Stumbling around the 'net today I was looking at a couple of charity sites that have famous people being their patron and supporting them.

So, imagine you're famous. Your name associated with a charity will be a huge coup for them and will bring them lots of money to help their cause. Which charitable organization will you be supporting?

Lets see, if I was famous and was able to support one certain charity, I'd support my local cancer charity or McMillin Nurses, who do such a wonderful job.

For me it would be a toss-up between two causes (I'm not sure which organizations involved I'd support - that'd take some serious research since, despite the good motives attached, some of these charities don't work the way they were intended to at all). One would be Literacy since I think it is an underlying problem of many social ills. In the USA, anyway. Another area of attention would have to be somewhere in the field of Mental Health. I don't think they're working that circus well at all in a zillion different directions.
Whatever charity I finally chose, though, would have one LARGE feature necessary within it, and I'd have no business with loopholes. Whatever monies come in would largely go to the addressing of the problem(s) in question and not for staff payroll and administrative perks. Heck, if I'm donating my name and money it seems so little to expect that others donate the most accessible thing on the planet: time. And not expect to get rich doing it.

Being in Africa there are plenty of charities that could use help.

I would choose one that taught people skills, so they can go out and earn a living and not have to depend on 'handouts'.

I believe in the old saying "give a man a fish and he will eat for one day - teach a man to fish and he can feed himself"

RSPCA, without a doubt. There are so many sad cases of animal neglect here, and the SPCA are always desperate for funds.

Easy for me--Code Amber--the Amber alert system for missing and exploited chidren--people who abuse kids just make me sick.

AIDS awareness or arts and music in public schools! My sister's involvement in AIDS research in Africa, from the standpoint of social science and epidemiology rather than medical science, has forever attached me to that cause. And I am always saddened by the increasing lack of emphasis of the arts and music in US public schools. In my area, athletics are so highly touted, and theater and music the province of "geeks" and when rural school districts have to make a choice between extracurricular activities, it is always the arts that lose funding. And I know that for other reasons, the same thing happens in inner-city schools as well. It makes no sense to me, considering the dramatic impact early arts and music education can have on developing intellect, how obvious it is that the arts and music are an important part of academic growth, but try telling that to the underfunded school districts!

My grants would be divided up into several categories.

- Literacy. Like Gats, I feel many of our social ills can be cured or at least slowed to a crawl by raising a citizenry who can read and write, not to mention balance their own check books.

-Art and Music. People seldom realize how grey and meaningless their lives would be without music and books, paintings and movies. We who create these intangible goods make life bearable for everybody, I think. I want to make sure there are plenty of artists, writers and musicians coming down the conveyor belt in the future.

-Cancer research
- Diabetes research
-Diseases of the central nervous system

I have 2 causes:

1. SIDS (Suddden Infant Death Syndrome) - While doing research for a recent project, i learnt that thousands of infants die every year. There is no known reason for the deaths, but the money would help go to further research!

2. Cancer - Ronald McDonalds Charity Houses (McDonalds) - Every year our store has a McHappy Day (All stores in Australia have one; Not sure about the rest of the world!) and we raise over 10 million dollars nationally to help young children and their families deal with cancer. From holiday homes to accomadation near the hospital, it helps millions of families every year!

I`m only a member of one "charity" so I would have to support them. Though Amnesty is against a couple of ideas that I`m for I believe they do a great deal of good around the world.

Difficult to choose. Several health-related charities spring to mind as these have direct connections with myself and my family and friends. Heart, cancer, mental health, strokes, MS, diabetes to name but a few.

I would give to Children's charities like Ronald McDonald House or the Make a Wish Foundation.

I'd make it a charity that has a long history of getting the most value out of each donated dollar. I'd also make it one that has people more informed than I as to where it's most needed right now. For that reason I'd either lend my name to the International Red Cross or to the United Way.

Deafblind UK - and there are similar charities in other countries. I just can't imagine how difficult it must be to be both deaf and blind, and the dedication of the nurses and workers in these charities is awesome. The thought of suffering this multiple condition certainly puts concerns about such issues as internet access, etc, into perspective!

I'd split things too.

Research towards curing/alleviating autoimmune disorders. My family has a very personal interest in this.

Academic college and graduate-school scholarship money for kids from poor urban schools.

Medical clinics in underserved parts of the world, especially clinics focusing on women's health. There are plenty of other problems that deserve funding and support, of course, but women's health always seems to get short shrift.

I don't have a problem with part of my money going towards paying staff salaries, as long as the organization accounts for things properly and reasonably. Charities (medical clinics, for example) often require a lot of highly skilled workers, and skills have market value; volunteers will never be enough to cover everything. Even in research, I wouldn't expect all my money to be used for graduate student fellowships or new test tubes; they'll do better research if they're able to subscribe to journals in their field, travel to conferences to present their work, and so on. Once I've checked a charity out, I'm prepared to trust them to know what they need with my money.

I've always had a single priority, curing blindness. Of all the afflictions this is the worst I can imagine for myself and even if it was that or being in an iron lung I'd lose more with my sight than my freedom. Terminal illnesses would be next but I'd rather have a shorter life than one spent in darkness if I had to pick one or the other.

Being an animal lover, I would support the SPCA/Animal Anti Cruelty or our local rescue society called Save-A-Pet. Animals are often badly abused and there is nothing they can do for themselves to remedy their situation.

I don't know - there are so many good ones.
Cancer research is my favourite to donate to, so that would be right up there, as well as shelters for abused women and their families.

Anything that would have a low admin fee taken from the top.
I already give to Hospice, American Association on Mental Retardation (AAMR), and (PETA) People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. There are so many other legitmate organizations who are hurting for funds. A couple of them are the Battered Women's Associations and the Family Watch Dogs for Sexual Offenders, along with local missions who have had their federal and local grants cut severely, mainly due to the mismanagement of the Iraqi affairs by the US Government.

American Cancer Society. Both my sister (Hodgkin's Disease) and my aunt (breast cancer) are survivors.

I would do everything that I could for the poor in El Savador: directly if possible.