I want to set up a charity. I am in the UK. Let us say I have the
fundraising sorted. Now I need to give the money away and in the UK
you cant just give it away to UNICEF or whoever. So I need to find
needy causes directly.

I want the money to go to projects in developing countries, things
like health, food, education, children. So how do I find these - are
there clearing houses for such projects? Obviously if I dont find a
rigorous method for selecting projects, I run the risk of being conned
by projects that arent what they seem, or are just made up. Ideally
there would be an organisation whose job it is to say 'there are these
100 projects and we can certify they are all bona fide'.

Thank you,

macaonghus

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Clarification of Question by macaonghus-ga on 21 Nov 2003 08:31 PST

The ukwebfind website is unfortunately not very helpful because I
cannot give money to a charity, as explained in the question.

I like Amalik's answer, though. I can find large trust funds pretty
easily, they have done the vetting, and its true, I am unlikely to
find new projects.

Amalik, if you post your comments as an answer, that'll do me.

James

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Request for Question Clarification by tutuzdad-ga on 21 Nov 2003 09:24 PST

"amalik-ga" is not a researcher and cannot formally close your
question. If you are satisfied I suppose you can cancel your question
yourself now and consider it answered for free.

Regards;
tutuzdad-ga

It is very rare for a new general purpose foundation with such a broad
focus "things like health, food, education, children" to be
established through general fundraising rather than a specific
bequest.

Please specify which specific area you are interested in finding
projects and perhaps researchers and commentators will be better able
to assist you.

For example if your foundation will focus on education please also
indicate if you are primarily interested in educating children (
primary level education), womens health education, adult literacy,
etc.

If interested in food policy please specify your idealogical bias - do
you believe agribusiness is "evil" and want to support "sustainable"
farming and pay a "fair" price to the "virtuous" peasant farmer or do
you actually want to do something that will feed the most number of
people even if  "evil" capitalists make money?

As you can tell from the last paragraph, any organisation that
"certifies" that projects are bona-fide is going to be biased in their
selection process as there are many different ways to go about
distributing aid in the Third World and everyone pushes an agenda.

You need to carefully explain your own biases as well so projects that
will interest you and your foundation (because their biases are your
biases) can by recommended by researchers and commentators.

----------------------

Otherwise - another excellent way to find worthy projects is to find
an already existing, well known and respectable foundation - (ex.
Rockefeller Foundation) -find out who they give money to - and
piggy-back along.


Given that your foundation is new - and not yet established - don't
expect to be able to discover a "hidden gem" project in the third
world for which you are the sole funding source.

Indeed, I strongly recommend finding an already established foundation
(or two or three) whose philosophy you agree with and whose work you
respect.

By working with these already established foundations, your foundation
will gain the experience it needs over time to be able - in twenty or
thirty years- to be able to distinguish between worthy and unworthy
projects in the Third World.

--------------------------

Now my personal opinion.  List of worthy charities follows.


What may be the single most effective anti-poverty program on Earth is
the Grameen Bank.


http://www.grameen-info.org/


Poor sanitation (water supply)  may be the single greatest cause of
death on Earth.  Building ReSource Composting Toilets isn't glamourous
but its the kind of long lasting contribution to public health that
the poor really need.

http://www.riles.org/projects.htm

This doesn't contain third world charities but it's a great database
for needy organizations in the US, arranged by both region and cause:

CHARITY NAVIGATOR
http://charitynavigator.org/

Regards;
tutuzdad-ga

Dear macaonghus-ga 

Let me know if this suits your needs and suffices as an answer:

UK WEBFIND - HEALTH CHARITIES
http://www.ukwebfind.co.uk/disphealthcharities.html


CHILDREN'S CHARITIES
http://www.ukwebfind.co.uk/dispchildcharities.html

ANIMAL CHARITIES
http://www.ukwebfind.co.uk/dispanimalcharities.html

THIRD WORLD CHARITIES
http://www.ukwebfind.co.uk/dispthirdworld.html

OTHER CHARITIES
http://www.ukwebfind.co.uk/dispothercharities.html

Regards;
tutuzdad-ga

The are many highly ligitimate organizations you could talk to and get
specific project information that would help you make an infirmed
choice that you would knos is worthy.

In Canada you can visit: http://www.coopscanada.coop/coopdevelopment/
On the navigation bar clic on International Development and see a
whole list of projects donor being done.  Check the details and photos
for any of them.  This Canadian national co-operative association has
been doing sustainable international development work  for over 40
years and money given to the CDF (foundation) is matched 3 to 1 by the
governement of Canada making your donation go 4 times further.

Similar organizations exist in Norway, Sweden, Germany.  

Hope this helps.