Charity types

			Charity types OVERVIEWS OF THE MAIN CHARITABLE CAUSES. This is a collaborative effort to summarise 17 complicated areas. Bear with us and, if you can, help us make the summaries more accurate and useful.

ANIMALS

SHOULD YOU KEEP GIVING TO the local cat sanctuary or try something with a longer-term vision or different strategy?

ARTS, CULTURE...

MANY ARTS AND HERITAGE charities are in urgent need of cash, partially because a handful of charities get all the publicity, but also because government support is unpredictable...

CANCER

THE RANGE HERE IS ENORMOUS. Many charities help with prevention, many with cure, many with care. We break down the choices...

CHILDREN

CHILDREN IN NEED are never far from the news agenda. But what are the different ways you can help them?

CURIOSITIES

THESE CHARITIES DELIGHT us because they stand out from the crowd. They are no better or worse than the rest - just different...

DISABILITY

PLENTY OF CHARITIES help people with disabilities, but you need to do your research to find the ones relevant to your particular area of interest...

EDUCATION...

PEOPLE THINK THE GOVERNMENT provides free education for everyone. But the state school system isn't perfect so there are plenty of cracks for charities to fill...

ENVIRONMENT

WE SUB-DIVIDE the environmental charities into a manageable set of sub-categories ranging from climate change to water to trees...

HEALTH

A COMPLEX SECTOR with lopsided needs and distorted funding. We try to unpick it into four basic areas...

HOMELESSNESS

ALL HOMELESSNESS CHARITIES fall roughly into two camps: small, local ones supplying basic needs - and large ones with longer-term perspectives...

HOSPICES

HOSPICES GET VERY LITTLE government support so are heavily reliant on individual donors. A basic summary...

HUMAN RIGHTS...

THOUGH THERE ARE SOME BIG names working in this field, it's still an under-funded area.

INTERNATIONAL AID

INTERNATIONAL AID is the most popular and professional of the charitable areas, and there is a perplexing wealth of charities to choose from.

OLDER PEOPLE

CHARITIES WORKING WITH OLDER people are in increasing demand. We explain the many kinds of work they do to cope with the complex needs of an ageing population...

RELIGIOUS

BLIND FAITH DOESN'T WORK as a concept if you have a choice within your religion - and there are many choices...

SOCIETY & WORK

AT FIRST GLANCE, these charities don't have much in common, but they all work in the community, mostly helping people with problems which aren't life-threatening.

SPORT

SPORT AND CHARITY ARE peculiar bedfellows. We explain how they rub along and how you might be able to contribute.

Intelligent Giving

THE INDEPENDENT SITE FOR THE SMARTER DONOR

Charity chooser