Here are some groups that do strong work in education, crime and violence prevention, family planning, public health, and quite a bit more. This is not a screened list based on a set of criteria. For evaluations, please check Charity Navigator, CharityWatch, Philanthropedia, or the Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance. There are many more organizations doing impressive work. This is a list of the groups we have seen in action or taken the time to learn about, and it is meant to be only a launching pad for your own personal research.
Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab, www.povertyactionlab.org, conducts rigorous randomized controlled trials to determine the most cost-effective interventions in fighting poverty.
Acumen Fund, www.acumen.org, raises charitable donations to invest in companies that are tackling poverty.
African Leadership Academy, www.africanleadershipacademy.org, is a high-quality secondary school with strong American connections.
Against Malaria Foundation, www.againstmalaria.com, is a cost-effective intervention that provides bed nets to populations with a high risk of malaria. A single net costs about $5.
Amnesty International, www.amnesty.org, is a global network of supporters, members, and activists in over 150 countries and territories who campaign to end human rights abuses.
Apopo, www.apopo.org, uses mine-detection rats (and existing demining technology) to help clearing teams detect mines.
Aravind Eye Care System, www.aravind.org, is a network of hospitals, clinics, community outreach programs, and research and training institutes in India that provides eye care.
Bead for Life, www.beadforlife.org, supports Ugandan artisans by selling their jewelry in America and helping the artists set up savings accounts and launch businesses.
Becoming a Man, www.youth-guidance.org, is a school-based counseling, violence prevention, and educational enrichment program for at-risk male youth.
Beers for Books, www.beersforbooks.org, helps individuals organize and attend events at bars that agree to donate $1 to the literacy organization Room to Read for every beer consumed on a specific night.
Better World Books, www.betterworldbooks.com, sells new and used books and accepts donations of used books for resale, giving a portion of revenues to literacy programs.
Big Brothers Big Sisters, www.bbbs.org, matches adult volunteers with children between the ages of six and eighteen to provide mentorship in communities around the United States.
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, www.gatesfoundation.org, works on global health, global development, and education issues to improve the quality of life for individuals around the world.
BRAC, www.brac.net, is a terrific Bangladesh-based aid group that works in Africa and Asia. It has an office in New York City and accepts interns.
Bridge International Academies, www.bridgeinternationalacademies.com, is a large chain of high-quality private schools serving families living on less than $2 a day per person.
CARE, www.care.org, an international humanitarian organization, sets up microsavings programs in developing countries.
Carrera Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program, www.stopteenpregnancy.com, uses a holistic approach to help low-income students learn about pregnancy prevention, health and sexuality, jobs, and financial literacy.
The Carter Center, www.cartercenter.org, seeks to prevent and resolve conflicts, advance democracy and human rights, and improve health around the world.
Catchafire, www.catchafire.org, matches professionally skilled volunteers with nonprofits and social enterprises that can use their help.
Catholic Relief Services, www.crs.org, is an international humanitarian organization that has reached more than 100 million disadvantaged people in ninety-one countries.
Center on the Developing Child, www.developingchild.harvard.edu, led by Jack Shonkoff at Harvard University, conducts research on early childhood development and evaluates innovative programs.
charity:water, www.charitywater.org, funds the construction and maintenance of wells in developing countries. You can pledge your birthday at www.charitywater.org/birthdays.
Chess in the Schools, www.chessintheschools.org, sends part-time chess tutors into underprivileged public schools. Or donate directly to the IS 318 chess program at www.is318chessteam.com.
Child First, www.childfirst.com, provides home visitation to low-income families with at-risk children.
Cincinnati Early Learning Centers, www.celcinc.org, runs seven early childhood centers in Ohio that support needy children.
Citizen Schools, www.citizenschools.org, partners with low-income public high schools to provide a second shift in the school day with the help of AmeriCorps fellows and volunteer teachers.
Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy, www.coalition4evidence.org, seeks to increase government effectiveness by identifying programs in education, poverty reduction, and crime prevention that have scientifically rigorous evidence of success.
College Advising Corps, www.advisingcorps.org, places recent college graduates as college advisers in underserved schools to increase the number of low-income, first-generation students who complete higher education.
Committee to Protect Journalists, www.cpj.org, promotes press freedom worldwide.
Compassion International, www.compassion.com, provides a platform for donors to sponsor individual children around the world. Sponsored children receive special tutoring and counseling, retreats, and coaching in goal setting.
Cure Violence, www.cureviolence.org, trains ex-convicts and former gang members to prevent the spread of gun violence in rough inner-city neighborhoods.
Dining for Women, www.diningforwomen.org, runs chapters of women who meet for monthly potlucks and donate the saved “dining out” dollars to carefully selected organizations that empower women worldwide.
DonorsChoose, www.donorschoose.org, allows donors to sponsor specific projects in schools around the United States.
DoSomething.org, www.dosomething.org, helps motivate young people to take action around social change through grant-making and national campaigns.
Echoing Green, www.echoinggreen.org, supports early-stage social entrepreneurs.
Eden House, www.edenhousenola.org, is a two-year residential program with counseling, education, and job training for women who have been commercially and sexually exploited.
Educare, www.educareschools.org, is a research-based program that prepares young, at-risk children for school.
Encore, www.encore.org, helps older adults realize a productive “encore career” that provides personal fulfillment, social impact, and ongoing income.
Evidence Action, www.evidenceaction.org, invests in programs that have been proven in randomized controlled trials to effectively address poverty.
Experience Corps, www.aarp.org/experience-corps, run by AARP, engages older adults as reading tutors for struggling students in public schools. A $100 donation can help provide books and supplies for volunteers to use in the classroom throughout the school year.
FAIR Girls, www.fairgirls.org, uses prevention education, care for survivors, and advocacy to combat and prevent the sexual exploitation of girls in Washington, D.C.
Family Check-Up, www.thefamilycheckup.com, assesses high-risk families and tailors interventions to meet the specific needs of the family and child.
First Book, www.firstbook.org, a nonprofit organization, connects book publishers and community organizations to provide access to new books for children in need.
First Five Years Fund, www.ffyf.org, provides data, knowledge, and advocacy to help encourage federal policymakers to invest in the first five years of a child’s life.
FirstStep, www.1ststep.org, finances clubfoot treatment in developing countries where medical care is unaffordable for many.
Focusing Philanthropy, www.focusingphilanthropy.org, identifies nonprofit organizations for personal philanthropy to help assure donors that contributed funds and time are achieving great impact.
Full Circle Fund, www.fullcirclefund.org, a group of Silicon Valley professionals, provides funding and consulting to high-impact, early-stage Bay Area nonprofits working on education, economic empowerment, and environmental issues.
GEMS Girls, www.gems-girls.org, provides support for young female trafficking survivors in New York City.
George Kaiser Family Foundation, www.gkff.org, invests in proof-of-concept initiatives against poverty in Oklahoma.
Girls2Women, www.girls2women.org, teaches Ethiopian students how to make their own sanitary pads in order to increase school attendance.
GiveDirectly, www.givedirectly.org, gives cash directly to extremely poor families to allow them to pursue their goals.
GiveWell, www.givewell.org, conducts thorough research to find cost-effective charities with evidence-based models that are in need of funding.
Giving What We Can, www.givingwhatwecan.org, evaluates charities that are fighting against extreme poverty and encourages people to pledge 10 percent of their income to those that are most cost effective.
Givology, www.givology.org, allows donors to give directly to students and grassroots projects around the world.
GlobalGiving, www.globalgiving.org, connects donors with social entrepreneurs and nonprofits around the world that are raising money to improve their communities.
Global Grandmothers, www.globalgrandmothers.org, organizes grandmothers to give to those in need each time they give to their own grandchildren.
Grameen Bank, www.grameen.com, founded by Muhammad Yunus, is a microfinance organization and community development bank in Bangladesh.
Greater Good Science Center, www.greatergood.berkeley.edu, conducts research on the psychology, sociology, and neuroscience of well-being and compassion.
Greyston Bakery, www.greyston.com, a social enterprise in Yonkers, New York, provides jobs in a bakery to formerly incarcerated and homeless people. Greyston brownies are available at Whole Foods and on Greyston’s website.
Haitian Education and Leadership Program (HELP), www.uhelp.net, offers university scholarships to outstanding high school graduates from across Haiti.
Head Start, www.nhsa.org, along with Early Head Start, offers educational programs for children through age five and a variety of support services for their parents. Go to www.nhsa.org/find_a_head_start_program to find your local Head Start program and donate or volunteer there.
Healthy Families America, www.healthyfamiliesamerica.org, is a national evidence-based home visiting program that works with children at risk for adverse childhood experiences.
Healthy Steps, www.healthysteps.org, builds close relationships between health care professionals and parents to address the physical, emotional, and intellectual growth of children from birth to age three.
Helen Keller International, www.hki.org, works to reduce malnutrition and prevent blindness through highly effective food fortification and vitamin A supplementation programs.
Human Rights Watch, www.hrw.org, is an international organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights.
Idealist.org, www.idealist.org, aggregates volunteer opportunities, nonprofit jobs, internships, and organizations that are focused on social change.
iMentor, www.imentor.org, matches college graduates with low-income high school students to serve as in-person and online mentors for several years.
International Justice Mission, www.ijm.org, rescues victims of violence and slavery, and works with police around the world to hold human traffickers to account.
International Rescue Committee, www.rescue.org, responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises in more than forty countries.
JITA, www.jitabangladesh.com, a Bangladesh-based social business, employs rural women to sell socially responsible products such as soaps, seeds, and solar lamps to underprivileged consumers.
Juan Felipe Gómez Escobar Foundation, www.juanfe.org/en, a residential program in Cartagena, Colombia, supports impoverished teen moms, provides counseling and health care, and teaches improved child care and job skills.
Kiva, www.kiva.org, lets individuals lend as little as $25 to help entrepreneurs launch small businesses around the globe. Learn about an individual’s story, lend to her new business, and watch it grow as your loan gets paid back.
Landesa, www.landesa.org, gains secure property rights for the world’s poor, especially women.
Magdalene, www.thistlefarms.org, offers trafficking survivors therapy, job training, and help staying off drugs and away from dangerous social networks in a two-year residential program.
MDRC, www.mdrc.org, conducts rigorous experiments on how best to address problems of poverty in the United States.
Mercy Corps, www.mercycorps.org, is an international development organization that helps people around the world survive after conflicts, crises, and natural disasters.
Mercy Ships, www.mercyships.org, sends professionally trained and highly qualified volunteers to provide free medical care on a hospital ship that travels to port cities around the world.
MicroMentor, www.micromentor.org, carefully connects mentors with specific business skills to individual entrepreneurs in need of their expertise.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving, www.madd.org, works to prevent families from drunk driving and underage drinking and supports drunk driving victims.
MovingWorlds, www.movingworlds.org, is a paid subscription community that matches members based on their skills and interests to a verified social impact organization abroad. It’s like Match.com meets the Peace Corps.
Nurse-Family Partnership, www.nursefamilypartnership.org, provides important nurse home visits to first-time mothers from pregnancy until the child turns two years old.
Omprakash, www.omprakash.org, connects volunteers and donors with grassroots social impact organizations in more than thirty countries around the world.
ONE, www.one.org, a campaigning and advocacy organization, raises public awareness and works with political leaders to back evidence-based spending on global health.
Opportunity International, www.opportunity.org, provides small business loans, savings, insurance, and training to millions of people working their way out of poverty in developing countries.
Options for Youth, www.options4youth.org, a Chicago-based organization, helps adolescent mothers return to the education system and delay a second pregnancy.
Oxfam International, www.oxfam.org, is a global development organization that identifies innovative and practical ways for people to lift themselves out of poverty.
Partners in Health, www.pih.org, is a global health organization committed to improving the health of poor and marginalized people around the world.
Plan, www.planusa.org, connects donors to sponsor children in developing countries.
Planned Parenthood, www.plannedparenthood.org, works to improve women’s health and safety, prevent unintended pregnancies, and advance the right and ability of individuals to make informed choices about parenthood.
Polaris Project, www.polarisproject.org, combats and prevents U.S. human trafficking through a national human trafficking hotline, services for survivors, and efforts to pass antitrafficking legislation around the country.
Population Institute, www.populationinstitute.org, promotes universal access to family planning information, education, and services around the world.
Reach Out and Read, www.reachoutandread.org, runs a network of pediatricians who provide books to young patients and their parents to promote early literacy. A $40 donation supports a child for two years, and a $100 donation ensures that a child graduates after five years with at least ten books.
ReadyNation, www.readynation.org, is a network of business leaders, organizations, and other individuals who advocate for greater federal investment in early childhood development programs.
Red Cloud Indian School, www.redcloudschool.org, provides an excellent education to young people who live on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
Restore Leadership Academy, www.restoreinternational.org/uganda, is a top-tier school in Northern Uganda for students who grew up during the civil war there.
RESULTS, www.results.org, recruits and trains volunteer citizen lobbyists on global and domestic poverty issues.
Revolution Foods, www.revolutionfoods.com, makes and sells nutritious school meals and snack packs at affordable prices for underprivileged children.
Robin Hood Foundation, www.robinhood.org, takes a results-driven approach to ending poverty in New York City.
Room to Read, www.roomtoread.org, led by former Microsoft executive John Wood, builds schools and libraries in Asia and Africa to promote literacy and gender equality in education.
Rotary International, www.rotary.org, is a membership organization that provides humanitarian services worldwide.
Save the Children, www.savethechildren.org, in its U.S. Early Steps to School Success program, provides at-home early education services to at-risk children from birth to age five.
Schistosomiasis Control Initiative, www3.imperial.ac.uk/schisto, works with governments in sub-Saharan Africa to scale up deworming programs.
Self Employed Women’s Association, www.sewa.org, is a huge union for poor, self-employed women in India. It accepts volunteers.
Shining Hope for Communities, www.shininghopeforcommunities.org, in the Kibera slum in Kenya, provides health services, a school for young girls, microsavings initiatives, a gender violence program, and job training to residents. You can sponsor a female student for $1,200 a year.
Smoking Cessation and Reduction in Pregnancy Treatment (SCRIPT), www.sophe.org/SCRIPT.cfm, is an evidence-based program that helps pregnant women quit smoking.
SOPUDEP, www.sopudep.org, a Haitian grassroots organization, provides free education to kids and adults and supports women’s rights and economic empowerment for underserved Haitians.
South Central Scholars Foundation, www.southcentralscholars.org, helps high-achieving, low-income Los Angeles high school students become successful college students.
Springboard Collaborative, www.springboardcollaborative.org, offers attendance at a summer program to help low-income students replace typical summer reading losses with reading gains.
Sustainable Health Enterprises (SHE), www.sheinnovates.com, designs affordable banana fiber sanitary pads in Rwanda to improve feminine hygiene and increase school attendance.
TAMTAM, www.tamtamafrica.org, distributes bed nets to underserved areas through cost-effective methods.
The Mission Continues, www.missioncontinues.org, provides public service fellowships and mentorship for returning post-9/11 veterans.
Thirty Million Words Initiative, www.tmw.org, coaches parents to engage their children in conversation, interact with them, and ask them questions.
Thistle Farms, www.thistlefarms.org, a social enterprise, provides jobs to trafficking survivors who run a café and make and sell candles, soap, and fragrances.
Tinogona Foundation, www.tinogona.org, founded by Dr. Tererai Trent, rebuilds schools in rural Zimbabwe.
Uncharted Play, www.unchartedplay.com, creates products that harness the energy of play into electricity. For each purchase of a Soccket soccer ball, Uncharted Play donates one to a child living without reliable electricity.
Unite for Sight, www.uniteforsight.org, supports eye clinics worldwide by investing in social ventures to eliminate barriers to eye care for underserved patients.
Valentino Achak Deng Foundation, www.vadfoundation.org, increases access to education in postconflict South Sudan by building schools, libraries, teacher-training institutes, and community centers. A $300 donation supports a girl for a year of high school.
VisionSpring, www.visionspring.org, hires and trains local “vision entrepreneurs” to sell eyeglasses in remote parts of developing countries to keep children in school and support productivity in the workplace.
Vital Voices, www.vitalvoices.org, identifies, invests in, and brings visibility to extraordinary women around the world.
VolunteerMatch, www.volunteermatch.org, provides volunteer information and listings in your local community.
WonderWork, www.wonderwork.org, supports life-changing surgeries and treatments for underserved populations in need of medical care for clubfoot, burns, and blindness.
World Assistance for Cambodia, www.cambodiaschools.com, provides educational opportunities for children and medical care for the rural poor in Cambodia.
World Vision, www.worldvision.org, allows donors to sponsor a child for $1 a day to provide clean water, nutritious food, health care, and education.
Youth Villages, www.youthvillages.org, provides highly successful mentorship, home visitation, and evidence-based therapy to troubled children, young adults, and their families.