September 5th is the International Day of Charity. This day was established by the United Nations in honor of Mother Teresa. It was established to raise awareness and encourage people to become active global citizens by helping others; whether this manifests itself in the form of donating supplies, money, skills or time. As the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have said, “we can all live a life of service. Service is universal.” Any contribution great or smaller is one step closer to a brighter future.
Sometimes it can be difficult to know who to donate to/support. A fantastic resource to help research the best rated charities is Charity Watch. This site assigns a grade to each charity, specifies the amount that is spent on programs relative to overhead and the amount spent to raise money (increment of $100).
A helpful source for Canadian specific charities is: Charity Intelligence Canada. This site also assigns a grade to each charity, outlines financial transparency, demonstrated impact, the need for funding and the cents that go to the cause. I used this site to choose the organizations I wanted to highlight.
This year, I am choosing to donate to five charities; ideally I would also like to volunteer my time; however, with remaining pandemic restrictions and still recovering from my accident that isn’t possible.
1. War Child Canada
2. Canadian Foodgrains Bank
3. Aunt Leah’s Place
4. First Book Canada
5. Indian Residential School Society
How do you plan on celebrating today?