Each year, we pick several local, one national, and one international charity to support with our 10% net profit donation fund. This certainly doesn't mean we don't give to or help other charities, but we decided it is more impactful to support a few in bigger donations than support many with smaller donations. We also don't want to simply write the checks. We want to get to know the charity, the folks running things and receiving things.
In order to make it to the MomCheck Annual Charity list, a charity must have the following characteristics:
- Must support either moms or children (We are, after all, MOMCheck)
- Must have an easy to understand charity model (Who do they help and how?)
- Must have good and sound financial practices (Majority of funds go straight to services, not administrative)
This Year's MomCheck Charities List
Local:
ReadyStart
ReadyStart provides Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) services to children 0-3 in Collin, Denton, and Wise counties. What we love about this organization is its commitment to children’s needs coming first. Services are provided in the home, allowing the entire family to become involved. And it’s not just one service. ReadyStart will assign as many different types of therapists as needed to help a family cope with a child’s needs, with the end goal being to nurture that child and lay a foundation to become a healthy adult in the community.
Captain Hope's Kids
Captain Hope’s Kids serves only one segment of the population: Homeless children. A 2005 census of Dallas County's homeless showed that women and children made up 48% of the known homeless population, with two-thirds of the children counted being younger than 10. Yikes! What we love about this organization is its dedication to serving the needs of homeless children, an oft-forgotten segment – they provide diapers, clothing, school supplies, whatever is needed. They have many unique opportunities for the community to become involved in the organization besides just donating money.
National:
Children's Miracle Network
Children’s Miracle Network is dedicated to saving and improving the lives of children by raising funds for children’s hospitals across North America. Chances are you’ve benefited from their efforts if you’ve ever received services at a children’s hospital. What we love about this organization is its grassroots, local fundraising model. They have raised more than $3.4 billion to date, most of which is donated a dollar or two at a time. That’s a lot of fundraising!
International:
Unitus
Unitus works to reduce global poverty by increasing access to life-changing microfinance services. What we love about this organization is its unique funding model – instead of raising money and giving it away, Unitus pairs up microfinance institutions (small “banks”) with entrepreneurs (mostly women) in disadvantaged countries who are trying to make a better life for their families by starting a business. In many cases, this will help a family go from earning 40 cents a day to $2 a day. Can you imagine?