I would start a not for profit nursing home and hospice. Clients would be billed on a sliding scale but the focus would be on providing end of life services for those who might not be able to afford anything other than what Medicaid pays for which is generally not great. So many for profit nursing homes are understaffed and are rampant with elder abuse.
Post by silvercrayon on Oct 21, 2018 21:42:41 GMT -5
I would definitely give a lot of money going towards mental health issues for people who cannot afford help.
Education would probably get the bulk of my donations though. Paying for college for inner city and rural children who wouldn't go otherwise. Helping K-12 schools in their libraries and arts programs. Also, help in maintaining the physical infrastructure in our local schools. And helping children who don't want to go to college pay for vocational opportunities that would provide a good income for them in adulthood.
Other areas would be: feeding the homeless, supporting research for diseases that are close to my heart and something to really make a difference for the disabled.
I can’t see me starting anything. I know too many people doing good work with their own non-profits, and I can’t see that I would do anything better. I would fully fund so many of them.
I also wouldn’t start my own charity, but would give grants to established charities. And because I work in program evaluation, I would hire my coworkers to conduct process and impact evaluations of each grantee to ensure the program is being run as intended and with the desired outcomes.
Grants for the first five years would be given in the areas of animal welfare, environmental conservation, closing the racial/class achievement gap, and medical research on a certain disease that’s unfortunately near and dear to my heart.
Post by alleinesein on Oct 22, 2018 0:53:16 GMT -5
Mine is oddly specific and most wouldn't consider it to be "charitable". One of my good friends is an indie fantasy/anime artist and there is a huge need in the indie artist community for affordable legal services to protect artist's IP. I'd love to set up a legal service that would let them pay a flat monthly/annual fee for legal representation so that they can go after huge companies that steal their work. They need help with trademark & copyright infringement and help setting up licensing agreements so that they can protect their work and actually profit from it.
I’d like to see every dog and cat spayed/neutered. Animal overpopulation is real and heartbreaking where I live and I’d love to see it end and put breeders/irresponsible pet owners out of business.
In addition to other causes, I’d fund the Urban Debate Leagues in major cities across the country. High school students benefit so much from the skills debate teaches.
Post by mrs.jacinthe on Oct 22, 2018 7:37:32 GMT -5
R would like to start a foundation giving forgivable grants (over a period of time) to help small, struggling community radio stations in smaller towns/areas replace or repair their equipment. He'd also like to start some sort of program based around food deserts in the US, to help those areas get the fresh fruits and veggies they otherwise couldn't, whether it's through building/maintaining hydroponic grow buildings or just creating educational programs to teach people to grow their own food.
My personal preference would be to start identifying at-risk private land (ranches, forests, etc) for development/environmental issues and create a land trust. Purchase those lands and keep them open and free in perpetuity.
There are two things I'd like to do. There was a documentary last year about the digital divide in America. It's really stayed with me because the most featured student was from my hometown school district. What struck me is that it's not just about equipment, it's about the entire infrastructure. It's a really eye-opening piece www.digitaldivide.com/
The first school district featured (Jameira's) is the one in the where I grew up. Ironically, I got a scholarship to high school and went to a school in the district immediately following, 5 miles away. Anyway, I would love to be in a position to get my hometown's buildings and everything else up to snuff with the Main Line school. I know it goes much deeper than that as far as legislation goes (there is currently a federal lawsuit regarding the inequalities in funding), but if my money could be put to use to aid with that as well, I'd be all in.
A second thing I'd like to do, and I admittedly know very little about this, it's just a soapbox of mine bc I am so adamant about the importance of water safety - I'd like to open state-of-the-art indoor pool facilities in disadvantaged areas and teach children to swim free of cost.
I don't remember who had the idea of buying houses and renting them out at lower rents. You could have a non profit management company that provided jobs for the people running it, hiring local small contractors to renovate, handymen, etc. That's going on my list!
My dream is to do this for refugee families. (I do it for one family right now, but in an ideal world, I'd hire refugees to be handymen, contractors, etc., so as to give them a living wage as well as to provide homes for people.)
I have some friends who teach in title 1 urban schools. The amount of money/time they spend helping students in ways that are not covered by other charities is amazing. For example, driving a student to a college interview (for a major scholarship)as no one he knew had a car and the interview was at a college campus not accessible by public transit, ties/nice outfits for job/college interviews, buys pads/tampons, trying to find someone to cover glass rx coverage for someone who doesn't quite fit into low income coverage but can't afford it. Another friend mentioned a teacher who every year chose a graduating senior to help in memory of her child and help purchase a nicer instrument fit for a music performance major.
I would want to start by providing them money and having them document what students need to figure out what is really needed. By more than likely, I would want to find veteran teachers like them (not new/rookie savior type but down in the trenches veterans) and give them some cash and tell them to help students as necessary as long as they document how the money is spent so we/other non profits can figure out the best ways to help.
Post by Velar Fricative on Oct 22, 2018 12:38:39 GMT -5
If I had to start a charity from scratch, it would be a foundation exclusively focused on providing to public libraries across the country. So many do such great work but with shoestring municipal budgets. Someone above mentioned setting up a community center-type place for kids in need to get homework help, career assistance, etc. - libraries already do that so funds could be used to just grant these types of programs and the staffing levels they require. Otherwise I would donate sizable amounts of money to charities that already exist.
I’d pay to have air conditioning installed in every public school in my city.
Our school got air conditioning this year and it's such an incredible change! We can actually teach and not worry about students having heat stroke due to recess. Last May was particularly rough because it was testing season, ridiculously hot, and Ramadan, so some of our students were fasting and not able to drink water (although some of their parents told them to break their fast because of the heat).
I’d pay to have air conditioning installed in every public school in my city.
Our school got air conditioning this year and it's such an incredible change! We can actually teach and not worry about students having heat stroke due to recess. Last May was particularly rough because it was testing season, ridiculously hot, and Ramadan, so some of our students were fasting and not able to drink water (although some of their parents told them to break their fast because of the heat).
Most of the schools around here don't have AC. September is very hit or miss. The third week of September was the hottest week of 2017 - we had heat indexes of over 100. Nobody is learning in that. I am convinced that the top two priorities for America's schools should be: a) lead remediation, and b) climate control. We cannot expect students to learn in a poisoned, uncomfortable environment.
Our school got air conditioning this year and it's such an incredible change! We can actually teach and not worry about students having heat stroke due to recess. Last May was particularly rough because it was testing season, ridiculously hot, and Ramadan, so some of our students were fasting and not able to drink water (although some of their parents told them to break their fast because of the heat).
Most of the schools around here don't have AC. September is very hit or miss. The third week of September was the hottest week of 2017 - we had heat indexes of over 100. Nobody is learning in that. I am convinced that the top two priorities for America's schools should be: a) lead remediation, and b) climate control. We cannot expect students to learn in a poisoned, uncomfortable environment.
Our district has finally started to do something about it. We had a levy passed recently and they're spending the next 5 years fixing up several schools. Adding HVAC, fixing roofs, asphalt, electrical, plumbing, etc. More than 50% of our schools need major repairs (several of those aresafety and fire-related). It works out to almost 60 K-12 schools that had massive repairs needed.
Post by fivechickens on Oct 22, 2018 18:30:36 GMT -5
I would donate to March of Dimes and a cerebral palsy organization for sure. I would also donate to the NICU at the hospital my girls were born in and Motts Children’s hospital.
After that, I would donate to breast cancer org and leukemia lymphoma org.
I would love to sponsor a bunch of immigrants so they could come into the country safely, and help them with settling; but this will always be a pipe dream because of the way the laws are in the country.
I used to know someone whose parents were affluent, and he told me they sponsored people (might have just been children but can't remember for sure) all over the world that were in medical crisis who needed to come to the U.S. for major surgery. I always thought that was cool.
I would love to sponsor a bunch of immigrants so they could come into the country safely, and help them with settling; but this will always be a pipe dream because of the way the laws are in the country.
I used to know someone whose parents were affluent, and he told me they sponsored people (might have just been children but can't remember for sure) all over the world that were in medical crisis who needed to come to the U.S. for major surgery. I always thought that was cool.
Post by flamingeaux on Oct 22, 2018 23:09:03 GMT -5
I would create several endowments for visual and performing art teachers for every school in the district, start several scholarships for non-traditional students, and an organization that provides housing and transportation to LGBT teens/young adults who are disowned by their parents. I would also even though it would probably operate at a huge loss, open a theatre that had nightly drag shows, in the town I grew up in.
Post by fancynewbeesly on Oct 23, 2018 4:40:01 GMT -5
I would donate a MASSIVE amount of money to childhood cancer research groups. It is so completely underfunded. Some types have not budged in prognosis ever. Kids are still using medicine developed 30 years ago because no new drugs were made.
Some types still have a 0%cure rate. It breaks my heart.
I think there are so many good ideas here, but what is annoying me is that a majority of them are basically trying to fix things that the government should be responsible for, but aren't.
So, while trying to fill the gaps a little, I would want to try to figure out how to stop these things from happening again.
Also, while I love the idea of paying off student loans for people, or at least providing a 0% interest rate option or something, I hate the idea that those would end up making the banks that currently finance student loans even richer. I am feeling very salty towards big institutions, lol I would want to try to figure out a way that doesn't benefit the people who caused the problems in the first place...which may be impossible, lol
Well, I just bought my first every lottery tickets, and I've been thinking all day about it. One thing I'd probably consider doing if I won would be to create a 501c3 and have it claim the ticket (at least one lawyer says this works: www.nonprofitissues.com/to-the-point/can-i-avoid-tax-giving-lottery-winnings). And do good works through that charity/foundation/whatever (I don't know the correct terminology), and work for it and have it pay me a reasonable salary. Ok, maybe a slightly extravagant salary, but still within the realm of charity executive salaries.
Anyway, one thing that I'd like to create/fund, in addition to probably donating loads to existing good charities, would be a kind of community center. There would be a bunch of components to it - probably a small shelter (for people leaving bad situations), definitely a fitness center, all kinds of services to help people with their finances (e.g. budgeting, debt management, tax help), and maybe a few other things. A friend who is a financial planner posted something recently wondering about connections between gaining physical fitness (and confidence) and gaining confidence in other areas of your life (e.g. at your job, in yourself in general), and I've seen that a lot. Since I'm big on fitness and weightlifting, I'd basically want to offer free or low-cost Crossfit style workouts (as well as boot camp workouts) to as many people as possible, but primarily targeting survivors. And it would be free (or donation only) for life for participants. Hopefully it would build community and connections, as well as personal confidence. I'm kind of envisioning it as having aspects of the community center open to all and other parts just for certain populations (or maybe sliding scale costs). I don't know, it seemed nice when I thought of it. The first thing I'd do would be to hire some actual experts to help me figure out what would be good and what would be counterproductive, etc.