2009 Giving

Chuck and I have agreed upon our 2009 Charity List. We decided in November that even though we are in debt, we are not destitute. And we want to give back to our neighbors, country, world more than we currently are. Our pledge for church donations for next year is $400. That's up from the ~$250 we've given this year. And while our church does great things for our community and our adopted sister city in Africa, we wanted to donate to some charities to which we feel a connection. To that end we decided that we were going to put a $25 line item in our monthly budget called "Charitable Contribution". When we are out of debt I hope to raise this to $50/month and when we have our emergency fund fully funded I hope to raise it even more. For now though, $25 it is. Here is our list of organizations for 2009:

January - Heifer International
February - March of Dimes
March - local food shelf
April - Stand Up To Cancer
May - Susan G. Komen Foundation
June - Southern Valley Alliance for Battered Women
July - American Stroke Association
August - Doctors Without Borders
September - Sharing and Caring Hands
October - American Red Cross
November - Meals on Wheels
December - Adopt a Family (through my work)

It was interesting to me as I was putting this list together (Chuck just basically OK'd it) that I obviously have a heavy focus on people - young, old, poor, sick - but all people. There are no animal or environmental organizations in this list for 2009. I'm sure our list will change for 2010 but I guess for 2009 I know where my priorities are.

Do you regularly contribute to charities other than your church? Which ones? I'm really interested to know and hopefully expand my own charitable giving list options!