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Emhh lots of people following the consensus on here....

Im proud to give every month to several charities but they are of my own choice.I totally ignore all advertiseing and find much of it nauseating.

When i spent 9 months travelling through Africa in the late 80s the main difficulty was not starvation but the availability of clean water so Water aid has always been a favourite charity of mine.Ive also sponsered several indiviguals in a couple of my favourite countries,Ghana and Zimbabwe and this has been intensely rewarding.In truth there are many good causes and many well run charities so it may be an indiviguals own preferences that decide what an indivigual choses to spend his or her money on.

Im not a blinkered idealist,i remember the numerous sacks of flour throughout Africa being sold on market stalls that were gifts from the people of the U.S.France or U.K but there is much great work done.

I work in the local foodbank a couple of hours a week,food is only given out through a recomendation from a medical or social services professional and is run by voulunteers so if you want to help local peeps this is a great way to do it.

I am a member of my local Rotary Club. We are inundated with letters from charities (and gap-year students) asking for a slice of the funds we raise (and we're not a wealthy club). As we have a speaker most weeks, our rule is to invite the charity to speak to us so we can grill them e.g. how many people benefit? what percentage of your income goes on admin? how do people who might need your services find out about them? We want to know "will our ££ make a difference?" If not, we don't donate. That one question also determines if / who I give money to in the street (and I carry Bonios for the homeless guys' dogs).

A major charity that Rotary donates to regularly is Shelterbox - people in Haiti are still sleeping in Vango tents with the Rotary logo, cooking on the stoves that come in the box, using its tools, plates & bedding etc. These boxes will be in the Phillipines by now, and other disaster areas where they're needed. Mary's Meals and its backpack scheme is making a huge difference too. And the Shoebox scheme is popular with our local school children - they enjoy helping other children who have no toys to play with. Not all charity giving has to be money, after all.