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Ten Charities That Really Help Children

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Everyone loves the idea of helping children, but which charities really reach them?

Charities that help children are at the top of my list when it comes to donations. There's nothing more compelling than a sick, injured, or under-educated child in need. I also love animal charities and charities for homeless people. Maybe a charity helping homeless children to interact with lovable pets would be the ultimate for me, but I haven't found that one yet.

Here are some great charities I've found that benefit children. I hope you'll find a charity that's deserving of your philanthropy here!

My choices for
ten charities that really help children:
1. African Angels
2. Room to Read
3. Covenant House
4. Inner City Scholarship Fund
5. Polly Klaas Foundation
6. Palestine Children's Relief Fund
7. Liberty Kids
8. Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund
9. Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation
10. St. Judes Children's Research Hospital

A Helping Hand

Charities that help impoverished children, including educational charities.

1. African Angels

...helping impoverished children in Ghana.

This is the lens that inspired this page. African Angels helps only 49 orphaned and/or impoverished children in Ghana, but makes a huge difference in their lives.

2. Room to Read

...help children to prosper educationally.

This charity builds schools, libraries, and computer labs. They publish books for children and donate books for them too. And then there are the scholarships. Children need a solid education to be able to prosper in today's world. Give some needy children a chance to learn!

Would you like to make a lens for this charity? Star here: Room to Read Headquarters.

Donate to Room to Read

Room to Read partner with local communities throughout the developing world to provide quality educational opportunities by establishing libraries, creating local language children's literature, constructing schools, providing education to girls and estab

3. Covenant House

...shelter, food, and hope for runaways and other homeless children.

Covenant House helps children who are homeless -- with an outreach service that goes out to look for them on the streets.

Donate to Covenant House

Covenant House is the largest privately-funded nonprofit agency in North and Central America providing shelter and other services to homeless, runaway and throwaway youth.

4. The Inner City Scholarship Fund

...educational help for impoverished NYC children.

This charity seeks out impoverished children in the NYC public school system, then gives them scholarships to local Catholic schools for a higher standard of education.

Impoverished Children

All profits from this lens benefit the Covenant House for homeless and runaway children.

Hope for Children in Poverty: Profiles and Possibilities

Amazon Price: $1.75 (as of 02/13/2012)

Missing Children

Charities that help find children that are inexplicably missing.

5. The Polly Klaas Foundation

...who can ever forget Polly Klaas?

Help missing children get found with your donations to the Polly Klaas Foundation.

Want to make a lens for the Polly Klass Foundation? Start here: Polly Klaas Foundation Headquarters.

Donate to the Polly Klaas Foundation

The Polly Klaas� Foundation is a national nonprofit that helps find missing children, prevents children from going missing, and promotes laws like Amber Alert that help keep children safe.

Missing Children

All profits from this lens benefit the Covenant House for homeless and runaway children.

After Etan: The Missing Child Case that Held America Captive

by: Lisa R. Cohen

Amazon Price: $1.49 (as of 02/13/2012)

Health Charities

Charities that help children suffering from a variety of catastrophic illnesses, injuries, or chronic conditions.

6. Palestine Children's Relief Fund

...aiding young war victims in the Middle East.

Remember all those children injured in Palestine early in 2009? They need medical care which often involves rehabilitative surgery which must be done in Canada or the USA. This all costs lots of money which Palestinians don't have. Won't you please help these devastated, injured children to get the medical assistance they need?

7. Liberty Kids

...help for autistic children in Michigan.

Too many autistic children don't get the help they need because there's not enough money. This charity seeks to fill the gap for autistic children by making therapy more affordable.

8. Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund

...we MUST find a cure for this terrible disease!

Juvenile Diabetes research is a cause dear to my heart because a friend I used to live with has it. It hardly seems fair that children must adjust to giving themselves injections every day for the rest of their lives.

Donate to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund

JDRF is the leading charitable funder and advocate of type 1 (juvenile) diabetes research worldwide. The mission of JDRF is to find a cure for diabetes and its complications through the support of research.

9. Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation

...definitely a cause worth supporting.

Elizabeth Glaser contracted HIV from a blood transfusion during childbirth in 1981 and unknowingly passed on the virus to her infant daughter through breast milk, and to her son in utero.

Donate to the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation

The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation seeks to prevent pediatric HIV infection and to eradicate pediatric AIDS through research, advocacy, and prevention and treatment programs.

10. St.Judes Children's Research Hospital

...helping sick children.

This charity benefits catastrophically ill children with treatment and research.

Childhood Health Issues

All profits from this lens benefit the Covenant House for homeless and runaway children.

The Everything Parent's Guide To Childhood Illnesses: Expert Advice That Dispels Myths and Helps Parents Recognize Symptoms and Understand Treatments (Everything: Parenting and Family)

by: Leslie Young, Vincent Iannelli

Amazon Price: $3.54 (as of 02/13/2012)

Organizations that help you find trustworthy charities to donate to:

Charity Navigator - America's Largest Charity Evaluator: Charity Navigator, America's largest independent charity evaluator, provides free financial evaluations of America's charities. We are the individual donor's first source for unbiased news and information on philanthropy, nonprofit organizations, wise giving, donating money, and charitable donations.
Give: Here's another trusted site that evaluates charities - the Better Business Bureau!

Beware of children's charities with overpaid executives!

...why should the executive get hundreds of thousands of charity dollars?

When we donate to children, we want the money to directly benefit them. So learning that executives in the organization are being paid hundreds of thousands of dollars may put a damper on our motivation to donate! Spread the word!

Your comments are welcome...

...did I mention your favorite charity for children?

Please let me know about any worthwhile, trustworthy charities for children that I may have missed...

submit

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MiddleSister Dec 31, 2011 @ 6:15 am | delete

Thanks for a wonderful list and some excellent resources.

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sponsorachild Dec 15, 2011 @ 10:53 am | delete

You mentioned about how some organizations pay their execs hundreds of thousands of dollars, I think this is definitely something to watch for; The Christian Children's Fund of Canada (http://www.ccfcanada.ca) reaches out around the world to children in need, families and communities of all faiths to demonstrate Christ's love. This Canadian charity posts their financial statements on line so people can see exactly how their money is spent and how much goes to salaries and administration.

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photosteve212 Nov 4, 2011 @ 8:50 am | delete

Thanks for the lens--well needed and GREAT information!

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KidsOverKancer Oct 27, 2011 @ 1:22 am | delete

You should add CureSearch to your list of charities as well. They donate 90% of every dollar towards childhood cancer research. One day my organization, Kids Over Kancer, will be on this list of phenomenal charities!

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Mermaiden Oct 6, 2011 @ 6:24 pm | delete

What a really beautiful lens. It's so sad how many charities out there are not using their funds to really help the cause they claim to. Thanks for sharing these great charities! I'd like to link to this on my lens.

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careermom Apr 6, 2011 @ 11:02 am | delete

John's Hopkins Children's Center is one of my personal favorites because the youngest of my twin daughters was treated there as an infant. They were amazing in their treatment of her and me,

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Quirina Mar 16, 2011 @ 9:50 am | delete

Oh my gosh, Linda! I did not know that African Angel and my lens were featured at the top of such a list on Squidoo! How sweet of you, thank you very very much! :) Things in Accra (this is where the children's home of African Angel is located) are running quite ok, as far as I can see. Another house is currently under construction, that will ultimately accommodate more children. It is being built at a pace of about one floor per year, and only when Harriet is present. Right now they're working on floor #3. But the ground floor is already in use! The children are doing there homework there, and it is used for different kinds of group meetings.

Once again, big thanks for your support, Linda!

PS: The English language web pages of African Angel are currently being brushed up. We are not quite finished yet, but there is a lot of new stuff to read already! :)

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Holdinghands Mar 5, 2011 @ 7:07 pm | delete

All of these charities are really wonderful! I donate all of the money that I earn from my lens to Room to Read, it is one of my favorite charities.

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OhMe Feb 19, 2011 @ 8:26 pm | delete

My favorite charity is Friends of the Park. We are trying to make sure our Veterans Park is a safe, great place for the area children from Pendleton SC to play. We are a rural community and money is tight so we have certainly enjoyed and appreciate being a Squidoo Supported Charity.

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Jack2205 Feb 6, 2011 @ 7:24 pm | delete

Blessed by the Charities Angel.

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seashell2 Aug 1, 2009 @ 4:55 pm | delete

Beautifully done! Wonderful Charities!

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dyharris Aug 1, 2009 @ 1:52 am | delete

Love your lens! I am in the process of creating a non-profit organization for children (education). check out my lens on my work at www.squidoo.com/dyharris
Thanks.

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jsmyth Jul 29, 2009 @ 2:54 pm | delete

Linda - this is great, thank you so much for featuring my favorite charity - Covenant House. We help homeless young people get a chance at a good life.

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synajib83 Jul 29, 2009 @ 7:44 am | delete

Interesting lens to promote charity to poor children. Thank you

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CherylK Jul 28, 2009 @ 8:50 pm | delete

This is excellent, Linda. They are all very, very worthy causes. Room to Read is a favorite of mine as well as Juvenile Diabetes and Elizabeth Glaser's Pediatric Aids Foundation.
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