Charity of the Month... discuss

I like this monthly charity project. I read something recently in Newsweek about the psychology of giving, and it mentioned one little blurb about how talking about what you give can and does inspire others who hear you. Kind of like how yawns are contageous - you yawn, and everyone else feels the urge. Except totally better in a save-the-world kind of way.

I have had good feedback from people about it. A bunch of people have recommended specific charities to me, which is great. I will try to get to them! But I also have this to say: if you feel strongly about the charity, give your own darn money to them, too, if you don't already! :)

After I re-read that Newsweek article above, I noticed the link to thelifeyoucansave.com and looked into. Really crappy website, actually. But, interesting idea from a prolific and controversial ethicist. They ask you to pledge to donate at least 1% of your income (if you make under $105,000 a year... which I most certainly do) to organizations that help relieve the world's poor. I did the adding and I donate slightly more yearly if I keep it up every month. But, as you know, the focus of my money isn't always towards poverty.

This is something I am going to think about over the next month, and I might try to get my hands on his The Life You Can Save book. I could certainly make "poverty" my charity focus. AK and I have talked about this. He has 2 causes he supports: his college and a certain cancer fund that hits home for him. So his philosophy is to maximize his donation to the things he really cares about, which is certainly great. For me, I just think tons of nonprofits are doing good things that deserve my money! Before now, though, I hadn't thought about having a charity "theme"... like, health, animals, environment, etc. I think the poverty theme would be perfect and is something that I do feel passionate about (and it has sooo many levels, which gives me the variety I like), although so many people raise money for cancer research (see March, February, October...) that it's hard not to support that.

Hmm. Changes may be coming? Can anyone help me talk this out?