Friday, December 4, 2015

CHARITY NAVIGATOR

At Christmastime, I get five times as much mail asking for donations then at any other time of year. I’m sure my name gets sold because I’ve received mail from charities I’ve never heard of. For instance, I got one from Mercy Corps. It has no attributes from Charity Navigator for being a cost-effective charity. And, if you read closely, it relates that any “leftover” funds will be used for other areas of their choice. Hmmm! Not what I call a good charity. They are endorsed by the Better Business Bureau, an organization that has turned out to be useless in my opinion.
DSC07064 (Copy)

I care deeply about saving the natural world for my grandkids.  With that in mind, I like to choose charities that actually give donors feedback about what they’ve accomplished with our money. The Center For Biological Diversity lists as part of its accomplishments Victory-California Bans Bobcat Trapping.  
Trappers hang out around some of our parks where hunting and trapping are not allowed. The Center For Biological Diversity,  pressured California to make the fines huge for trapping and selling pelts.  It is working.

They are working on saving the  Jaguar, the third largest cat in the world after the Bengal Tiger and The African Lion.  There is one living jaguar in the wild in the United States in the Santa Rita Mountains.  He is now over 20 years old, has no mate nor offspring. But, the center has saved habitat for the big cats and will bring them back to their natural territory from cross border animals from Mexico.

The Center has engaged China to help save elephants by educating the rising middle class about stemming the ivory trade. Elephants are being poached in numbers around the world estimated at 95 per day; that is 95 too many.

The center won habitat protections for the rare Monk Seal. And, they have pressured for protections of the first wolf pack in California that migrated into the state. They won that protection and have outfitted them with radio collars to see what kind of territory they cover and what they eat.

There are more victories and I hope to do a series on charities for this blog in the coming days before Christmas. 

No comments: