Favorite charities

Sometimes when people get married or die, people are requested to make donations to charity in lieu of gifts (in the case of marriage) or flowers (in the case of death). I'm not planning to get married or die soon, but being the kind of person who likes to make lists, I was thinking of what charities would I want donations to go to in such a situation. I found there are many. I think I need to narrow it down to a more reasonable number, but for now, I'll just list them all.

As I think about this, I think most people I know aren't any richer than me. They need all the money they can get. So it seems to me it would be better for me to donate to these charities rather than to ask my friends to. And in fact, I do donate to many of them. So in the case of me getting married or dying, I'm not sure I'd want the people to give money to these charities. I'd rather they buy themselves a house or something, if they have money to be spending. In fact, if I suddenly got rich, I'd want to make sure all my friends and family were taken care of before I started giving money to my favorite charities.

So I'm not planning to die or get married soon, and even if I was, I'm not sure I'd ask for people to donate to charities, so there's no rational reason for me to list my favorite charities, but I like making lists of things, so here we go.

• Folk music/public radio: WUMB, WMUD, WMPG, National Public Radio, Clearwater festival, Old Songs, Folk Alliance, Dance Flurry Organization, supporting traditional music of the Andes.
• Organic, locally grown food: Capital District Community Gardens, Troy Farmer's Market, Regional Farm and Food Project, Honest Weight Food Co-op.
• Helping people locally: Joseph's House and Shelter, Unity House.
• Helping people around the world: Oxfam, MercyCorps, Habitat for Humanity, Peter M. Goodrich Memorial Fund, programs supporting environmentally sustainable rural life in Latin America.
  
• Education: Haverford College (especially financial aid, increasing the number of Quaker students, and the Center for Peace and Global Citizenship), Marlboro College, Quaker schools, democratic schools, Big Picture Schools.
• Outdoor recreation: Hulbert Outdoor Center, Farm and Wilderness Camps, building and maintaining rollerblading paths.
• Civil liberties: American Civil Liberties Union, LGBT rights.
• Green business: Co-op America
• Renewable energy
• Public Libraries

I find I tend not to list organizations I've worked at or otherwise been involved in. I think it's because I've been close enough to see their flaws, so it's hard to give my wholehearted support. The organizations I haven't been so close to probably have as many or more flaws, but I just haven't seen them yet.