A Freebox in Berlin, Germany, 2005, serving as a distribution center for free donated materials.
A donation is a gift given by physical or legal persons, typically for charitable purposes and/or to benefit a cause. A donation may take various forms, including cash offering, services, new or used goods including clothing, toys, food, and vehicles. It also may consist of emergency, relief or humanitarian aid items, development aid support, and can also relate to medical care needs as i.e. blood or organs for transplant. Charitable gifts of goods or services are also called gifts in kind.
Donating statistics
Charity Navigator writes that, according to Giving USA, Americans gave $298.42 billion in 2011 (about 2% of GDP). A majority of donations were from individuals (73%), then from bequests
(about 12%), foundations (1.8%) and less than 1% from corporations. The
largest sector to receive donations was religious organizations (32%),
then education (4%). Giving has increased in 3 out of 4 years since 1971
(with the occasional declines occurring around recession years).
Blackbaud
reports that, in the US, the percentage of total fundraising that comes
from online giving was about 6% in 2011. More than 30% of online
donations occurred near the end of the year (October, November, or
December - in which 20% of donations occurred). The report mentions that
extensive Haiti relief skewed data upward for 2010 online giving; based
on 2011 data, the report advises "As online giving becomes more
ubiquitous and overall growth of the channel slows, it will be
critically important for all organizations to have an effective
retention strategy in place."
Doctors Without Borders relies on public support for two vital reasons:
To ensure the freedom to provide humanitarian assistance whenever and wherever it is needed.
To remain independent from political, religious and economic interests.
Thank you for considering supporting our work. Your
contribution is absolutely vital.
Without public support, the valuable work of Doctors
Without Borders Field Staff would be impossible. Just as importantly,
your support demonstrates solidarity with the people Doctors Without
Borders helps.
By making a regular monthly donation and becoming a
Doctors Without Borders Field Partner, your support can guarantee
ongoing, regular income which is one of the most effective ways for us
to plan our operations and respond quickly to emergencies while
remaining flexible and independent.
Help us provide medical care to men, women and children around the world:
Niger 2010.
Meningitis vaccination in Chad 2009.
Haiti 2010.
Chad 2007.
Swaziland 2011.
Peru 2007.
Sperm
Donation :
Sperm
donation is
the name of the provision (or
'donation') by a man, known
as a sperm donor, of his semen
with the intention that it be
used to achieve a pregnancy
and produce a baby in a woman
who is not the man's sexual
partner and with whom the man
does not have sexual intercourse.
Attempts are made to impregnate
a woman with the donor's sperm
using third party reproduction
techniques notably artificial
insemination.
A sperm donor may donate his
sperm directly to the woman
recipient, at a clinic known
as a sperm bank or through a
third party which brokers arrangements
between sperm donors and recipient
women, known as a 'sperm agency'.
Sperm
provided in this way is known
as donor sperm.
Sperm donation commonly assists
couples unable to produce children
because of 'male factor' fertility
problems, but it is increasingly
used as a means to enable single
women (termed choice mothers)
and single and coupled lesbians
to have children.[1] The sperm
donor is the genetic or biological
father of each child produced
with the use of his sperm. When
a donor's sperm is successfully
used repeatedly for impregnation
in the same, or different, women,
numbers of siblings and half-siblings
will be produced.
Donors may be either anonymous
or non-anonymous, although laws
may require donors to be one
or the other, or restrict the
number of children each donor
may father. Although many donors
choose to remain anonymous,
new technologies such as the
internet and DNA technology
has opened up new avenues for
those wishing to know more about
the biological father, siblings
and half-siblings.
