Season's Givings?

DevanJedi asks: "Many people around the world plan their charitable giving around this time of the year, for religious, tax or other similarly benevolent reasons. As a geek who spends an inordinate amount of time around his computer, I have compiled a list of entities that have made my geek life easier, in the past year. Which other projects does Slashdot believe to be worthy of praise, money, recognition, developer time or general applause?"

I'd love to read this list but

[butters the odd]

Apparently your server wasn't quite ready for the Slashdot effect.

Charitable giving

[ucblockhead]

I prefer to give my charitable dollars to the poor and infirm.

I sometimes also give money to middle-class white geeks running software projects that benefit other middle-class white geeks because I want those projects to continue to exist. (I am, after all, a middle-class white geek.) But I don't delude myself into thinking that this is "charity" because when I give money to these projects, I benefit in that the project that produces something that I use is going to be able to advance faster.

For example, giving money to the gnome people isn't "charity" unless you do not use gnome yourself.

EFF

[wyldeone]

The site's dead, so I can't tell if this was on the list, but defintely everyone should consider donating to the eff [eff.org]. They have done so much good work protecting our digital rights and hopefully they'll be able to continue in the future.

Here's the article

[Trip Ericson]

Season's Givings

Many people around the world plan their charitable giving around this time of the year, for religious, tax or other similarly benevolent reasons. As a geek who spends an inordinate amount of time with around his computer, these are the entities that have made my life easier in the past year and deserve all the recognition, money and general fulfillment of all Amazon Wish List desires:

* Firefox : This has undoubtedly been the year of Firefox. If you aren't using it yet... what are you waiting for? With plugins, extensions, tabbed browsing, pop-up blocking and the fact that it's free and open for all make it the IE-killer that we've all been waiting for.
Get FireFox | Get Involved | Donate

* Wikipedia If this year was the year of Firefox, then Wikipedia was a close second. This is the largest single resource of information ever created by men. They are having their quarterly fund drive; please give generously. Become a contributor; and editor. Many people believe they don't know enough or need to be an expert in order to contribute meaningfully. You don't have to be. I'm no expert and I've written about my home town, my college, my favorite sports team, and other random stuff I find errors or omissions in. Give it a try and enjoy.

* OpenOffice.org : By providing a viable, free and open option to the over-priced monopoly of MS Office, OO.o has shown us a world without rules and controls, without borders or boundaries. A world where anything is possible.
Contribute

* Fedora : The low-hassle Linux distribution that I've been using for a year or so; a worthy successor to the Red Hat name; easy to get up and running in addition to or in place of that MS OS of yesterday. Contribute

* Gnucash : This year, there was life before Gnucash and then there was life after Gnucash. And life after has been undoubtedly better. This is a smash free and open source personal (and small business) financial accounting tool that blows everything else out of the water- mainly because it's free and extensible to do what you want it to. Gnucash, you've changed my life for the better. I may not save more money than I used to, but at least I know what I'm not saving money on.
Contribute

* Emacs : Emacs, you complete me. 'nuff said.
Contribute

* Adium : There was a time when I would have multiple messenger applications running at the same time. Then came Gaim. There was a time when Gaim was ugly; then came Adium, a tremendous messenger client for the Mac OS that looks great, is extensible (has great plugins) and is free/open.
Donate (donate link at bottom of page)

* NetNewsWire : This piece of software is one of the great RSS readers of the world (for the Mac). In the new year, I will be buying the full version. Easy to use, great to look at and powerful under the hood; this is the app that made turned me into an RSS junky.

* Fink : Fink allows Mac OS to be more Unixey than it already is. With easy to install ports of all major UNIX/Linux packages through the command-line or GUI interface, Mac OS X without Fink is like Windows without Ctrl-Alt-Delete.

* Brattle : The Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, Mass. is in trouble. If they can't put together enough funding to pay past debts and future leases, they will be closed by February 2006. This is unacceptable- the Brattle is one of few truly independent movie theatres in the country. Without Brattle I would have never seen Casablanca on the big screen and would not have the opportunity to see the 1930s Kin

Penny-Arcade - Child's Play Charity

[SpyderPSU]

http://www.childsplaycharity.org/ [childsplaycharity.org]

Re:Glad to see...

[sid crimson]

Well... ...by giving a tax deductable donation your money goes farther. I prefer to see good organizations like your local Salvation Army, church, or food bank get 100% of my donation than to keep 60% of it for myself.

Uncle Sam needs to figure out how to do more with less. After all, he keeps counting on me to do the same.....

-sid

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[account_deleted]

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Re:Be unselfish

[TheFlyingGoat]

The Salvation Army is an excellent charitable organization. I donate to them every year instead of the Red Cross, not because I don't like the Red Cross, but because I feel the Salvation Army is more efficient with how they spend the money.

We also donate to can drives, Toys for Tots (local charity), and the Humane Society. Food and clothing drives are the most important charities this time of year, since 100% of what you donate goes to people that really need those things. Donating to the Humane Society is just something we've always done, and as such is a family tradition. No reason it has to be done during the holidays, though.

Just for kicks, here's an annoying story [madison.com] about how a local school wasn't allowed to have their students volunteer for the Salvation Army, since it's a religious organization. The complaints of a few unreasonable people ruined what would have been a very good lesson for those kids.

Vim/Ugandan Orphans

[fyoder]

If we're going to include emacs, we should include vim -- equal time and all that.

Bram Moolenaar isn't looking for donations to himself or the project, but would prefer vim users donate to iccf, an organization that helps kids in Kibaale, Uganda. Here's a link to a copy of the readme file [initd.org].

Fire!

[Dachannien]

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education [thefire.org] works to protect the free speech rights of students across the U.S., with a special focus on public colleges and universities, which are bound by Constitutional mandate to preserve freedom of speech. They are especially in need of donations from people who've already moved on to start their careers, since college students typically don't make that much money.

Is the Salvation Army Bashing Gays?

[Secrity]

What about the Salvation Army social worker who claims that his supervisor harassed him because he is gay and Jewish and then fired him when he complained?

Also, the Salvation Army has been lobbying to include a special provision that would allow them to discriminate against hiring homosexuals and still receive federal funding.

Re:Ubuntu

[Risen888]

Lots of charities are funded by independently wealthy billionaires. See also: Bill Gates, George H.W. Bush.

Furthermore, the money that Shuttleworth has put into Ubuntu, AFAIK, consisted of $10 million in startup capital. (Yeah, it's a Wikipedia number, I don't know about the accuracy, but there it is.) A significant chunk of money to be sure, but if the number is to be trusted, he's not exactly pouring his financial resources into Ubuntu.

Further-furthermore, the man's not making a dime off it. Which is, of course, the definition of the word 'charity.'

Re:Food banks

[SleepyHappyDoc]

Bear in mind, if you donate 'nice' foods, as in anything nicer than cheap canned stuff and pasta, it usually will not make it's way to the poor served by the food bank, but will most likely go home with whomever works at the food bank. Not to impugne the services food banks offer, but if you want to help a hungry person or family, do it directly. Find a low-income/subsidized housing area, take some food with you, and give it away to those who need it. Or else, buy gift certificates for grocery stores, and give those away directly.

Having worked at a food bank in the past, the volunteers (who are not always poor or in need of food) get first pick on what is donated.

Geeks can help Seniors

[toekneeshops]

There is a wonderful non-profit that is based in the U.S. but is growing worldwide called SeniorNet (see http://www.seniornet.org/ [seniornet.org] which teaches older people how to use computers. If you have a local Seniornet Learning Center, you can donate time teaching or coaching classes, you can donate useable equipment, or you can donate money. You may even be able to just donate technical advice. You would not believe the look of happiness on old folks' faces when they find pictures of their grandkids on the Internet for the first time, or they find out there is a support community for their particular painful disorders. Volunteer! It's a great help and a great feeling!

Re:Be unselfish

[ishmalius]

Yes, I forgot to mention that part, that they have very low operating costs, so almost all of the donations go the the needy.

By the way, the cynics might want to know that in all of our dealings with the Salvation Army this summer, I did not see them proseletyzing even a single time. Helping the people in distress seemed to be the only mission at hand. Here is a nice humorous article from a few weeks ago about another group, which I think actually gets the spirit of the relief effort fairly accurately [google.com].

Another thing to which people might be interested in contributing, are the various holiday feasts that your local community organizations are holding for the poor and homeless in your area. I have volunteered for these several times, and I absolutely love doing it. I have discovered that what homeless people need the most is merely someone to talk to, since they are so totally alone on the streets. When you ask someone "How are you doing?" and he blurts out his entire life's story, the best thing you can do is listen.

I must admit, giving your own time to help people directly can't really be considered totally altruistic. Guiltily, you will almost certainly benefit in your heart as much as anything you might be doing for them. Cynicism will fall by the wayside.

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[account_deleted]

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Habitat for Humanity

[Comatose51]

I'm a core volunteer for Habitat and it is definitely one of my favorite charities. It's very unique in that it provides housing but also makes the recipients get involved as helping themselves and their neighbors. The way it works is that the recipient must volunteer for X number of hours with Habitat and they end up either working on the home they'll move into or one of their neighbors' homes since Habitat tends to build entire neighborhoods. So they end up knowing each other from the start.

It's also great for those who want to help but don't have the extra cash. It helps me meet some great people who I would normally never meet and I've met a few "nerds" (professors, engineers, etc). The only caveat is that Habitat is a Christian organization but they're pretty light on that and never presses anyone on religion. I'm a devout atheist and have enjoyed working with other volunteers who are often church affliated.

It's a little late to do it now for the holiday season since a house takes some time to complete but try it for the next holiday season. One can imagine the emotion when the key is handed over to the new owners during the holiday season.

Medecins sans frontieres

[haelduksf]

http://www.msf.org/ [msf.org] Nobel peace prize winners helping african orphans, how much better can it get?

Re:I gave all my money to Slashdot

[Amezick]

Please validate the charity you are giving money to. There is a non-profit organization that posts the yearly IRS filing of all NPO's. It's website is at http://www.guidestar.org/ [guidestar.org] (registration required)

Re:Food banks

[twiddlingbits]

I have a close friend who works on the Board of our food bank here in N. Texas. She says give MONEY. As they can buy food for around 17 cents/pound in bulk from the mfgs and/or the Regional Food Bank. I can't think of anything in the Grocery store you can buy at that price. The list you provided is good, but add in Infant Formula/Baby Food, Powdered Milk, Hot Cereals (Oatmeal, Grits, Cream of Wheat), Salt/Pepper, Sugar, Condiments. Frozen Meats (such as those on-sale frozen Turkeys) are also good as they can feed a family for a week with one of those!