Day Twenty-Four (24): Charity List, Long-Planned Mini-Fundraiser, and Researching

Hello, wonderful people of the world!

I have utterly forgotten to update this Blog, so here is a list of the charities that I have donated £1 to since my last time that I posted a list:

1. Wear Lumos (JK Rowling's children charity)
2. ReThink
3. Right To Play
4. Forever Hound Trust (£5*)
5. RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution)
6. Cancer Research UK (£2*)
7. Kent Wildlife Trust
8. Rainbow Trust (£2*)
9. Lupus UK (£5*) 
10. Unicef UK
11. Demelza (£3*)
12. Headway
13. Help For Heroes
14. Diabetes UK
15. Make A Wish Foundation UK
16. Charity Navigator were given $5 - which is roughly £4.27 - as I wanted to give them a little extra for helping me with my 365 Christmases initiative (see the final part of the Blog post).

*(for meeting the minimum donation requirement)

- - - - 

I have also actually, finally completed my long-planned fundraiser for local cause East Kent Hospitals Charity. The money is going directly to hospitals in my region.

"East Kent Hospitals Charity raises funds for the wards and services provided by East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust. 

Through the generous support of individuals and organisations in the community we:

• Fund vital medical research

• Provide specialist equipment at the cutting edge of technology

• Improve treatment facilities

• Support staff development

• Create a healing environment to promote well-being within clinical spaces."

The fundraiser required me to cosplay ("costume play") as Jessica Rabbit from the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and perform the blues song Why Don't You Do Right? which was infamously performed in a scene from the film. Basically, I cosplayed as her back in October at Noobz Gaming Lounge in Margate for their Halloween Party, and several people asked if I could do the song in-character, but I refused, stating I would only do it for charity... So people said "okay, I'll donate!", and that is how this happened!

I started the fundraising page back in November, but I have had trouble with my computer capturing the visuals and sound. I managed to get it to cooperate last week, though, finally, and so the video is now live! I have raised £55 (including Gift Aid bonuses) so far but donations are still being accepted, so if you enjoy the video, please consider donating; thank you! 

- - - - 

Charities are not always what they seem, however... I have read many a sad article (from reputable sources, of course) about "charities" that have multiple employees with six-figure salaries, so a lot of the money that people donate goes to that, rather than the cause they want to be supporting.

With that in mind, I have discovered a website called Charity Negotiator, which has a list of charities around the world and gives them grades on how they actually use the money given to them. I will be using this website to help me make my donation choices. The website also lists some of the worst offenders for the aforementioned fault.

Similarly, there are also the GiveWell and Impact Matters websites who do the same.

There are, after all, far too many charities in the world to be able to donate to all of them, even though I truly want to(!)... It is difficult to decide who to give money to when there is so, so much need in the world...

Do please remember that you can Comment at any point or email me to make charity suggestions. Thank you :-)