donorschoose.org - April Buchheit

+1 donorschoose.org; followed by Girls Inc and Heifer International - hunter walk

another +1 for donorschoose.org - Isaac Hepworth

I like the microloan concept... stuff like Grameen Foundation, Microplace, Kiva, etc. I wrote a post last Xmas about charities that you might be interested in if you're looking for ideas: http://www.pelczarski.com/gonutty... - Keith Pelczarski

All my business giving goes to cancer research http://www.experienceseekerstr... - Anne Bain

There are too many good ones. We like to give to the Palo Alto Animal Services that we volunteer for. But in my work one of my favorite local children's charities is Project HELP http://www.project-help.org/. Other local children's charities that I like include Child Advocates: http://www.cadvocates.org/, CCPY: http://www.ccpy.org/, Hospice of the Valley: http://hospicevalley.org and Diabetes Society Camps Program: http://www.diabetessociety.org/Camps.... There are a number of fabulous ones in LA that I know of as well if that is information useful to anyone. If you are looking for Santa Clara County or LA county Childrens charities you can watch videos about many of them here: http://virtualsitevisit.org/vgaller.... Self Promotion now now finished. - Rachel Lea Fox

Karen, just happened to do a post about this today that had a lot of good comments: http://www.mattcutts.com/blog... - Matt Cutts

surviving parents coalition, and the joyful child.org. these are parents of kids who were killed by pedophiles. they fight incessantly to protect the rights of everybody's kids - 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys will meet a child sex offender by age 18, most of which are either parents or someone they know. the parents in this group are why there are so many laws in this country, technologies and efforts to stop this problem. one of the biggest criminal of internet child porn caught to date was a soccer dad in iowa seeming as an involved parent but drugging his young daughter and her friends then video taping it and trading it online. it was on oprah. when you know how hard it is to pass a bill/law and how few care about this cause, you get it. - Patricia

I support my local charities, St. Michael's Hospice, Barby Keel animal sanctuary and the shelter nearby. They're the ones that turn out and give real assistance when someone is lost or a bird gets stranded on the beach. - Nicola Quinn

I had a good experience being a big sister for big brothers/ big sisters, so I am inclined to support them. But it is hard to gauge how effective a dollar is to that organization vs. other organizations I might want to support. Which is what I would really like to be able to easily tell. - Clare Dibble

If you like it when hippies actually do something, the Seva foundation (founded by Ram Dass and supported back in the day by the Grateful Dead) restores sight to people in poverty stricken areas like Nepal. - Clare Dibble

This is a great list!! Thanks everyone! - Karen Padham Taylor

I really like the Fresh Air Fund, but they are very NYC-centric although they send kids all over the US for summer visits - Dominic Preuss

I'm going to plagiarize myself from my earlier comment on Matt's question: "I'm a big fan of http://www.heifer.org/ for Christmas gifts. My grandmother turned me on to them (the foundation she worked for were big supporters). They do great work, and the way they structure donations makes for great gifts -- our family gets them every year, and everyone seems to enjoy it." - Joel Webber

I like http://www.kiva.com-- they support microlending projects all over the world. - Shannon Jiménez

Children's Defense Fund: www.childrensdefense.org/ - Robert Konigsberg

I must second Joel's endorsment of http://heifer.org/ I have heard some wonderful stories about the impact they've made all over the world. - Jeanette Bosman