I am not, as a rule, very charitable. But with the end of the tax year upon us, Wife and I decided to make some contributions on the 30th and 31st. So who did we contribute to, and why?
BU Law School: They did a nice job getting Wife a nice job. A gratuity seems appropriate.

Claremont McKenna College: My alma mater. Ethically, I probably still owe them for some...issues...that they could never quite pin on me or my friends. So technically this is debt service.
The Columbus Zoo: Every year, I adopt a black bear for Wife for Christmas. Why? Well, Columbus is my hometown, and my parents always adopted animals for me and my sister. Why a bear specifically? I don't even remember. But I sure liked bears a lot more after we went to Clark's Trading Post a few years back...though that was after the tradition started.
The Grameen Foundation: If you're going to try to help poor people, you should focus on REALLY poor people in the Third World, not relatively wealthy "poor" Americans. I like Grameen because it provides microloans, not handouts, so only virtuous, hardworking people are helped.

Heifer International: Again, a place that helps genuinely impoverished foreigners. This place has some unfortunate hippy-drippy leanings, but I'm willing to look past that. What's important here is that they give the gift of meat...on the hoof.
