Pajiba

Good Lord, that was a hard choice - every last one is a totally worthy organization. Hopefully every org mentioned will get something out of it, even if it's just exposure - for instance, I've never heard of Oxfam before today.

Doctors without Borders! It's neck and neck right now.

Since Tammy raised the point, I'll go ahead and confess my ignorance of Heifer International -- given the name, I initially assumed it might be there for comic relief. Now I just feel stupid (and temporarily knocked down from my usual think-I-know-it-all perch). I've worked with Habitat for Humanity and my ex-wife was active in Oxfam, so I'm intimate with those two (so to speak) and I'm quite familiar with the other two. Definitely worthy causes all.

Well, I missed the comment diversion that this sprang from, but I voted for Heifer International. I have actually never heard of them before, and I have been involved in agriculture all of my life (growing up on a real, honest-to-goodness farm, actively pursuing my education in agriculture, all the way to my current job). Therefore I was surprised (and somewhat ashamed) that I had never heard of them. Anyway, you have intrigued me. I am going to look into them further; thank you for that.

ASPCA! gotta support my little animal friends.

Heifer rocks! Part of it is because, instead of just giving them a cash donation, you can choose what you'd like to donate. Like, you can buy a cow for a family, and the family can sustain itself on the cow's milk for years. Or, you can buy a bunch of chickens, and the family can live on the eggs and on the chickens the original donation reproduces, so on and so forth. It's a replinishable donation -- the gift that keeps on giving! It's sort of neat for the animals, too, cause they get a home where they are used and appreciated. Plus, it's got a cool name.

I like Heifer just because of how many priceless photo ops it has generated of politicians striking poses with farm animals. Also, you know, the ending world hunger thing.

I thought Heifer Int'l was for ugly women.

Color me pleasantly surprised.

What a fantastic organization. Lil Sister Flower works for Habitat and Oxfam and my local SPCA get yearly monetary love, but I see I'll have a couple more to add to the list.

Great comment diversion, btw.

Tough choice! All of these are great orgs. One great thing about Heifer Intl (among all the others) is that in addition to providing for food and livelihoods, when donated animals breed, they are distributed to other families in the village, so the benefit goes extends to others in the community.

Can we register a negative vote, i.e., subtract a vote for an organization that we do not believe to be as worthy as the four others?

That (semi-)rhetorical question aside, my vote goes to Oxfam Int'l because I believe that the donation to them would have the greatest effect. (1) The donation would be doubled via a matching fund. (2) Oxfam is a confederation with many partners so the money will have a replicative rather than a dilutive effect.

Great comment diversion but I would have expected no less from the intelligent and committed snarky bitches who form my Pajib(i)an community. We are the snarks; we are the bitches...[sung lovingly and knowingly]

I'm glad to see that Heifer International made the cut. It's the NPO I donate to every Christmas, because it's fun to hand your grandpa a card and say, "I've given you the gift of spring chickens."

Heifer has THE best Christmas catalogue. You should order it today- it prices animals and tells you which animals go to what countries and what the animals do (i.e mmm delicious meat, daily milk, cheese.) Heifer has a policy that first and third born animals are given to other people in the villages. They also have livestock education before the animals arrive.

Since living in Vietnam I have an abiding love of Water Buffalos but they're pricey ($250 I think) while rabbits and chickens are $25 for a flock. I'm going to try to raise an Ark with office mates this year. That's $3,000 of animals spread around the world.

Thanks to everyone who talked up Heifer Intl. My family donates money in our mom's memory for any occasion we would have bought her a present (birthday, etc.). She grew up on a farm and we have found another great place to donate in her name.

I thought Heifer Int'l was for ugly women.

I almost snorted coffee out my nose when I read that. Thanks for the laugh, stella!

These are all wonderful choices! :-) Thanks Pajiba!!!

It's hard to resist the Oxfam donation-doubling teaser; go SPCA, but the matching fund makes for an attractive candidate.

All are great choices; go Heifers

My vote's for Heifer International, which is busy helping poor people feed themselves throughout those parts of the world that don't sit on petroleum deposits. We got started when my mother-in-law gave Heifer projects in our names. Since her passing, we give an Ark (as in Noah's) every year in the name of the whole family at Christmas. It's not much, but I know it helps and is handled efficiently.

All are worthy organizations, but I went with Oxfam because of the donation matching. Can't beat that! (Although I'm very impressed with Heifer Int'l and will start looking into donating to them out of my Christmas bonus.)

I voted for Habitat for Humanity because I have seen first hand how great an impact this organization has on people, both those working on the houses and those who get the houses. I did work with them in South Africa and I got to work along side the family that was receiving the home. It was incredible. But that said, all these organizations sound really great.

Hmm, tough choice. I still vote for Doctor w/o Borders

While I appreciate what Heifers Int'l does, as a vegetarian I can't support supplying animals for food. Oxfam gets my vote, for its grassroots approach, its longterm goals, and its emergency relief programs.

Their mission statement.

I also root for all these charities, but do lean towards Oxfam because it joins so many groups together to defeat poverty from several angles. And because the money would be doubled.

Taylor, (I realize I'm coming in a bit late on this)
Not to chance your choice, but I know a group of kids who had the same problem with Heifer. Their solution: flocks of chickens. The eggs can be eaten, or sold, and it is far better economically to keep the chickens alive and laying than to kill them for food. Now, if you're totally vegan, that doesn't help much, but there are alternatives.