Most of my efforts are focused on education (duh). I donate my time there. I agree w/Fras, directly donating money often doesn't go directly towards those who need it. And a lot of the bigger charities will spend 40 - 50% of received donations on advertising. If in doubt about those phone calls, ASK whether they *directly* work for the charity in question. They must answer truthfully & usually the answer is 'no'. Then you can ask if they are donating their time or getting paid to make these calls (its usually the latter).
Some ideas:
- if you have kids, volunteer for your school or school board
- if you want to help your local community, get involved in city counsel--check their website
- if you care about health or education, get involved in any number of organizations or your local hospital (they always need volunteers to help console ppl in the ER, psych, & kids wards)
- some larger organizations can use help from those with professional degrees (Medicians Sans Frontiers, Engineers w/o borders, etc)
- local libraries will accept volunteers also
There are lots of thing you can do to donate your time. Most important is to put it where you feel you will enjoy it & be helpful.