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[title]City Harvest
Approximately 600 community food programs receive provisions from this charitable group in order to help feed a million hungry New Yorkers annually. In a typical year, the organization collects 33 million pounds of excess food from restaurants, grocers and farms. Of every donated dollar, 91 cents funds program services (such as collecting and distributing food), 8 cents enables development and fund-raising efforts, and 1 cent takes care of management and miscellaneous costs. Individuals can send in funds via the website (cityharvest.org) or snail mail.
New York Foundation for the Arts
Artists have more time to concentrate on their work, without worrying about how to survive, thanks to the efforts of NYFA: The group offers cash grants, fiscal sponsorships, training and education to visual, performing, literary and other artists. The foundation’s annual budget of $9.4 million breaks down like so: 36 percent for artist training and online resources; 33 percent for sponsoring artists and organizations without nonprofit status; 19 percent toward grants and fellowships for individual artists, theater companies and dance troupes; and 11 percent to fund-raising and administrative needs. When you hand over your green, you can either give directly to NYFA as a whole (nyfa.org) or donate straight to a specific project through the group’s artist community, Artspire (artspire.org).
The Humane Society of New York
This animal-loving organization has tended to sick pets and homeless creatures for more than a century, treating approximately 36,000 cats and dogs each year. Of the nearly $5 million raised annually, only 4 percent is applied to administrative costs and fund-raising; 96 percent goes directly to the society’s 200 shelter animals, plus any four-legged friends that need emergency help. Donated dough covers the costs of food, medicine, shelter and hospital staff, and provides affordable—often free—medical care in the form of diagnoses, treatments, dental procedures, X-rays and other cost-prohibitive procedures, such as ultrasounds and endoscopies. You can pay it forward in two ways, through a link on the website’s donation page (humanesocietyny.org/donations): Send a PayPal contribution or download a printable form and mail it in with a check or credit-card info.