OUR CHARITIES

OUR CHARITIES
(image from www.FreetheSlaves.net)

Paying it forward.. We are primarily a “for-profit” small business, but to find a little extra meaning in our work, each year we give one percent of our gross sales to national and international charities selected by our staff. This means for every $100 you spend on our products, $1 goes directly to charity.

We found some cool online tools that make it easy to give…. CharityNavigator.org describes charities and rates their efficiency-- how much of your donation actually goes to their mission and good works. Then, NetworkForGood.org makes it easy to give, by paying many charities from one place, and keeping your giving records organized. Check them out, it’s interesting and actually kind of fun.

Our Current Top-Rated Charities-- comments and suggestions welcomed at orders@LGTHINGS.com -- check them out:

ASHOKA www.ashoka.org "the world’s leading social entrepreneurs—men and women with system changing solutions for the world’s most urgent social problems."

FREE THE SLAVES www.freetheslaves.net "27 million slaves in the world today… people forced to work without pay, under threat of violence and unable to walk away. Free the Slaves helps them rebuild their lives and researches real world solutions to eradicate slavery forever"

PUPPIES BEHIND BARS www.puppiesbehindbars.com “Puppies Behind Bars trains prison inmates to raise service dogs for the disabled and explosive detection canines for law enforcement. The Dog Tags program places service dogs, free of charge, with wounded veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.”

MARIGOLD FUND www.marigoldfund.org “Marigold Fund’s mission is to help Afghans rebuild their country, and to establish substantial friendship and understanding between Afghans and Westerners.”

DISABLED AMERICAN VETERANS CHARITABLE SERVICE TRUST www.dav.org/cst "building better lives for America's disabled veterans”

HUMANE SOCIETY OF THE UNITED STATES www.humanesociety.org “Celebrating animals, confronting cruelty”

NO KILL LAW AND ADVOCACY CENTER www.nokilladvocacycenter.org “working to end the systematic killing of animals in US shelters”

AARON DIAMOND AIDS RESEARCH CENTER www.ADARC.org “the world's largest independent research center devoted solely to HIV/AIDS Research… fully committed to our mission to find solutions that will ultimately end the AIDS pandemic.”

KEEP A CHILD ALIVE www.keepachildalive.org “dedicated to providing life-saving anti-retroviral treatment, care and support services to children and families whose lives have been affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa and India by directly engaging the global public in the fight against AIDS.”

SAVE THE CHILDREN www.savethechildren.org "creating lasting change for children in need in the United States and around the world”

WIKIMEDIA FOUNDATION www.wikimediafoundation.org “Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge”