green charities

World Wildlife Fund (WWF) "Time for a Change" for Earth Day

PHowe — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 08:01:58 -0400

As we approach this year’s Earth Day (April 22), the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is once again encouraging people of all ages to make a pledge for change in the fight to save endangered species, protect endangered habitats and address global threats such as deforestation, overfishing and climate change.

WWF is asking people worldwide to make and share their personal commitment to help save the planet. The interactive “Time for Change” website....

continue reading at - http://www.gatheringhome.com/

It's Spring, So Start a Virtual Garage Sale to Benefit a Green Charity!

jplatt — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 09:00:00 -0400

Today's the first day of Spring -- are you ready for your first garage sale of the season?

Don't worry, you don't need to leave your house or open your doors to strangers. Now you can search for "garage sale" items or sell your own through Facebook's Marketplace app. And the sales you make or the items you buy can support green charities in the process!

Take Sierra Club's virtual garage sale for an example. Their members are posting items for sale, and a few celebrities have also offered up some pretty nice goods. If the items sell, the money goes to Sierra Club. As the organization puts it, "If every Facebook member sold just one item for $10, more than $1 billion would be raised."

Now, this isn't an automatic donation. To be honest, it's really more of a classified ad system. But the people listing their items for sale can pledge to donate their proceeds to charity, and every item that sells is something that gets re-used and doesn't end up in a landfill.

So give it a try. Come on, you know you're looking for an excuse to spend a few more minutes on Facebook anyway.

Donate Your Old Computer Equipment to A Good Cause

jplatt — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 09:00:00 -0400

Got any old computer equipment lying around? You could recycle it (see the Green Tech archives for plenty of stories about how), or you could put it in the hands of someone who will get some good use out of it.

That's the idea behind Computers With Causes, a charity that accepts old computers from individuals and businesses, refurbishes them, and gives them to people or organizations who need them.

This reduces e-waste, cuts down on clutter, and puts perfectly good electronics back to work where they can help change the world for the people or groups who receive them.

According to their website, "Computers with causes evaluates each and every donation on a case by case basis. Whenever financially beneficial, computers with causes will repair, refurbish, and properly prepare donated property for placement into an educational environment or other cause we support. The ultimate goal being to maximize the benefit of your donations both financially and through educational purposes to the communities in which we live."

Functioning computers will be put back to use in the community (say, for education purposes, use in foster homes, or for disabled veterans or other needy Americans). Non-fuctioning computers can even be useful, as they'll get donated to schools to help teach computer repair.

Anything Computers With Causes receives that can't be used gets recycled, using what they call a "zero landfill" process.

Donations earn you tax deductions, and some donations can even earn you a free vacation!

So if you've got an extra computer lying around, give Computers With Causes a shot. You'll benefit, the earth will benefit, and so will your community.

Support Green Charities by Buying or Selling on eBay

jplatt — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 09:00:00 -0400

Looking for a way to support a green charity, but you don't have much cash on hand? Try selling something on eBay and donating the proceeds to the enviro-charity of your choice.

eBay's Giving Works program lets any seller choose to donate 10-100% of the proceeds of their sales to any of 14,000 charities.

Green charities registered for Giving Works include all of the biggies: the World Wildlife Fund, Nature Conservancy, Greenpeace, the NRDC and many others.

There are a few restrictions and details that sellers need to know before they list their items:

A donation of at least $5.00 is required if your listing sells (so no selling $1 items)
The donation will be collected from the payment method you put on file for donation payments (so you'll get what's left over if you donate less than 100% to charity)
You still need to pay listing fees to sell your items on Giving Works, but you'll get a 30% fee credit if your item sells
MissionFish, a registered nonprofit, collects and distributes your donation. According to eBay, they "retain a small portion of each donation to help cover their costs."
Your donation earns you a tax deduction, and you'll get all the necessary paperwork to support that deduction

You can also take advantage of this program as a buyer. Just search the Giving Works site, or search their database to find a charity that you want to support and the auctions that support the chairty of your choice.

eBay says this site helps to support non-profits while also living up to the old environmental credo of "reduce, reuse, recycle." Give it a tree and see how much you can donate as a result!

How to Recycle Your Old Cell Phone

jplatt — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:05:36 -0400

According to recent reports, there are more than 3 billion cell phone subscriptions worldwide. That's a lot of phones, and a lot of toxic waste when those little devices aren't disposed of properly. In the U.S. alone, less than 10% of old cell phone handsets are recycled, mostly because people don't know how to get rid of them.

So let's turn that trend around. Here are a number of quick and easy ways you can safely dispose of your old cell phones, which can help to keep tons of toxic chemicals out of our landfills:

1. Check with your retailer -- Many companies have buy-back or take-back programs when you buy a new cell phone to replace your old one. Check first, though, to make sure they will dispose of it in an environmentally responsible way.

2. Go to Best Buy or Staples -- These big-box retailers, like several other stores, have free or low-cost electronics recycling programs. Just bring your phone in and they'll do the rest.

3. Ask your local non-profits -- Many local organizations (like Lions and Rotary clubs) collect used cell phones and get a few dollars for every phone they collect. The phones get recycled or re-sold, and the funds the groups raise go back into their efforts in your local community. (Interested in starting a cell phone fund-raiser for your own non-profit? Here's one site than can help.)

4. Donate it to a national charity -- Quite a few national charities collect used cell phones, and also earn money just like the local groups above. Collective Good offers connections to dozens of national and international groups, including several environmental organizations.

5. Sell your old phone -- Just because it's old doesn't mean it won't still work for somoene else. Try cellforcash.com, which buys many makes and models.

6. Go online -- Here are a few more sites that will help you dispose of your phone with little or no cost to you:

http://www.recellular.com/recycling/

http://www.cellularchallenge.net/

http://recyclemycellphone.org/

http://www.eco-cell.org/