Seriously though, the places I give the most to are public radio and the DIA. They have an immediacy and direct benefit to the community, a tangible sense of "I helped create this" when you tune in, or walk in the door, respectively. Even if my small donation is pretty meaningless to their bottom line, I think I like the pride of ownership and community enrichment aspects.
The proposal I am making deals with the fact that people tend to give more to individuals than institutions. Lets say you give $100 to the DIA, would you be likely to give more if you knew that it was going towards a particular 10 year old, underprivileged aspiring artist so that they could take art classes at the DIA? What if at $200 you would ensure that the kid got art lessons and that once a month for a year he/she would send you an example of their progress? Would you give more?
1. Donate $100 to the DIA and $100 to NPR -both awesome. 2. Donate $200 to a little kid so they can have school books in Ecuador. By the way, you know the kids name and he/she will write you letters of their progress quarterly.