount of water (depending on how close to correct the answer was) is added to the individual and total score donated. Near the top of their pages, a counter claims (at the time of this article's writing):

"In total we have donated 225,520,538 Cups of Water!"

The idea for the site itself is that a person who plays the games will view the ads placed on that page; the water donated is then paid for by the money earned from the sponsors' ads. The site isn't just a simple game with ads, though. The game itself is very well-made, and the look of the site is wonderful, so one doesn't mind the ads as much.

Why donate water, though? On their Home page, FreePoverty says:

"70% of a human being is made up of water. Water is the second most essential element for survival, after oxygen. Over one billion people in the world do not have access to clean drinking water; hence, causing them to develop deadly diseases. Moreover, without water, the brain is not able to function properly. One cup of water can make difference to someone's day. FreePoverty allows you to donate as many cups of water as you can to save millions of people."

FreePoverty states on its FAQ page that it is in between organizations due to some sort of "unforeseen issues." These issues are not expounded on, and the link they give promising further explanation leads to a 404 page.

Naturally, this does make FreePoverty seem a bit on the shadier side, though the site is much blogged about, and was associated previously with the popular WaterAid. Spending time on the site at your own discretion, as though the site seems trustworthy, it's hard to be sure at the moment. Perhaps when FreePoverty partners up with a reputable organization, we can all rest assured.

Regardless, the geography game on the site is actually quite fun. Go ahead and check it out at FreePoverty.

helpthirst.com - We Donate 1 Cup of Water to World Vision Every Time You Win

helpthirst.com

We donate 1 cup of water to World Vision every time you win

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UPDATE: Helpthirst.com is down.
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Helpthirst.com is a click-to-give charity site that operates much like the other click-to-give sites, especially FreeRice. To start, you the "Play" button in the dialog box, and it will give you a question and an answer. In the answer is a number that you must remember within the short time allotted, and when it disappears, you must input the correct number. The level will increase as you enter right answers in a row, or decrease for wrong answers. For each right answer, 1 cup of water will be donated. For quite a bit of time, the game is very simple.

It works in the same way many of its click-to-give contemporaries do: you answer to refresh the page, and with it, a new ad appears. On helpthirst.com, the ad is at the top of the page, in banner form. The price of the ad's placement pays for the donations; thus the more one plays, the more money the sponsors must pay, and the more that is donated.

Helpthirst.com donates the water to World Vision, which is an international relief and development organization. According to the World Vision International 'What We Do' page:

"Because poverty has both local and global causes, World Vision works within communities and across geographical areas to help individuals and groups improve the well-being of children and overcome poverty."

They do not work by themselves, however. They engage many other groups and people to participate in the betterment of their communities, and their world. Also on the 'What We Do' page, they state:

"World Vision engages institutions, donors and the general public to address the global problems that perpetuate poverty. Advocacy staff empower communities to speak up for their rights, locally and globally."

Another popular World Vision charity is AIDtoCHILDREN, about whom I wrote an article in my last post. AIDtoCHILDREN also donates to those in need by asking one a question, and paying for the donations through ads. AIDtoCHILDREN donates such things as school supplies, clothing, and food to impoverished children around the world.

If you want to help those in the developing world and disaster areas get fresh, clean water, get to playing on helpthirst.com!

AIDtoCHILDREN - Helping Children in Need Through Learning

AIDtoCHILDREN

"HELPING CHILDREN IN NEED THROUGH LEARNING"

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UPDATE: As of Sept. 18, 2011, AIDtoCHILDREN is down.
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AIDtoCHILDREN is one more great site to add to the list of easy-to-play browser games that help the world. Have you played FreeRice or Charitii lately? Then you'll definitely recognize AIDtoCHILDREN's style as soon as you jump in, with the question answering to raise funds for the charity (or charities).

The style is recognizable, with a question, and four possible answers. You click the answer you think is right, and if it is, then your skill level progresses and you donate money to the cause. If it's wrong, your skill level goes down, but that's it. It's simple, doesn't take time to load, and is very quick to play. You can exit whenever you wish, but there is no way to save your skill level and amount donated as of yet. Whenever you reload the site, you must start the questions over again.

Answering a question correctly will donate .25 cents to the AIDtoCHILDREN/World Vision cause, which is used to feed children in need. That's $0.0025, meaning 4 correct answers donates a penny. While that may not seem very helpful at all, consider this: you can answer 4 questions in about 10 seconds quite easily. According to the site, it takes just 25 cents to feed a child in need. All it takes to feed a child is roughly 250 seconds, or just over 4 minutes! Four minutes of your day to give another starving child some food, thanks to AIDtoCHILDREN.

The site itself is run by the World Vision charity. According to an article in the Puget Sound Business Journal:

"World Vision says it collected about $1.1 billion — an increase of 16 percent — from U.S. donors during its fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2008. The group’s total revenue, including grants, product donations and foreign donations, climbed 16 percent to $2.6 billion."

Even in a global recession, especially in the U.S., there was a considerable increase in the amount of donations pouring in to the charity. World Vision looks like it is and will continue to be a successful cause to donate to, and AIDtoCHILDREN lets you do that for free and with ease. So head on over the the site, and help feed children in need: AIDtoCHILDREN.

Charitii - Play Multiple-choice Crossword Puzzles for Charity.

Charitii

"Play multiple-choice crossword puzzles for charity"

Charitii is another very easy game that donates to a worthy cause where all you have to do is play. There actually multiple causes, but it's main (and original) cause is donating water to places where it's much needed, and hard to get. As soon as you get on, you can start playing to get donations for whichever cause you chose.

Charitii bases itself around the same things that sites like FreeRice, The Hunger Site, and GamesThatGive base themselves around: advertisements. By playing the game, you earn money via the advertisements for the site, which then gets used to pay for donations to the cause you chose. The site itself features the banner at the bottom, much like FreeRice, and in the same way, bots can cause problems, since advertisers will not invest their money if it's only bots viewing the ads.

You don't have to play anonymously, though; you can register. The register button is at the top right, as well as right under the box with the "Difficulty Level" in it. Once you register, it will save the charity you choose, as well as the amount of points you have earned for that charity. The charities are, as listed on the Charitii site (with the amount donated for each correct answer):

charity: water: 10 ounces of water
Invisible Youth Network ??? Unknown (10 points)
The Nature Conservancy: 10 square inches of rainforest
The Oaktree Foundation: 10 minutes of education
Philippine Aid Society: ??? Unknown (10 points)

For each question you get correct, 10 points will be added to your score. For every two correct answers you give, the difficulty will rise one level. For every one wrong answer, it will go down one level. After a specific amount correct, one letter will disappear, and then two, and so on until it becomes too hard to figure out, and starts over. If you are registered, your score and difficulty will be left from the previous session; if you are not, it will be reset.

Just in the month of July 2009, the highest donating month for charity: water, Charitii claims 11,000 gallons of water were donated. In the same month, they also claim to have donated almost 54,200 feet of rainforest for The Nature Conservancy, and almost 13,000 minutes of education for the Oaktree Foundation.

You can help the world, as well. All you have to do is go the site, play their word game, and aid a cause that could really use it: Charitii.

The Hunger Site - To Help Eradicate World Hunger

The Hunger Site

"The heart and soul of The Hunger Site's mission, to help eradicate world hunger, is rooted in the struggle against poverty and hopelessness."

The Hunger Site is another very simple, easy to use click-to-give. You can earn food for the hungry people around the world by clicking a button on each page. FreeRice.com, as mentioned in my previous post, utilized the genius idea pioneered here by The Hunger Site.

The point of the site, like FreeRice.com, is for people to actually view a page in which there are advertisements. The money generated from the viewing of these advertisements is used to buy food for the hungry. However, unlike FreeRice.com, you can only click once a day (though this one click pays for a whopping 1.1 cups of rice, in comparison to the 10 grains per correct click on FreeRice).

You can also check out the other tabs at the very top of the site, such as Literacy, or Breast Cancer, and you can click once a day per cause. Yes, that's right -- you can click once a day for EACH cause, instead of just one. So make your rounds while you're there. The causes listed are:

Hunger
Breast Cancer
Child Health
Literacy
Rain Forest
Animal Rescue

The site provides a very useful service to help you remember when to do your daily click: simply click the Daily Reminder button (to the bottom left of the "Click Here To Give - it's free" button) and enter your e-mail. Please note that if you do not wish to receive e-mails from them that are not the daily reminder, you will need to uncheck the box that says, "Send me free weekly e-newsletters."

For doing so, they also claim that you will receive a free wristband for the cause. Also note that this wristband will require you put in a credit card (PayPal is not working for them, currently) and pay about USD $4 shipping and handling, which is way more than a wristband is worth, and I doubt the money goes to charity. I suggest you steer clear of the wristband unless you truly adore it and must have it.

The site was created way back in 1999, by John Breen (the same man who invented FreeRice in 2007, and thus displays notable similarities). It was then sold to GreaterGood, and eventually CharityUSA. The site is not actually a charity, though it started out that way. As quoted on Wikipedia and similarly stated on the site itself, "CharityUSA currently claims that 100% of the website's sponsor advertising revenue is paid to... non-profit partners."

Any way the site works, all it takes from you is one click a day-- that's just seconds of your time daily-- to give some food to those who need it. With the Daily Reminder to your e-mail, it's only easier. Check it out, and do your part for humanity: The Hunger Site.