The After-School Corporation
Partially funded by George Soros's Open Society Institute, TASC works to implement and improve after-school programs around New York City and State.

Akanksha
Akanksha, a foundation that runs educational centers for India's indigent children, welcomes volunteers to help at one of its 25 centers, from mentoring to teaching (art, sewing, computers) to assisting the staff. If you're a bit less hardy, try Caribbean Volunteer Expeditions for slightly cushier trips involving historical preservation and research. Other sites containing information on volunteer vacations: Earthwatch Institute, volunteerinternational.org, globalvolunteers.org and Experiential Learning International.

All Stars Project, Inc.
This performing arts organization for underprivileged youth holds frequent talent shows and productions. Volunteers can help recruit kids ages 5-25 from Harlem, Coney Island, Bedford-Stuyvesant and the South Bronx for auditions or help man the light and sound boards at the theater.

Artistic license: Kids get a head start on creativity with Art Start.

Art Start
Featuring hip-hop, graphic-design, and fine-arts programs, Art Start targets low-income and homeless youth. Volunteers, many of whom are professional artists, lead classes in their area of expertise, from drumming to short-story writing.

ALS Association
The association is dedicated to advocacy and research for sufferers of Lou Gehrig's Disease, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Alzheimers Association
While their ultimate goal is the elimination of Alzheimers disease, the association's immediate mission is to provide patient care and family support which enhances the quality of life for persons affected by the disease.

American Cancer Society
The grandaddy of cancer organizations accepts donations online for its programs to fund research, educate the public, and prevent the disease.

American Heart Association
Also the home of the American Stroke Assocation, AHA serves as a resource for both patients and professionals.

American Lung Association
The New York chapter offers a five-borough flu shot program, among other initiatives.

American Red Cross
The American Red Cross responds to more than 67,000 disasters annually: house or apartment fires (the majority of disaster responses), hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, hazardous materials spills, transportation accidents, explosions, and other natural and man-made disasters.

amFAR
The American Foundation for AIDS Research, Liz Taylor's pet cause, focuses on research and prevention.

Animal Medical Center
212-838-8100
The Animal Medical Center, a 92-year-old nonprofit veterinary hospital, tends to over 65,000 four-legged patients annually. Donations go toward research -- no harm to animals, of course -- as well as running the hospital and its postgraduate education program.

ASPCA
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals' headquarters here "houses one of the area's largest full service animal hospitals, an adoption facility, and the Humane Law Enforcement Department, which is responsible for enforcing New York's animal cruelty laws."

Association to Benefit Children
Among ABC's programs: Baked in the 'Hood, which " has created a thriving industry in East Harlem by producing, merchandising and delivering elegantly packaged baked goods as corporate and individual gifts."

Bailey House
Founded as the AIDS Resource Center in 1983, Bailey offers help securing housing and employment to people with AIDS.

Beth Israel Medical Center
If you have a way with yarn, join up with the Beth Israel Blanketeers, who knit and crochet blankets and hats for Beth Israel's at-risk infants and baby clothes for the in-house Teen Pregnancy Program. For volunteers with a canine, Beth Israel has a partnership with the Good Dog Foundation. After a six-week training program with your dog, you are (both) asked to donate an hour a week to visit with patients in the hospital together. Read more.

Bide-A-Wee Home Association
Volunteer as a pet therapist. Once a month, for the duration of an entire year, take your usual pet walk astray and cheer up a client at one of the 50 facilities participating in the program.

Big Brothers Big Sisters
212-686-2042
Nearly a century old, Big Brothers Big Sisters of NYC provides long-term one-on-one mentoring for 7- to 17-year-old kids from single-parent families and underserved communities. Donations go toward matching kids with volunteers, who mentor children in schools and the juvenile-justice system or are assigned "littles" to take on cultural, educational, and recreational outings.

Body Positive
Dedicated to assisting newly diagnosed individuals and their lovers, partners, caregivers, families, and friends. Services are provided through an extensive network of professionally supervised peer educators and more than 100 volunteers who are reflective of the communities affected by HIV.

Bowery Mission
212-684-2800
The Bowery Mission offers its 62 beds to homeless men who are recovering drug and alcohol addicts. The organization offers meals, showers, clothing, and career counseling.

The Breast Cancer Research Foundation
Established in 1993 by Evelyn H. Lauder, the foundation's recent round of $14.5 million in grants will fund clinical and genetic research on breast cancer, including trials for new drug treatments and research projects in vaccine development. The group’s medical advisory board ensures that your donations go to worthy proposals.

Brooklyn Public Library
Keep the borough's neighborhood libraries strong: One way is to get a memorial book plate, placed in a volume permanently with a contribution of $50 or more.

Camp Vacamas
Located in the foothills of New Jersey's Ramapo mountains less than an hour from Manhattan, the camp offers an escape for kids from low- to moderate-income families, with fees based according to need.

Central Park Conservancy
The conservancy's site offers plenty of options for contributing, including planting trees and adopting a bench. Donate $1 for a daffodil.

Children's Aid Society
212-949-4936
The Children's Aid Society strives to improve the lives of the 120,000 families it serves annually with recreation programs, academic tutoring, and medical resources.

Children's Brain Tumor Foundation
Helps improve the treatment, quality of life, and the long term outlook for children with brain and spinal cord tumors.

Children's Hope
Foundation provides medical and emotional support for children and teens who are HIV-positive.

Star quality: Christopher Reeve and Helen Hunt at a recent fundraiser for his foundation.

Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation
The actor's foundation has become a key resource in treatment for spinal cord injuries and paralysis.

City Harvest
917-351-8700
City Harvest collects 16 million pounds of unused food every year from restaurants, corporations, and Greenmarkets, and gets it to those who need it, from single-parent families and senior citizens to soup kitchens and food-relief centers. Money goes toward truck maintenance and delivery costs. Read more.

Citymeals-on-Wheels
212-687-1234
Volunteering at a soup kitchen over the holidays is a tradition in many families, but if you can't make it yourself, you can still help out. Give to City Meals on Wheels, a group with a network of 120 centers around the city serving mostly low-income, homebound people. Every bit of money you give them will be put toward meal preparation (they do not take food donations) and delivery. Read more.

Computers for Youth
Every two weeks, devote half your Saturday to teaching computer basics to students and parents of low-income, public middle schools in Canarsy and East Harlem (in December).

Delta Society
Improving human health through service and therapy animals.

Taste of victory: Doe Fund participants prepared this cake for the 2001 graduates of Ready, Willing & Able.

Doe Fund
Employs and supports homeless individuals in their efforts to become self-sufficient, contributing members of society. Among the initiatives: The Ready, Willing & Able program provides work experience and support services; A Better Place is The Doe Fund's supportive permanent residence for homeless men and women living with AIDS.

EngenderHealth
The New York-based organization works to improve women's health worldwide by concentrating on health care quality and availability.

The Food Bank for New York City
The site notes that this is the nation's largest food bank and largest distributor of free fresh produce, providing over 51 million pounds of food annually to more than 1,200 community food programs.

Fresh Youth Intiatives
A Washington Heights-based initiative to foster the community service spirit through programs with neighborhood kids.

Gay Men's Health Crisis
212-367-1585
Established in 1982, Gay Men's Health Crisis offers counseling and legal aid to anyone infected with HIV or aids.

To the rescue: God's Love We Deliver provides meals for homebound HIV patients.

God's Love We Deliver
212-294-8146
God's Love We Deliver arranges for top chefs to prepare gourmet meals in the company's Soho kitchen, then delivers the food to people living with HIV and AIDS, cancer, and other serious illnesses in all five boroughs and parts of New Jersey. Read more.

Good Old Lower East Side
Since 1977, this neighborhood housing and preservation organization serving the Lower East Side of Manhattan has worked to prevent homelessness and revitalize the community.

Habitat for Humanity
Jimmy Carter's Christian housing project builds for low-income families in Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens.

Hamilton Madison House
Serving the Chinatown area, the organization tries to reach both the Asian and non-Asian community in its neighborhood with Head Start, adult education and other programs.

More than playing ball: New York Yankees centerfielder Bernie Williams reads to children in Harlem RBI's REAL (Reading and Enrichment Academy for Learning) Program.

Harlem RBI
Play ball: the Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities project gives a uniform, a glove and a baseball or softball education to 350 boys and girls aged 7-18. The Web site notes that the Grays, the flagship team of the boys baseball program, have even appeared on a General Mills “Team Cheerios” cereal box.

Heifer International
Give the gift of ... bees? The catalog of Heifer International offers several types of livestock — hives, too, at $30 — available for purchase and donation to needy families around the world. Pigs ($120) are bringing an income to an orphanage in Poland; buffalo ($250) are an invaluable help to farmers in Vietnam. All recipients are required to "pass on the gift," or give the first female offspring to another family in need.

Henry Street Settlement
Serving a largely Asian and Hispanic community, its services include a mental-health clinic, a shelter for battered women, an arts center, and day-care centers. Volunteer as a tutor, a computer programmer, a job coach, or a teacher’s assistant.

The Hope Program
Founded in 1984, this school weans over 450 adults enrolled in an intensive 16-week job readiness program, off public assistance and prepares them for self-sufficiency. Conduct one-on-one tutorials two hours a week, for a total of 12 weeks.

Housing Works
212-967-1500
An outgrowth of ACT UP, Housing Works has many services for homeless (or formerly homeless) people living with HIV and aids. Programs include needle exchange, mental-health services, legal aid, advocacy, and job training.

Humane Society of New York
Aside from caring for animals in crisis and helping rescue animals affected by the WTC collapse, they have a super-cute catalog of pups up for adoption.

International Association of Firefighters
Money donated through this site to the New York Firefighters 9-11 Disaster Relief Fund goes directly to the families of fallen fire fighters and EMS personnel.

International Center
Teach English and American-culture classes at this language-learning center in Chelsea, where students are foreign-born newcomers to New York (a standard commitment is two hours a week for six months). Volunteers are needed for written and conversational instruction.

Kitty Kind
212-726-2652
Kitty Kind, a no-kill, all-volunteer cat-rescue-and-adoption group, finds homes for up to 2,000 cats a year. Not a shelter, the group instead deposits felines directly from the pound and the street into temporary foster homes. Every penny donated goes to medical care and food.

Komen Foundation
This breast cancer charity has raised over $240 million since 1982 and is a prominent source of educational, screening, and support programs.

Learning Leaders
Join this educational group’s Core Program and conduct one-on-one or small-group in-school tutorials (a minimum of two hours a week during the academic year is required) for academically underperforming kids, grades kindergarten through 12, at one of 850 participating public schools. Or opt for the Art Works program—volunteers take third-graders to the Brooklyn Museum of Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Legal Aid Society
The society provides legal assistance to indigent city residents in a variety of case types.

Good neighbor: Lenox Hill offers programs for residents in need on the Upper East Side.

Lenox Hill Neighborhood House
212-744-5022
The Lenox Hill Neighborhood House, a multiservice community center, helps up to 20,000 people annually -- the homeless, single parents, needy kids, and the homebound elderly. Programs range from support centers for teens and seniors to transitional housing for the homeless to ESL and computer classes for adults. Fund-raisers like the annual Holiday Bazaar at Sotheby's are hot tickets.

Lighthouse International
Through research, advocacy, and education, Lighthouse helps empower the visually impaired.

Literacy Partners
Based in New York, the group extends its basic tutoring programs for adults through several outlets in the city: community centers, social agencies, and corporations. Read more.

Lower Eastside Girls Club
The club fosters all kinds of activities for girls 8-18, including photography, book groups, and baking.

Make-a-Wish Foundation
516-944-6212
Make-a-Wish Foundation grants wishes to children with life-threatening illnesses. The program was founded 22 years ago after a terminally ill boy in Arizona -- who dreamed of being a state trooper -- inspired his community to get him a motorcycle and a tiny uniform and arrange for him to spend one day on patrol.

March of Dimes
Founded in 1938, March of Dimes is dedicated to enabling research that saves babies from disability and death. Donate online, volunteer, or register for Mothers March or Walk America.

Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
646-227-3548
Founded as the New York Cancer Hospital in 1884, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center is the world's oldest and largest cancer facility (it served 18,739 inpatients last year). The focus is on cancer research as well as patient care. Donators can specify where they'd like their gift to go -- toward breast-cancer research, for example -- or money may be left "unrestricted" for the hospital to use as it chooses, on operating expenses, education, and social services.

Mentoring USA
From playing with younger kids to helping older kids shape their goals, this organization helps put role models in touch with youth. Read more.

The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research
Started by the actor in 2000, shortly after he announced he had Parkinson’s, the foundation has funded $30 million in research. One current focus is a $1 million program designed to find genetic links to the disease. Eighty-five percent of all monies donated go directly to research.

Multiple Sclerosis Society
The New York City chapter offers services and support for those living with multiple sclerosis. For those who eschew traditional donations, the society is well known for its annual bike tour and walk.

Museum of the City of New York
212-534-1672
At the Museum of the City of New York, which preserves and presents 400 years of Gotham history, a mere $50 donation gets you membership privileges like free admission, discounts on store merchandise, and invitations to the spring and fall receptions.

New York Audubon Society
The society offers educational programs and bird walks as well as running several sanctuaries around the state.

New York Cares
212-228-5000
New York Cares enlists tens of thousands of volunteers annually and works with hundreds of nonprofits and public organizations (schools, libraries, parks) to help diagnose the needs of communities and link projects with the appropriate manpower. Giving money to the organization benefits everyone from public-school children and the elderly to the homeless, hospital patients, and people living with HIV and AIDS.

New York City Ballet
212-870-5682
Contributions to the New York City Ballet are put toward the cost of 23 weeks of performances, the creation of new works, and funding educational programs. A $1,500 donation gets you access to house seats for popular performances. Give $5,000 or more, and you'll also be invited to private receptions and dinners with the dancers.

New York City Opera
212-870-5624
Sixty-year-old New York City Opera is known for nurturing young, up-and-coming artists -- Renée Fleming launched her career here -- and for its affordable tickets (they start at $27). Donors can earmark where their money goes -- to production, rehearsals, or artists' fees. Contributors of $10,000 or more can snag special invitations to parties such as Brooke and Peter Duchin's annual bash thrown at their apartment.

New Yorkers for Children
The nonprofit arm of the city's Administration for Children's Services accepts both financial and in-kind donations, such as books and toys that can help foster children get through tough transitions.

New Yorkers for Parks
An independent advocacy organization, NY4P strives to increase awareness about the importance of parks as a vital public service. Donations support the organization's work towards the creation of a more equitable and efficient parks and recreation system.

New York Foundation for the Arts
Founded in 1971, the NYFA provides artists with financial backing and exposes the public to their work. Your donation will fall into an annual pool of more than $11 million given in grants, services and fellowships to over 150 New York artists.

New York Philharmonic
212-875-5683
By giving money to the New York Philharmonic, America's oldest orchestra, donors help defray costs of commissioning new works and bringing music to the non-paying public. Money goes toward tours, free concerts in the park, radio broadcasts, as well as general operating expenses. Patrons who give $75 are invited to attend rehearsals.

New York Times Neediest Cases Fund
Founded in 1912, the newspaper's fund for social service agencies.

NYU Medical Center
212-404-3640
Give to the NYU Medical Center and you'll help fund cutting-edge research and general patient care at the hospital. For those who are interested in the actual science, a donation of $1,000 or more grants access to the center's lecture series.

Parkinson's Disease Foundation
800-457-6676
The Parkinson's Disease Foundation gives funding to scientists working for a cure to the neurological disorder. The majority of monies go toward research, but the foundation also distributes information on support groups, clinical specialists, and other foundations.

Partnership for the Homeless
212-645-3444
To help provide shelter, consider giving to the Partnership for the Homeless, a volunteer-run group that joins forces with churches, synagogues, and mosques around the city, maintaining 100 small overnight emergency shelters.

PENCIL
646-638-0565
Established in 1995, PENCIL (Public Education Needs Civic Involvement in Learning) is an educational nonprofit that encourages the private sector to get involved in the city's public schools. Their Principal for a Day program invites celebs and CEOs to visit schools and create partnerships with them, like providing management advice or starting scholarship funds. All proceeds target specific school needs, ranging from library books to refurbished playgrounds.

Project Reach Youth
Serving neighborhoods in Brooklyn, PRY provides education, counseling, and youth leadership development programs to help low-income children and youth.

Prospect Park Alliance
This public/private partnership works to preserve Brooklyn's 526-acre expanse through membership and other donations, such as commemorative trees.

Puppies Behind Bars
Want a part-time, adorable Labrador or Golden Retriever? Puppies Behind Bars, which teaches prison inmates to raise guide dogs, needs weekend sitters who can help acclimate the dogs to city life. The organization prepares a puppy for guide dog school or to be a blind child's pet. The deal-sealer: They're already housebroken! There are some requirements: sitter must agree to take a puppy at least one weekend per month, attend a 2-hour orientation and spend about $100 for supplies, such as a dog crate and food.

Robin Hood Foundation
212-227-6601
Founded in 1988, the Robin Hood Foundation finds and funds more than 100 programs around the city that combat poverty and its causes. A board of directors that includes Harvey Weinstein and Gwyneth Paltrow underwrites operating expenses, so 100 percent of the monies donated go to food banks, charter schools, domestic-violence programs, and the like.Read all about this VC-like nonprofit funder in New York's feature. Among its beneficiaries: Housing Works and Food for Survival.

Safe Space
The former Center For Children + Families works to serve kids in neighborhoods with the highest rates of abuse, poverty, and other threats to young people.

SAGE — Senior Action in a Gay Environment
This organization is dedicated to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender senior citizens. Volunteers accompany seniors to medical appointments, shopping trips, and other daily outings and teach classes on everything from dramatic writing to low-impact aerobics or keep homebound seniors company.

Salvation Army
Of course, it's a great thrift store network, and its red-kettle bellringers are national fixtures at holiday time. But the Salvation Army provides a dizzying breadth of services worldwide, including addiction counseling and help locating missing relatives.

Samuel Field/Bay Terrace YM & YWHA
A non-profit social service organization and community center providing the residents of Queens and western Nassau with high quality and diverse services, innovative programming and a wide variety of community events.

S.A.V.E. Animal Rescue
Rescues homeless animals, gets them the proper care, and solicits adoptions. Also solicits contributions for its spaying and neutering fund.

Seeds of Peace
Donate $2,500 and send a teenager to the Seeds of Peace International Camp in Maine, where regular camp-like activities are supplemented by non-violent conflict resolution workshops. Foreign campers from regions of conflict join their American hosts. Smaller donations welcome as well.

Sentient Creatures
212-865-5998
Harlem's abandoned, abused, or neglected "junkyard dogs" have a champion in Sentient Creatures. All donations go to food, shelter, and medical care, plus they'll actually pay you $50 a week to provide a temporary home to a pup waiting for permanent adoption.

Services for the Underserved
Working mostly in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx, SUS offers help including home care for Medicaid patients and rehabilitative services for adults with developmental disabilities and mental retardation.

Stanley M. Isaacs Neighborhood Center
The East Harlem house runs Meals on Wheels, among other programs for seniors, children, and families.

St. Luke's/Roosevelt Hospital Center
One of Roosevelt's most innovative programs is Towards Older Person Awareness...keeping older patients company during the long and lonely days. Read more.

StreetSquash
Volunteers spend one afternoon a week at the Harvard Club or Columbia University teaching reading, math, and the like to Harlem middle-school and high-school students, followed by an hour of squash. (Volunteers can help academically, athletically, or both.)

Student Sponsor Partners
SSP selects students from low-income families and transfers them from high schools with low graduation rates to schools with high ones (nineteen of the twenty participating institutions are Catholic). Sponsors pay an average of $2,200 toward the typical yearly tuition of $4,200 per child and spend time with the students four to six times a year. So-called Time Sponsors can donate $250 and meet with a child regularly.

UNICEF
The United Nations Children's Fund is an advocate for the protection of children's rights and the meeting of their basic needs. Instead of a direct donation, you can pick up some holiday cards and kill two birds with one stone.

Uniformed Firefighters Association
The Widows' and Children's Fund accepts donations online.

United Cerebral Palsy of New York City
UCP's site notes that "89˘ of every agency dollar is used directly for services to children and adults with disabilities."

United Way of New York
The home of the September 11th Fund is also a clearinghouse for material donations, as well as providing programs on education, health, and other community initiatives.

Variety — the Children's Charity
212-760-2777
Kids' charities may not be able to create a carefree childhood, but they can supply necessary aid and programs for the city's children in need. Variety — the Children's Charity funds pediatric services in inner-city hospitals, special-education programs, and after-school activities.

Volunteers of America
You may have heard about donating your car to charity — avoid the sales hassle, take a tax write-off. Volunteers of America is one worthy organization accepting vehicles. And they accept boats! Who knew?

Wildlife Conservation Society
Headquartered at the Bronx Zoo since 1895, the WCS works both locally and worldwide to educate about and conserve wildlife.

Windows of Hope
Set up to benefit families of workers who were lost in the destruction of the Windows on the World restaurant, the charity has raised more than $19 million to assist over 125 eligible families.

Databases and Clearinghouses

Catalog for Giving
The Catalog for Giving is a growing network of local affiliates whose mission is to increase th funding, visibility, and organizational capacity of effective community-based programs serving at-risk children and youth.

Charity Navigator
America's largest charity evaluator provides free online ratings of more than 2,500 charities and offers free assistance to givers, including direct links to worthy organizations where online donations are accepted. An independent charity itself, Charity Navigator accepts no donations from the non-profits it evaluates, basing its findings strictly on each organization’s financial efficiency.

Donors Choose
This non-profit allows teachers to post funding requests on their Web site, asking for anything from a new library, to First Aid mannequins, to a new playground. Access their proposals and fund them, partially or in full. The school then buys the materials which you funded, and sends you a receipt, photographs of how the project materialized and thank you notes from the students benefitting from your gift.

Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund
Since 1992, donors have contributed $3 billion to more than 71,000 charities throughout the U.S.

Foundation Center of New York
The "Spotlight On" feature highlights lesser known but worthy charities.

Give.org
The Better Business Bureau's Wise Giving Alliance provides reports on charities and tips on giving.

Guidestar
The online database features financial and basic information on over 850,000 non-profits.

Network For Good
This resource site contains a searchable charity database and volunteer opportunities.

New York Cares
This clearinghouse mails a monthly calendar of volunteer opportunities to those who attend a short orientation session. Read more.

What Can I Do Campaign
Citizens Committee for New York City and Marshad Enterprises, which has listings broken down by zip code of community organizations, started this campaign to help connect people with their neighborhoods.

Volunteer Match
A powerful, specific database full of opportunities to help.