Non-Theistic Charities

Non-theistic charities, though of course they may tick off theists upon occasion.  Several highly rated non-theistic charities have non-skeptical biases (such as Food and Water Watch) and I'm not including those.  Let me know if I accidentally included one.  This list was compiled from various lists, including Charitywatch's Top-Rated Charities list and Charity Navigator.  There are many more I could have included, especially medical and environmental ones.  Some of the social services charities I wanted to list were too hard to verify in terms of non-prosletyzing being part of their "mission"  On the other hand, some that I included on the list won't even use the word "mission," which I appreciate!  A special interest of mine is service dogs for disabled people.  Breeding and training these dogs can cost more than $10,000, and the recipients are often unable to pay due to the very disability these dogs will help them overcome.

• American Civil Liberties Union
• American Association for the Advancement of Science
• American Red Cross (secular despite the title)
• Amnesty International
• Animal Welfare Institute
• AVID (college readiness program)
• CASA: Court-Appointed Special Advocate Association, representing children's best interests in court
• Cancer Research Institute
• Canines for Kids (service dogs for children under 12)
• Carnegie Institute For Science
• Center for Biological Diversity
• Children's Defense Fund
• Conservation Fund
• Defenders of Wildlife
• Doctors Without Borders 
• Engineers Without Borders
• Environmental Defense Fund
• Friends of Animals (a bit extremist but they do good work)
• Fund for Global Human Rights (Religious organizations are eligible for grants but not for prosletyzing, that I can tell)
• Goodwill Industries
• Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind
• Hispanic Scholarship Fund (I donate to this via  My Coke Rewards)
• Homes for our Troops (funds and builds handicap-accessible homes for post 9/11 veterans)
• The Hunger Project (Local level religious organizations may be partners but this project works mainly with local governments & non-theistic international agencies)
• Institute of International Education.  Programs include emergency assistance for students and scholars.  Past recipients of aid included persecuted scholars from Nazi Germany.
• International Child Art Foundation, using art to help children heal 
• International Rescue Committee, provides aid and resettlement to refugees
• Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, provides assistance to families of deceased military and funds  research on traumatic brain injury
• Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA)
• Living Lands and Waters, cleaning up & rehabbing the Mississippi watershed
• Marine Mammal Center
• My Stuff Bags, providing some normalcy to children in emergency situations.  Some of their supporters are churches and parochial schools, but they require the "stuff" to be "non-denominational."
• National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) is an advocacy group started by relatives of the mentally ill.
• National Alliance to End Homelessness*
• National Audubon Society  (Note: they have annual bird counts during the Christmas season.  A wonderful way to have a special event to go to every year that won't involve creepy deities)
• National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
• National Education for Assistance Dog Services (dogs for deaf and disabled people)
• National Trust for Historic Preservation
• National Wildlife Federation
• Nature Conservancy
• Oxfam International
• Plan USA
• Population Connection
• Rainforest Alliance
• Reach Out and Read, providing books to pediatricians for preschool patients
• Reading Is Fundamental (RIF)
• Rotary Club / Rotary International: note, some chapters use invocations/prayers
• Scholarship America.  Their Dreamkeepers program helps students stay in participating colleges when facing financial crisis
• The Sierra Club Foundation
• Union of Concerned Scientists
• UNICEF
• Wheelchair Foundation

*  Note;  The Coalition to End Homelessness has as its vice president a member of Catholic Charities, but I have included this charity because so many atheist teens and college students have been thrown out of their homes after coming out, and in many cities the only homeless shelters are run by theists.  This charity works to create permanent housing and policies for the homeless rather than supporting theistic shelters.