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About... Contribute-Now.org
Why This Website... Why not, is really the best
answer I can think of. My brother and I have had a continuing
personal interest in trying t o
do a little more to help improve the health and welfare of as many
persons as our lives can touch. This website and other websites
owned by my brother and me give us the ability to reach
a few people and encourage them to consider assisting others who are
less fortunate, and then to give those prospective donors a
helping-hand to find a cause that we hope suits them perfectly.
We have four websites devoted to charitable giving, they are:
Developing-World.org, this website (Contribute-Now.org),
Charitable-Giving.org and
KeepTheHeartBeating.org. Each site is a little different in
layout but fundamentally all are the same in the end. Each site
encourages the donation of anything to anyone who might be in need,
anywhere in the world.
I am a med student, with the honor, pleasure and privilege of
attending Ross University School of Medicine after having just
received a Masters from Boston University School of Medicine, on a
continuing journey toward becoming a physician. My interests
principally center on the medical side of human needs, therefore,
KeepTheHeartBeating.org focuses on medically related charitable
needs, again, worldwide, many of which are very close to my heart.
Developing-World.org contains "ordinary" stories from young children
through to teenagers who are growing-up in nothing less than abject
poverty. Their stories convey images and stories of the plight of so
many persons of the world who so desperately need the help of...
anyone, you, for example. Please take a few moments to read one or
two of the short essays mainly from young children about how they
see the world from their impoverished perspective. Those essays are
available under "Essay's of Poverty" at the top of each page at
Developing-World.org. (Click here to Link).
All news within the Developing World is not dire, symptomatic of
problems so deeply rooted that there is no hope of change, or
clouded by pessimism, so it is our plan to include stories of
change, optimism and hope in Developing-World.org as it continues to
grow. A very positive source of good news on a wide scale can be
found at http://www.kiva.org. Kiva is a non-profit organization
based here in the United States that provides micro-loans to small
businesses and individuals around the world, mainly in Third-World
Nations. These are loans are as small as twenty-five, or fifty
dollars, maybe up to two thousand dollars. One would wonder what a
person could do with a fifty dollar “business” loan, well, I
encourage you to take a few minutes to take a look at Kiva and see
what micro-loans can do to change lives. Kiva members loan an amount
of money to a person of their choice, over time the loan is most
likely repaid, and can then be loaned to another person. It is a
wonderful process that is doing amazing things… empowering people to
be able to support themselves, their families, and build
communities.
Contribute-Now.org, another of our website's, focuses on the needs
of communities rather than individual persons. Communities may have
different needs. In some instances, a place for children to play a
game, a meeting house to discuss local matters or resolving
transportation issues may provide great assistance to a wide ranging
group of persons.
Hurricanes Katrina, Rita & Ike focused our attention on the plight of
hundreds of thousands of persons within this country, but the need
also exists in other areas of our great land, and other parts of the
world, continuously. I respectfully request that you please remember
that same need throughout the year, and occasionally, when you are
able, please make a donation to the charity of your choice. The top
of each of the pages on each of our websites has a button titled
"Charity Lists" which will take you to a page on the site that lists
a number of charities. Clicking on a charity will take you directly
to their website, and any gift you may bestow upon them is deeply
appreciated by us, and flows directly from you to them via their
process, we do not receive anything other than satisfaction... and
maybe it helps my brother and me sleep a little better at night.
I recommend examining a prospective charity as part of choosing who
you wish to donate, too. After looking at many websites that assist
in providing information about charitable organizations, my
suggestion is Charity Navigator. Charity Navigator appears to be
providing unbiased information that is particularly relevant to a
prospective donor (click here to see Charity Navigator). We strongly
suggest you examine any charity that you are considering, using all
of the information available to you.
With patience and persistence great things are achieved.
Your visit is sincerely appreciated.
Thank you, Brooke R.
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More About... Contribute-Now.org
I believe my sister
has explained our personal mission well (which is a rarity for me to
admit since
I am a pre-law student studying history at Franklin Pierce
University). Anyway, we each feel a
 responsibility to
help improve our world to the best of our abilities’ through our
own deeds and as much as we can with our websites, in whatever small way possible. Both of us remain
continuously busy in our given fields of study, however, that
doesn't relieve us of a social responsibility to try to help the
greater good. Our website's, which were described beautifully by my
sister, lay-in-waiting to distribute information and connect
prospective donors to the what we hope might be the “right”
charitable cause... which if done right takes work.
Everyone has a desired cause, a “favorite charity” that through
personal or impersonal feelings connects us to donate or become a
part of the organization through petition or other activities.
It is very possible that your personal cause is the best place for
your donation to go. However, I urge you to take a few minutes of
your time to look through the extensive lists of foundations
and organizations listed here on Developing-World.org.
Please do not necessarily feel that any of the charities listed here
are in any way better than another or in some way a more worthy
destination for your generosity. Although we list hundreds of
charities, our websites neither suggest nor endorses any particular
organization. Where your donation goes is up to you, and only you.
Choosing the beneficiary for your donation is not easy. Many
charitable organizations have excellent ratios of "donation to
recipient" conversions, others don't. Those ratios change as the
management and guidance changes within the individual organizations.
It is not easy to find just the right cause, and charity. To help,
we suggest researching through “Charity Navigator’s" website, which
appears to be an excellent tool to help you, maybe, find the right
beneficiary of your choice (click
here to see Charity Navigator).
Regardless, though monetary contributions are generally most needed
by charities, they are not the only thing. There are millions of
individuals within our great country and across the world who cannot
donate money, but do have an interest in helping in some way, and
you can. Time, is a great gift. Spend time with a local
organization; teach someone something you know... how to replace a
broken pane of glass is a great gift to someone who cannot; Help in
a local soup-kitchen; drive some nails at a local playground; help
with a river-bank clean-up. I think, though, that it is most
important to remember that charity begins at home, (which is our
modern quote of a portion of Thomas Fullers complete quote, which
actually was "Charity begins at home but should not end There").
Food. Goods. Services. Speak to your local food kitchen or other
local entity that is providing humanitarian aid to your local
community who are of need. Ask them what would be most beneficial...
it is possible that a blanket may be in greater need than a food
contribution, or, a need for food over clothing, they will be open
to question and willing to help.
Scams. They are out there and charitable fund-raising is no
different. Be exceptionally cautious of phone solicitations, and
even more skeptical of anything you receive via email. Right now
there are hundreds if not thousands of fake, bogus, fictitious and
just plain illegal activities taking place that ask for your money
in ever more creative ways. Some seem very real and very appealing;
others are just badly done but still dupe persons out of their
hard-earned money. Bogus websites and websites that are specifically
designed to look like the websites of genuine charities are also out
there, and all it takes is clicking on a link in an email and a
little typing. So, before you do, if you do, thoroughly research
that charity, or institution, or other potential beneficiary of your
hard-earned money, and again, please remember that we do not endorse
any particular charity over another, and my sister and I receive
nothing from any charity listed on here, this is just our attempt to
try to help others in a small way.
Each of our sites is a work in progress, what they may eventually
become, how effective they are, how many lives they touch, and how
much good they will do still remains to be seen; it is our hope and
belief that every little bit helps. We do know however with absolute
certainty that to not have created these sites would mean an
opportunity lost to maybe make a difference in just one life,
somewhere, and if it is just one life that is helped, then it is
more than worth the effort.
If you are finding it difficult to decide between so many charities,
institutions, foundations and other entities, then please think
about making a micro-loan through
Kiva.org to a single person, or
maybe more. Here is my sisters page...
http://www.kiva.org/lender and mine
http://www.kiva.org/lender. Our pages link to persons within
Kiva that are receiving micro-loans from many Kiva members, please
take a look at their profiles to see for yourself how these small
loans are making a big difference. Micro-loans... are, in essence,
money you "lend" into a continuing circle of loan, possible
repayment, and then if you choose too, to loan again, and so on.
Micro-Finance and organizations such as Kiva are a truly innovative
way to help a single person or persons find a way to sustain
themselves, help build a community and have that community then have
a chance to make a permanent improvement in many lives. My sister
and I learned of Kiva while watching a Frontline documentary on PBS
this last Winter. Rather than try to continue to explain about
Micro-loans here is a link to a search page at PBS that will link
you to PBS information about Kiva:
http://www.pbs.org. Kiva is just one of a number of
organizations pioneering micro-loan processes, we encourage you to
find more, or if you are a philanthropist, maybe start your own?
Your visit is sincerely appreciated.
Thank you, Chad R.
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