Which Worthy Charities?

[sparrow]

Hello every one

I'm starting an e-commerce company and would like to donate a proportion of the profits to 1 or more worthy causes. I've read about the hospital in Mae Hong Song province that serves the refugees, does anyone know contact info please? Also I don't know if its possible but would like to help support the national park ranges (is that the correct name?) in some way, any info? Any other ideas would be much apprietiated. Perhapse some thing involving dissadvantaged children such as an orphanage, school or medical care. Thanks for your time.

Marcus

[Jefferson]

My vote goes to supporting the disadvantaged girls of Loi Kroh.

(Thought I'd get that in first, sorry to everyone else who's now late. )

[Ulysses G.]

I intend to support Jefferson's cause to the best of my abilities.

[Ajarn]

There are literaly Thousands of places to donate your money. One place I know of in Mae Sot is a house of Karen refugees being taken care by a women named Tasanee Keereepraneed. I have visited a couple of times and they are legitimate. Here is a story done about them 2 years ago...

[sylviex]

I tend to think it's better if you can pass on skills & knowledge as well as money, so would suggest you select a charity in which you and your company can take a more direct and personal interest. For example, a school (or indeed, refugee centre/hospital/other group) could benefit from some practical teaching about computer use and e-commerce, if you can help them buy the equipment. Just a an hour or two of teaching on a regular basis can make a difference - train the teachers/leaders to train the others. That's really valuable.

BTW, is the Elephant Nature Park considered "worthy" ? I noticed some intimations on the Tiger Park thread about an elephant park that was now under some suspicion, funds-wise.

All the best.

[sparrow]

I tend to think it's better if you can pass on skills & knowledge as well as money, so would suggest you select a charity in which you and your company can take a more direct and personal interest. For example, a school (or indeed, refugee centre/hospital/other group) could benefit from some practical teaching about computer use and e-commerce, if you can help them buy the equipment. Just a an hour or two of teaching on a regular basis can make a difference - train the teachers/leaders to train the others. That's really valuable.

BTW, is the Elephant Nature Park considered "worthy" ? I noticed some intimations on the Tiger Park thread about an elephant park that was now under some suspicion, funds-wise.

All the best.

I'd think ellaphant nature park could be but i'm not sure which ones are really good and which are tourist attractions with no care or even disregard for thier ellaphants. I'd like to help protect the remaining wild ellaphants if possable rather than get stuck in to the ellaphant park quagmire. A course I won't be donating to is the dogs home, I'm sure they do very good work but they have a very high profile and I'm sure there are worse problems which could use the money. An "unworthy" cause would be the Zoo!

Very good idea for the computer training. We're going to England for some months to promote this venture but may get in to that once we return. Like to have something set up from the go though also.

Thanks for your thoughts.

[lannarebirth]

Hello every one

I'm starting an e-commerce company and would like to donate a proportion of the profits to 1 or more worthy causes. I've read about the hospital in Mae Hong Song province that serves the refugees, does anyone know contact info please? Also I don't know if its possible but would like to help support the national park ranges (is that the correct name?) in some way, any info? Any other ideas would be much apprietiated. Perhapse some thing involving dissadvantaged children such as an orphanage, school or medical care. Thanks for your time.

Marcus

This is one I give to and I think you would find it worthy of your support as well:

http://www.thaistudentcharity.org/index.ph...ge&Itemid=1

[Ta22]

Sponsor a kids to school ..

TEach the skill not feed the stomach ..

[tigerbeer]

Sponsor a kids to school ..

TEach the skill not feed the stomach ..

very well put Ta22. simple and straight to the root.

[Hog Head]

A shameless plug for the Chiangmai ToyRide, who supports needy local kids "under the radar". Yesterday we donated 160 toys to very sick children in hospital, and are having a ride to Samoeng May 18 to donate toys, athletic equipment, and blankets to the poorest village kids in the region.

www.chiangmaitoyride.com

[sparrow]

Hello every one

I'm starting an e-commerce company and would like to donate a proportion of the profits to 1 or more worthy causes. I've read about the hospital in Mae Hong Song province that serves the refugees, does anyone know contact info please? Also I don't know if its possible but would like to help support the national park ranges (is that the correct name?) in some way, any info? Any other ideas would be much apprietiated. Perhapse some thing involving dissadvantaged children such as an orphanage, school or medical care. Thanks for your time.

Marcus

This is one I give to and I think you would find it worthy of your support as well:

http://www.thaistudentcharity.org/index.ph...ge&Itemid=1

Thanks very much. This charity looks excellent, I recommend every one who sees this to follow the link above and take a look. I especially like the fact that it doesn't have any paid staff so all the moneys raised go to the children in need.

[Austhaied]

Croston House childrens home in Lamphun.

Nice people doing a fantastic job.

They have just taken in five more kids recently, that now makes it around twenty-five children and they are very busy at the moment.

They could always do with a helping hand.

Give Glenn Croston a call on 086 385 7118.

[earlofwindermere]

I work in the charity sector in Chiang Mai and was suggested a book to read that I'd like to recommend as well. It's called "A Billion Bootstraps" by Eric Thurman and Phil Smith. It's an easy read and is written specifically for business professionals in deciding what project or organization to support. A basic summary of the book is to decide what results you are looking to accomplish with your donation (and to check if the charity/project actually meets those goals).

Here's an example from the book....

Orphans may also suffer from misguided attempts to alleviated their suffering. Orphans and vulnerable children, whom development experts call OVCs, are one of the great moral calamities of our time. When we hear about massive numbers of children orphaned by AIDS or by a natural disasters such as a tsunami, it is easy to conclude that orphanages are the answer. This is an example of focusing on activity rather than result. Best practices estalbished by leading groups that work with children in crisis show that the greatest needs of the children are emotional. They need to be bonded long term with a caring family rather than assigned a place in an institution. Programs that enable local families to take in orphans are much better, cheaper, and more scalable solutions than building and maintaining orphanages.

While I don't agree with everything in the book (and I personally think some of the local orphanages/youth hostels are doing great work), this book will certainly help anyone clarify how and whom to support in practically any charity sector.

Edited May 2, 2008 by earlofwindermere

[donna]

if you are looking for an elephant centre, try 'friends of the asian elephant'. run by a delightful woman, Soraida Solwala, this is an excellent facility which has a hospital too. you may remember the case about 9 years ago of the elephant who stood on a landmine in myanmar and then went on to have part of her leg amputated? well, she is still living in that facility and is being fitted with a prosthetic leg.

anyway, of many elephant foundations around, i recommend that one.