Giving for the Godless Agnostic Aid Pastafarian Philanthropy Heathens Helping Rational Relief Or how I learned to stop worrying and donate to a good charity

Some Numbers 35% of all donations (100 Billion dollars) goes to churches * Religious people are 25% more likely to donate money than secularists are ** Why is that? – Not many good secular charities – Strong social pressure to donate in a church – Nothing like the fear of hell to open that wallet * **

The Problem I want to give money to charities, but not churches Lots of churches disguise as charities Some religious charities are good, many use money for proselytizing

My Goal Educate on the good and bad ugly of religious charities Provide secular alternatives Give a few tools for giving

Comic Relief

Bad Example: Catholic Charities Illinois: closed foster care service rather than adopt to gay couple DC: Canceled health benefits for employees rather than give them to gay couples Thwarted contraception world wide adding to AIDS problem Charity as political weapon

OK Example: Salvation Army The Good Disaster relief Food drives Toy drives Thrift stores The Bad It is a church Multiple tangles with anti- homosexual practices Threw away Harry Potter toys in CA drive Secular Alternative: Goodwill Open hiring practices No history of discrimination

Good Example! Foundation Beyond Belief They pick and focus on 5 charities a quarter – Education, Poverty and Health, Human Rights, Natural World, Challenge the gap – Challenge the gap works with other religious charities they deem quality Initial positive research on their charities of choice One time or regular donations Foundationbeyondbelief.org

OH NOES Disaster! So a disaster happens and you want to help Give money not stuff American Red Cross – Some efficiency and transparency problems Doctors without Borders

Comic Relief #2

Also Interesting Kiva: a hand up, not a hand out Start with as little as $25 and loan to someone starting a business Most common loans to African women for hundreds to a few thousand dollars Agencies go to the people and vet their ideas Money goes from Kiva to Agencies to People Loans are slowly paid back

Kiva Criticism: because failure causes full loss, interest can be high – No chicken repo company You get your money back to reinvest You can join a team to talk or strategize Atheists kicking Christian ass!

Tools Charities always have a website, check the about section – Some references to doing “God’s work” are a dead giveaway Check Charity Watch * – They rate charities based mostly on monetary efficiency Eg. Do they spend most of your donation on marketing? Also check Charity Navigator ** – Fancier version of charity watch – They rate financial health and transparency as well Lastly look on Wikipedia for controversy or issues * **

Questions