106 Organizations That Are Changing the World - Are you helping?

Because of a suggestion on Digg, I’ve re-done the list and grouped the organizations according to topic. Many of the organizations could fit into multiple categories but I chose the one that seemed to be their primary focus.

NOTE: the organizations I am currently working with or have worked with in the past are in bold. The others are either ones I’ve heard of or which I found online so I cannot vouch for them personally. I fully admit that this list tilts towards my personal interests so please feel free to recommend additional groups in the comments section and I’ll add them to the list.

Children

1. Action on Rights for Children (ARCH) is an internet-based children’s rights organization with a particular focus on civil rights. We support equality, choice, respect and privacy for all children and young people.
2. Child Advocacy 360 is an independent, nonprofit service that brings to people’s desktops, mailboxes and conversations the latest news and insights on children’s welfare and rights, with a particular focus on the struggle to conquer abuse and neglect of children in our society
3. Child Workers in Asia supports the emergence of local actions for working children and for the promotion of children’s rights.
4. Children’s Rights is a national watchdog organization advocating on behalf of abused and neglected children in the U.S.
5. Childwatch International is a nonprofit, nongovernmental network of institutions engaged in research for children. The Network seeks to strengthen child-centered research to contribute towards real improvement in children’s well-being.
6. Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers works to prevent the recruitment and use of children as soldiers, to secure their demobilization and facilitate rehabilitation and reintegration.
7. Defense for Children International is dedicated to ensuring on-going, practical, systematic and concerted international action directed towards promoting and protecting the rights of the child.
8. Fight4Kids was designed to provide parents throughout the United States with the convenience of internet based information and support. They offer online parenting classes, small group information, babysitter & therapist listings and much more
9. First Focus works to create a lasting legacy for children and their families by encouraging bipartisan federal policy advancements and investments in children.
10. Free The Children helps young people engage in social issues and realize that they can make a real contribution to the world.
11. Global Fund for Children (GFC) is a nonprofit organization located in Washington, DC. They give small grants of $5,000-$20,000 to grassroots NGOs in the developing world that work with vulnerable children and youth.
12. Global March Against Child Labor is a movement to mobilize worldwide efforts to protect and promote the rights of all children, especially the right to receive a free, meaningful education and to be free from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be harmful to the child’s physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development.
13. KidsRights Foundation is an international children’s aid and advocacy organization which raises funds for independent local aid projects in a number of countries around the world.
14. National Safe Place is intended to provide nationwide support with a “safe haven” to children and adolescents who are “at risk” or in crisis situations. The purpose is to both defuse a potential crisis situation, as well as provide immediate counsel and support so that the child in crisis may be directed to an appropriate shelter or accredited care facility.
15. Net4kids wants to provide sustainable aid to underprivileged children in order to offer them a better future.
16. Stop Child Executions is a non-profit organization aims at putting an end to executions of minors in Iran.
17. The International Save the Children Alliance is a worldwide non-profit organization which aims to improve the lives of children. It operates in over 115 countries, including the United States, Mexico and Canada. There are 27 Save the Children member organizations around the world.
18. The Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict strives to end violations against children in armed conflicts and to guarantee their rights.
19. UNICEF provides long-term humanitarian and developmental assistance to children and mothers in developing countries.
20. War Child International is a network of independent organizations, working across the world to help children affected by war.

Civil Rights

1. American Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU) stated mission is “to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.”
2. Anti-Defamation League fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects civil rights for all.
3. Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) members across the country are working to: raise the minimum wage or enact living wage policies; eliminate predatory financial practices by mortgage lenders, payday lenders, and tax preparation companies; win the development of affordable housing through inclusionary zoning policies and community benefits agreements; improve the quality of and funding for urban public schools; organize displaced New Orleans residents and fight for the equitable rebuilding of that city; and pass a federal and state ACORN Working Families Agenda including paid sick leave for all full time workers.
4. Center for Community Change (CCC) Its purpose has been “to help establish and develop community organizations across the country, ‘bring attention to major national issues related to poverty,’ and ‘help insure that government programs are responsive to community needs.’”
5. Citizens’ Commission on Civil Rights is a bipartisan organization which monitors the civil rights policies and practices of the federal government. Its work is grounded in the belief that the civil rights agenda benefits the entire country, not just particular interest groups.
6. International Action Center is committed to the building broad-based grassroots coalitions to oppose to U.S. wars abroad while fighting against racism and economic exploitation of workers here at home.

Disabilities

1. ADAPT is a grass roots disability rights organization.
2. Alliance for Full Participation (AFP) - a formal partnership of leading organizations serving the developmental disabilities field which share a commitment to the successful inclusion of people with developmental disabilities into the mainstream of American life.
3. National Disability Rights Network works to create a society in which people with disabilities are afforded equality of opportunity and are able to fully participate by exercising choice and self-determination.
   
4. Self Advocates Becoming Empowered (SABE) - To ensure that people with disabilities are treated as equals and that they are given the same decisions, choices, rights, responsibilities, and chances to speak up to empower themselves; opportunities to make new friends; and to learn from their mistakes.
5. World Institute on Disability (WID) is an international public policy center that advocates for the civil rights of people with disabilities and pushes for public policies that promote full inclusion of people with disabilities in society.

Human Rights

1. Amnesty International defines its mission as “to undertake research and action focused on preventing and ending abuses of the rights to physical and mental integrity, freedom of conscience and expression, and freedom from discrimination, within the context of its work to promote all human rights.”
2. Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT) offers legal advice on criminalizing torture, provides training on visiting places of detention; gives advice on the establishment and functioning of national prevention mechanisms; and advocates for legislative reform, ratification and implementation of relevant international treaties.
3. Ella Baker Center for Human Rights works primarily through four initiatives to break the cycle of urban violence and reinvest in urban centers.
4. Free Tibet Campaign stands for an end to the occupation of Tibet and for fundamental rights of the Tibetan people.
5. Global Human Rights Defense (GHRD) is an international human rights Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) working with and for minorities. GHRD specifically addresses those areas and populations of the world where severe and extensive human rights violations of certain ethnic, linguistic and religious minorities have taken place for long periods, and where structural help and global attention of the international media have proven to be absent or insufficient.
6. Global Rights is a human rights advocacy group that partners with local activists to challenge injustice and amplify new voices within the global discourse.
7. Human Rights First believes that building respect for human rights and the rule of law will help ensure the dignity to which every individual is entitled and will stem tyranny, extremism, intolerance, and violence.
8. Human Rights Watch is dedicated to protecting the human rights of people around the world. We stand with victims and activists to prevent discrimination, to uphold political freedom, to protect people from inhumane conduct in wartime, and to bring offenders to justice.
9. International Association of Human Values (IAHV) develops and promotes programs of personal development to encourage the practice of human values in everyday life. It also has programs of community education that foster greater awareness of the shared values among the diverse cultures.
10. International Campaign for Tibet Strives to mobilize international goodwill in support of the Tibetan people. Our focus today is centered on working with governments to demonstrate meaningful support for Tibet, reaching out to Chinese all over the world, and monitoring conditions inside Tibet.
11. International Campaign to Ban Landmines calls for: A worldwide ban on antipersonnel landmines, Universal membership of the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, Support of the needs and rights of landmine survivors, demining and risk education to safeguard lives and livelihoods.
12. International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) aims at obtaining effective improvements in the protection of victims, the prevention of Human Rights violations and the sanction of their perpetrators.
13. International Justice Mission is a U.S.-based Christian non-profit human rights organization that operates in countries all over the world to rescue victims of individual human rights abuse, working to combat human trafficking, forced labor slavery, illegal detention, unprosecuted rape, police brutality and illegal land seizure.
14. International Rescue Committee has been a leader in humanitarian relief. We mobilize quickly, bringing sustained support to regions torn apart by violence and deprivation. We provide a fresh start in the U.S. for refugees. And we advocate tirelessly on behalf of the displaced, addressing the root causes of violence and standing up for the world’s most vulnerable populations.
15. International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA) is an independent and non-profit international human rights-based membership organization, whose central charter is to endorse and promote the collective rights of the world’s indigenous peoples.
16. Just International strives to raise global consciousness on the crucial importance of fostering attitudes, values and ideals at both the personal and community level, which will help, attain and sustain a just world.
17. JustOne is a collective voice for the victims of social injustice––the one(s) living in geographical and situational poverty; the one(s) orphaned through death, disease and desertion; the one(s) trafficked into slavery throughout the world.
18. Landmine Survivors Network is an advocacy organization to help the survivor community become an effective force in the campaign to eliminate anti-personnel landmines.
19. Minority Rights Group International (MRG) is an organization founded in 1965 with the objective of promoting human rights and increasing awareness of minority issues
20. National Human Rights Institutions Forum is an international forum for researchers and practitioners in the field of national human rights institutions.
21. National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) implements the international human rights charters signed by Saudi Arabia, and it also includes a special panel to monitor violations of women’s rights.
22. Nonviolent Peaceforce (NP) is a nonpartisan unarmed peacekeeping force composed of trained civilians from around the world. In partnership with local groups, Nonviolent Peaceforce members apply proven nonviolent strategies to protect human rights, deter violence, and help create space for local peacemakers to carry out their work.
23. One People’s Project is a grassroots movement to stop racism and discrimination.
24. OneWorld is a global information network developed to support communication media of the people, by the people and for the people — everywhere. Its goal is to help build a more just, global society, through its partnership community.
25. Peace Brigades International (PBI) promotes nonviolence and protected human rights. We send international volunteers to areas of conflict, providing protective accompaniment to human rights defenders threatened by political violence. We also facilitate other peace-building initiatives.
26. Plan provides children, families and communities with immediate relief during times of disaster, and the long-term interventions needed to rebuild lives.
27. Seva Foundation serves people around the world who are struggling for health, cultural survival and sustainable communities.
28. Sweatshop Watch serves low-wage workers nationally and globally, with a focus on eliminating sweatshop exploitation in California’s garment industry. We believe that workers should earn a living wage in a safe, decent work environment, and that those responsible for the exploitation of sweatshop workers must be held accountable.
29. Terre des Hommes International Federation is a network of eleven national organizations working for the rights of children and to promote equitable development without racial, religious, political, cultural or gender-based discrimination.
30. The Advocacy Project seeks to help community-based advocates produce, disseminate and use information, and so become more effective advocates for human rights and social justice.
31. The Interfaith Alliance celebrates religious freedom by championing individual rights, promoting policies that protect both religion and democracy, and uniting diverse voices to challenge extremism.
32. The Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International (TASSC) is the only organization founded by and for torture survivors. The mission of TASSC is to end the practice of torture wherever it occurs and to empower survivors, their families and communities wherever they are.
33. Tostan has a mission “to empower African communities to bring about sustainable development and positive social transformation based on respect for human rights.” It works in mostly rural regions to promote literacy and increase community engagement in projects to promote health and hygiene, child welfare, human rights and democracy, the environment, and economic development.
34. Universal Rights Network – a meeting place for peoples of the world to share their stories of the importance of universal human rights and fundamental freedoms to us all.
    
35. Witness uses video and online technologies to expose human rights violations.
36. World Organization Against Torture (OMCT) is the main coalition of international non-governmental organizations (NGO) fighting against torture, summary executions, enforced disappearances and all other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

Human Trafficking

1. Anti-Slavery International is the world’s oldest international human rights organization and the only charity in the United Kingdom to work exclusively against slavery and related abuses.
2. Coalition to Fight Against Child Exploitation (FACE) is networking with government and non-government agencies and officers in other countries to coordinate the arrest, prosecution and conviction of child sex offenders and traffickers.
3. End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes (ECPAT) works to make a reality of the Stockholm Agenda for Action against the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC).
4. Free the Slaves works on the ground with liberators around the world. We do what it takes to free men, women and children and help them stay free.
5. Not For Sale Campaign Our collective challenge is simple, stand with those who are enslaved, work together to free them, and empower them in their freedom to break the cycle of vulnerability.
6. Polaris Project’s vision is for a world without slavery. Named after the North Star that guided slaves towards freedom along the Underground Railroad, Polaris Project has been providing a comprehensive and community-based approach to combating human trafficking and modern-day slavery since 2002.
7. Project to End Human Trafficking (PEHT) engages in anti-trafficking coalition building, educational outreach, direct service to victims, and collaboration with other national and international organizations in the global fight against human trafficking.
8. Redlight Children Campaign is a worldwide grassroots initiative whose mission is to reduce the number of children sold to the sex industry and exploited on the internet.
9. Resist Exploitation Embrace Dignity (REED) stands against trafficking and sexual exploitation through outreach, advocacy and public education.
10. Shared Hope Internationals prevention programs examine the conditions that allow women and children to be bought and sold and document the marketplaces of victimization around the world. We work to enhance awareness of modern day sexual slavery and we build international alliances to combat sex trafficking.
11. Stop the Traffik aims to put an end to human trafficking. The organization aims to achieve its goal through the three-pronged approach of advocacy, education and fundraising. Over 800 organizations from 51 countries collaborate in Stop the Traffik. Stop The Traffik is a global coalition working to bring freedom and justice to all victims of people trafficking, and to demonstrate how the public can get involved.
12. The American Anti-Slavery Group (AASG) is a nonprofit organization that works with former victims of human trafficking to abolish modern-day slavery, focusing primarily on systems of chattel slavery in Sudan and Mauritania.

GLBTQ

1. Family Equality Council is a national advocacy organization committed to securing family equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer parents, guardians and allies.
2. Freedom to Marry is a national non-profit organization whose stated mission is “working to win marriage equality nationwide.” It works through litigation, legislation, and community education
3. Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is a non-profit organization of LGBT activism that is “dedicated to promoting and ensuring fair, accurate and inclusive representation of people and events in the media as a means of eliminating homophobia and discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation”.
4. Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is the largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) lobbying group and political action committee in the United States. The HRC mission statement is “HRC envisions an America where GLBT people are ensured of their basic equal rights; and can be open, honest and safe at home, at work and in the community.”
5. International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) is an international organization addressing human rights violations against lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and people with HIV/AIDS.
6. Marriage Equality USA is a national organization fighting to secure the legal recognition of same-sex marriage through education and outreach in the U.S.
7. Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) is a group of family members and friends of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. The organization “promotes the health and well-being of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender persons, their families and friends through: support, to cope with an adverse society; education, to enlighten an ill-informed public; and advocacy, to end discrimination and to secure equal civil rights.”

Women

1. Code Pink: Women for Peace is an anti-war group that started in the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq. They describe themselves as a “grassroots peace and social justice movement working to end the war in Iraq, stop new wars, and redirect our resources into health care, education and other life-affirming activities.”
2. Equality Now works to end violence and discrimination against women and girls around the world through the mobilization of public pressure. Issues of concern to Equality Now include: rape, domestic violence, reproductive rights, trafficking, female genital mutilation, political participation, gender discrimination.
3. Global Fund for Women is a non-profit foundation that gives grants to organizations worldwide that focus on women’s human rights.
4. International Alliance of Women (IAW) is a non-governmental, feminist organization, which embraces both women’s groups and individuals. The basic principle of the IAW is that the full and equal enjoyment of human rights is due to all women and girls.
5. League of Women Voters has fought since 1920 to improve our systems of government and impact public policies through citizen education and advocacy.
6. National Alliance of Women’s Organizations NAWO’s vision is for a world where all women are able to participate in and influence the decisions that impact on their lives (Europe based)
7. Peace X Peace (pronounced Peace by Peace) is an international women’s organization which connects groups of women in the US with groups of women in Muslim majority regions to foster international communication, education and understanding.
8. Planned Parenthood provides reproductive health and maternal and child health services.
9. Project Rescue provides shelters where sex workers’ young daughters find compassion, transformation, and a new meaning in life. Through these shelters and other efforts, our multi-dimensional rescue ministry has brought freedom to over 1,000 young women and girls in India and Nepal.
10. The Center for Women’s Global Leadership (CWGL) develops and facilitates women’s leadership for women’s human rights and social justice worldwide.
11. The International Women’s Rights Action Watch (IWRAW) the primary international nongovernmental organization that facilitates use of international human rights treaties to promote women’s human rights and rights within families.
12. Vital Voices Global Partnership promotes and advocates the participation of women in leadership roles in the political processes of their societies and countries.
13. Women for Women International has empowered over 153,000 women survivors of war to move toward economic self-sufficiency with our year-long program of direct aid, rights education, job skills training and small business development.

General

1. American Coalition of Fathers and Children (ACFC) is an organization that promotes the reform of family law to increase fathers’ rights.
2. Ecumenical Coalition on Third World Tourism seeks to unite people around collective efforts that negate the undesirable effects of modern tourism and in its place substitute socially responsible and ethically oriented tourism
3. Foundation for Religious Freedom is educating the public as to religious rights, freedoms and responsibilities.
4. Freedom Corps - (USAFC) is charged with building a culture of service, citizenship, and responsibility in America. USAFC promotes and expands volunteer service in America by partnering with national service programs, working to strengthen the non-profit sector, recognizing volunteers, and helping to connect individuals with volunteer opportunities.
5. Habitat For Humanity International is devoted to building “simple, decent, and affordable” housing.
6. Irrepressible.info - Freedom of expression is a fundamental human right. It is one of the most precious of all rights. We should fight to protect it.
7. Save the Internet is a coalition of individuals, businesses, and non-profit organizations led by Free Press working for the preservation of network neutrality.

To see the organizations that readers recommended, please click below

The following organizations were recommended by readers. I have not done anything to evaluate these organizations besides just verifying that they aren’t evil (to me). They are listed in the order in which they were received.

• Goodwill Industries International (Goodwill) claims to be one of the world’s largest nonprofit providers of education, training, and career services for people with disadvantages, such as welfare dependency, homelessness, and lack of education or work experience, as well as those with physical, mental and emotional disabilities.
• Teach For America recruits recent college graduates to teach for two years in schools in low-income communities throughout the United States. The goal of TFA is for its corps members not only to make a short-term impact on their students, but also to become lifelong leaders in pursuing educational equality.
• Kiva Provides funding to entrepreneurs in developing countries in an effort to relieve poverty. Works by “microloans” from anybody willing and able to give money that are paid back like a standard loan once the person’s business is up and running. (Recommended by 2 people)
• Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) is the most socially active college student comprised organization in the world. Their projects are incredible and life changing.
• Christian Children’s Fund provides services to children, most funded by individual contributors, in the form of monthly child sponsorships. In addition, CCF says it receives grants and donations that support vocational training, literacy training, food distribution, educational programs, early childhood development, health and immunization programs, nutritional programs, water and sanitation development, and emergency relief in both man-made and natural disasters.
• The Geek Group Science and Technology labs, teaching, and demonstrations for everyone, particularly aimed at school students, with the ultimate goal of being something of an open source MIT. No rules, just come in and work on your next greatest invention or project.
• Feed Just One has a mission to feed 1 million families before the end of the summer, it’s a start, based in Fayetteville, AR (who would have known), $1 will feed just one, do it.
• THON, also known as Penn State Dance Marathon is the largest student run philanthropy organization in the world. All of our proceeds go directly to the Four Diamonds Fund, set up in honor of Chris Millard, who dies of pediatric cancer at the age of 14. We have raised most recently 6.6 million dollars in 2008 and more than 20 million dollars in the last 4 years. The four diamonds fund ensures that any family who needs help financially is provided with everything they need to assist in the treatment process. Please check out thon.org and the four diamonds fund website http://www.hmc.psu.edu/fourdiamonds/ to learn about a great cause and group of kids who really do care at Penn State.
• DEKA That is Dean Kamen’s resarch division, but the ones making that water purification system, as seen on the Colbert Report. He also is a chief person involved in FIRST Robotics, which gets youth across the world excited about not only science and technology, but the ability to work together with people who you may have seen as an enemy. The best example Ive heard is a team in Israel that has Jews and Arabs working together to build one robot in 6 weeks.
• Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence (SIAI) is a non-profit organization founded in 2000 to develop safe artificial intelligence software, and to raise awareness of both the dangers and potential benefits it believes AI presents.
• AIESEC describes itself as “The international platform for young people to discover and develop their potential so as to have a positive impact on society”.
• Crossroads is a great, non-religious, Hong Kong-based organization working in distribution of used, quality goods as well as education of important social issues.
• The Electronic Frontier Foundations (EFF) stated main goal is to educate the press, policymakers and the general public about civil liberties issues related to technology; and to act as a defender of those liberties.
• Working Assets (CREDO) was created in 1985 on a strong foundation of beliefs, a credo. Supporting peace, equality, human rights and the environment is the reason we exist. That is why each time one of our customers uses our mobile, credit card or long distance services, we donate a portion of their charges to these causes.
• Friends of Falun Gong USA (FoFG USA) is a U.S.-based, nonprofit human rights organization whose mission is to support the freedom of belief of persons who practice Falun Gong, to stop the persecution, and to bring to justice those who have perpetrated human rights crimes targeting Falun Gong practitioners.
• Direct Democracy Foundation wants to achieve our vision, we will promote direct deliberative democracy throughout the world by encouraging open and equal participation in government, creating a community of dialogue and debate in order to facilitate public knowledge and awareness, encouraging and promoting collective action, and developing a platform and forum by which individuals may openly and freely debate issues, share their ideas, propose solutions, and vote for and by consensus in order to bring about social and political change.
• SOS Children’s Villages work focuses on abandoned, destitute and orphaned children requiring family-based child care.
• Invisible Children Inc. wants to create awareness regarding the plight of the people of Northern Uganda, caught in the midst of a civil war between the government and Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army, a rebel group that makes extensive use of kidnapping children and making child soldiers.
• Summit Assistance Dogs is a nonprofit organization, located in Anacortes, Washington, that provides highly-skilled mobility, hearing and therapy dogs for people with disabilities.
• UNDP provides expert advice, training, and grant support to developing countries, with increasing emphasis on assistance to the least developed countries. To accomplish the MDGs and encourage global development, UNDP focuses on poverty reduction, HIV/AIDS, democratic governance, energy and environment, and crisis prevention and recovery. UNDP also encourages the protection of human rights and the empowerment of women in all of its programs.
• International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is an international humanitarian movement whose stated mission is to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for the human being, and to prevent and alleviate human suffering, without any discrimination based on nationality, race, religious beliefs, class or political opinions.
• ONE Campaign is a U.S.-based, nonpartisan, non-profit organization which aims to increase United States government funding for and effectiveness of international aid programs.
• Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières) is a secular humanitarian-aid non-governmental organization best known for its projects in war-torn regions and developing countries facing endemic disease.
• Compassion International is a Christian child sponsorship organization dedicated to the long-term development of children living in poverty around the world.
• Gobena sells Fair Trade Organic Coffee at fair retail prices and donates 100% (All overhead time and work is donated) to charities, specifically to orphanages in the countries where the coffee is grown.
• The aim of Knowmore.org is to raise awareness of corporate abuse, and to serve as a catalyst for direct action against corporate power.
• WiserEarth serves the people who are transforming the world. It is a community directory and networking forum that maps and connects non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and individuals addressing the central issues of our day: climate change, poverty, the environment, peace, water, hunger, social justice, conservation, human rights and more. Content is created and edited by people like you.

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