While I’m not officially connected with any charity, here are some things that I think are important.

1. NPR – I’m a card carrying member. This is some of the best radio programming around.

2. Hunger – With all the food we throw away here in America, it’s shameful this is still a problem. Here is a charity I may consider donating to, Action Against Hunger.

3. Education – The only way we’re going to be able to solve problems in the world is to have an educated population. Here is a charity to gives scholarships to American students, Scholarship America. I like their quote…

“Everyone has a stake in supporting education; it empowers us to pay the world back many times over.”

And let’s not forget Science education. To me this is the most important of all subjects that students should be learning. A good charity for that is the National Science Teacher Association.

4. Neglected Diseases – There are a wide variety of diseases that kill millions of people a year. But since they affect people in poor countries, it is not profitable for drug companies to spend a lot of R&D money to find cures. Here’s an organization that is doing just that. Drugs for Neglected Diseases.

And in case you were interested, Michal Kapral (second fastest marathon joggler in the world) runs for this charity, Remember Liane, which is trying to fight childhood cancer.