I support the local animal shelter. In fact I'm the newest shelter shoppe volunteer on Tuesday morning. 

My favorite is Kiva.org.   It gives people a “hand-up” instead of a “hand-out”.

"We are a non-profit organization with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. Leveraging the internet and a worldwide network of microfinance institutions, Kiva lets individuals lend as little as $25 to help create opportunity around the world. Learn more about how it works."

Salvation Army, but moving more towards veteran-based giving. Still have yet to decide which one gets the goods!

Local food banks/shelters and The Salvation Army - I'll be ringing the bell again this year!

I'm also a founding member of a fantastic local chapter of 100 Women Who Care

we meet 4 Xs a year for 1 hour.  We each pledge $100 a meeting and vote on a local charity to receive our money.  We've grown to such a size now that our last cheque to charity was $26,000 raised in 1 hour!

Check it out because there is now a 100 Men Who Care,  100 Kids Who Care, etc.

The Power of 100 people is amazing!

I love the Salvation Army.  They ran several residences for young business women in New York, and I lived in on on Gramercy Park when I first moved to the city.  It was an affordable, beautiful, safe place for me to get my bearings before moving into an apartment.  I am still close to a lot of the girls I met while I was living there.

Malibu Search and Rescue!  Where I volunteer 30+ hours each month!  At the end of this post is a listing of the charities I support.

Be careful of the charities you do donate to.  Some charities, like the United Way, take a huge portion of your money for overhead costs.  I use GuideStar.org to checkout the financials of any charity I donate to, so I can be sure that the money goes where it is needed, not some CEO's $200,000+ salary.

• Ventura County Sheriff’s Department – Ryan volunteered for over 10 years with their Thousand Oaks Disaster Assistance Response Team.
• Ventura County Fire Department – Ryan volunteered for over 11 years with them and was part of the first group of Fire Department volunteers!
• Malibu Search and Rescue – Ryan has been volunteering 20-40 hours a month minimum with this team since 2008.
• Toys for Tots
• Spark of Love Toy Drive
• Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department
• Ventura County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Team
• Ventura County Sheriff’s K9 Search and Rescue Team
• Guiding Eyes for the Blind
• Various Ventura and Los Angeles County Animal Shelters
• Kiwanis Club
• Rotary Club
• The Rescue Mission
• Habitat for Humanity
• Goodwill
• Manna
• Ventura County Food Bank
• March of Dimes
• Children’s Miracle Network
• American Red Cross

Animal shelter and American Cancer Society.  There are several others ... these are my top two.  My phone has been ringing non-stop for donations.  I tell the caller that I will donate if they support my upcoming event  Making Strides. Dead silence ...

Dog rescue and veterans are the closest to my heart.

Salvation Army is by far my favorite charity and one of two I choose to help. The other is the local humane society.

The local food banks help many of the families in our area.

Franciscans Downtown.

I give to a number od small local ones.

William Feela Being a Veteran myself, I like to support the Wounded Warriors Project.

I keep it local - food bank, women & children's domestic abuse center, occasionally help PTAs with scholarships for kids to attend special after school programs (like Mad Science or the Reptile Guy).

I love that so many of us are involved in giving!

The Masonic Research Center in Utica, New York gets the most otherwise the Hillside Children's Center here.

 Good Wednesday morning William. Breast cancer awareness.

At the end of the day, it's anything supporting an animal shelter cause. But I do give a piece of each commission to Children's Miracle Network year round. And at Christmas time it's the Angel Network sponsored by the Salvation Army to make sure no child goes without presents.

Local senior respite.