Giving for the Godless Agnostic Aid Pastafarian Philanthropy Heathens Helping Rational Relief

1. Giving for the GodlessAgnostic AidPastafarian PhilanthropyHeathens HelpingRational Relief Or how I learned to stop worrying and donate to a good charity

2. 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 * http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=content.view&cpid=42 ** http://www.hoover.org/publications/policy-review/article/6577

3. 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

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

5. Comic Relief

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. Comic Relief #2

11. 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 www.kiva.org

12. 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!

13. 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 * www.charitywatch.org ** http://www.charitynavigator.org/

14. Questions