Saverocity Charity Update – get involved

Last year I reinstated Credit Card affiliate links in order to help support charity.  It’s a simple way to turn affiliate revenue, which can cause conflicts of interest, into a good cause.  We pick a charity each quarter.  Last quarter we selected Stop Hunger Now.  I then kick in the money I would have earned from credit cards.  The donated amount was $964. I was hoping for more, but it still makes a real impact:

We have already kicked off Q1 2015 and focused on the topic of Health.  With two strong charities already, I am moving to shortlist.  Our process in charity selection is:

1. Nominate charities (looking at things like expense ratio, purpose of funds etc)
2. Shortlist charities – pressure test our selection by allowing people to chime in with any concerns about the charity
3. Vote
4. Pay them.

We are currently at ‘Shortlist/Pressure Test phase’.  The two that we have identified are

Community Partners International

• Physical Headquarters Location: Berkeley, CA
• Web URL: http://cpintl.org/
• Starting Year: The constituent organizations were founded in 1989 and 1998
• Efficiency: 91%
• Type of Charity: Global health
• Basic Description/Mission Statement: “Our mission is to work with local partners to improve health and education, led by and for the people of Myanmar.”
• Why you are nominating them?: I worked with the Global Health Access Program, a constituent organization of CPI during my public health graduate studies. They were like no other non-profit I had worked with before and I have continued to be impressed with them in the 10 years since. Many global health organizations pay lip service to capacity building but these guys really mean it. They have been working with local NGOs on the Thai-Burma border for many years and really worked hard to transfer skills and knowledge that allowed the refugee and internally displaced groups to control more of their own destiny. On top of that, they operate a lean organization with most money going to programmatic activities.

Project C.U.R.E

• Physical Headquarters Location: Centennial, Colorado
• Web URL: http://projectcure.org/
• Starting Year: 1987
• Efficiency: 98.3%
• Type of Charity: Global Health/Humanitarian Relief Supply
• Basic Description/Mission Statement: Project C.U.R.E. was founded in 1987 to help bridge staggering health resource gaps in the developing world by matching medical supplies and modern equipment with facilities in need to empower doctors and nurses with the tools they need to treat disease, deliver vaccines, perform life-changing surgeries and ensure safe childbirth. Project C.U.R.E. operates distribution centers in Colorado, Tennessee, Texas and Arizona and collects excess supplies and specialized equipment from hundreds of U.S. hospitals and medical manufacturers, giving them the opportunity to redirect their surplus in an environmentally-friendly way. Thanks to the dedication of thousands of volunteers nationwide, two to three cargo containers of life-saving aid leave Project C.U.R.E.’s warehouses every week. Today, Project C.U.R.E. is the world’s largest distributor of donated medical supplies and equipment to healthcare facilities in resource-limited communities in 130 countries.
• Why you are nominating them?: If you look at the Charity Navigator Rating, this group has impressive stats including a 100% accounting and transparency rating. I like the specific focus of this charity as the largest provider of donated medical supplies and equipment to developing countries around the world. I am particularly impressed with the way this organization has been involved in its Ebola outbreak response. http://www.projectcure.org/programs/projects/ebola-outbreak-response

What can you do?

You can get involved in a few ways:

• Share this post with your networks, via Twitter, Facebook, Email.
• Apply for credit cards using the link in the Navigation menu ( only if you are responsible enough to manage them properly)
• Get involved with proposing and cross checking charities.
• Vote for a winner

If you want to discuss the Charities you can join the thread on the Forum here.