I donated to the Wikimedia Foundation. I chose them because I believe that the increased velocity of the spread of knowledge that Wikipedia provides helps to improve not only first-world countries, but also provides a greatly overlooked advantage to up and coming second-world countries. It allows them access to information that they might not have any way to obtain otherwise. I think this is greatly important for the improvement in quality of our world.

I chose to donate to Pine Cove Camps (PineCove.com) because they are a great ministry with Youth and Family camps during the summer and outdoor education and retreats the rest of the year.

Nice one Ray!. Prompted me to donate to BBC's Children in need http://www.bbc.co.uk/pudsey/. As a lucky Dad who has had the resources (just!) to recover a son from autism spectrum disorder, I really feel for kids and families disadvantaged by circumstance. And, as I heard on the radio, now I can watch the cheesy entertainment on TV tonight guilt free. Plus it reminds me of old-school telethons.

I donated to the American Red Cross because of the continual work they do to help people in need. As they say, "need knows no season" and the Red Cross is always out there doing good work to support people in need wherever and whenever help is needed. One of my friends is the volunteer coordinator at a local Red Cross chapter and always has an uplifting story to tell.

I'm donating to the local Marine Corp League who puts on a Christmas celebration for wounded vets in the VA hospital, their wives and children. Our injured vets deserve all our support!

I donate via Children International (children.org). It is wonderful to be able to see the impact a small amount of sharing can have on another person's life.

I donated to mustaches vs cancer because I feel strongly that children cannot grow mustaches and they shouldn't have cancer either :)

Really great contest Ray. I donated to The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, as I lost a close friend to Leukemia. Cancer sux!

Nice idea. Regardless of the outcome of your giveaway, a lot of worthy groups will get some help. The CF community rocks. I've been meaning to get around to this for a while, but you got the card out of my pocket. I donated to the Perpetual Education Fund (pef.lds.org) to help their efforts to provide higher education to youth in developing areas to lift them and their community out of poverty. Anyone can contribute online from the site. Just click "How can I help?"

I donated to Google......
Google.org uses Google's strengths in information and technology to build products and advocate for policies that address global challenges.

I donated to Covenant Care Adoptions because they work with placing children into a good Christian home. I too was adopted, so I support them and their misson.

I donated to Habitat for Humanity, as I'm a fan of the work they do, providing affordable housing for families that otherwise wouldn't be able to have it. I like the way they work WITH the families, as opposed to just house giveaways.

I donated to Little Brothers - Friends of the Elderly. I chose them because I have volunteered with them over the years and seen first hand the joy and comfort this organization brings to so many of our seniors. It is always amazing to me to get to hear life from their perspective and to peer into history through their stories. My parents got me involved with the organization when I was very young. Every year when I visit home for the holidays I look forward to volunteering my time.

LiveStrong Foundation. The more money we have to fight cancer, any cancer, is where I put my money.

http://www.stjude.org/
I choose to donate to St Jude children's hospital.
I love kids and they need help

Been planning to make a donation and this prompted me to finally do it. I donated to Hospice of the Bluegrass http://www.hospicebg.org/ because they were very involved in the care of my daughter who has since passed away. Phenomenal organization.

I chose to donate to the local ywca http://ywcadayton.org because they help women and children suffering from domestic violence and home is the one place you should be able to feel safe!

I donated to MADD (http://www.madd.org/) as someone who lost a parent as a small child to a drunk driver I give to MADD each year it's one on my favorite charities.

I donated to a local pet rescue that I volunteer for, <a href="http://www.luckydoganimalre...">Lucky Dog Animal Rescue</a>

I support the Toys for Tats drive which raises money for the US Marine Corps Reserves Toys For Tots. http://www.facebook.com/#!/...

Room to Read ( http://www.roomtoread.org/ )--> Because I'm wonderfully foolish enough to believe that if we can bring literacy to all children the world will be a better place.

If you wish to give in a way that will show what happened today from just one link http://bit.ly/thankfulForLi...

I donated to ShowHOPE (http://showhope.org/), an adoption assistance organization that helps families adopt orphans from around the world.

I donate to http://www.stmatthewshouse.org

I have experienced what it is like to be hungry and it's not that fun when all you can think about is food...I help anytime my company can organize a food drive, at least once a year. We support over 100 Charities so there are opportunties to contribute just about every week.

I donated to Susan G. Komen for the Cure as my mother is a breast cancer survivor. Great idea for the giveaway by the way.

Not sure if this counts, but I have donated a custom vinyl toy from my private collection to the VinylHearts auction. The piece is currently on eBay now and ALL purchase price will go directly to VinylHearts. I am picking up shipping and eBay fees.

VinylHearts is currently raising money to help Andy Heng, of the ToysREvil toy blog. The blog is one of the top places for information for vinyl toy design. Andy suffered a stroke about a month ago, that has left him in a hospital in Singapore. He has been unable to continue the blog and is currently going through some rough rehab. His spirits are good and we are all just trying to help him out by raising money so his hospital bills will not get out of hand.

Here's some links:
Cause: www.vinylhearts.com
My Auction (please bid!): bit.ly/9KeNTY
Andy: toysrevil.blogspot.com

Fantastic idea Ray. I donated to Compassion International.

Great Concept, Ray. I donated to the ADA (American Diabetes Assoc). As myself and many of my friends and family are diagnosed Type 1 or Type 2 Diabetics - this is a charity that is near and dear to me.

https://donations.diabetes....

I donated to http://us.movember.com/mosp... for changing the face of Men's Health. All of my coworkers are also participating by growing a Moustache. Lots of fun.

Just a side note - donated blood today too with the American Red Cross - dunno if that counts or not, but all those who can donate should really consider it. Never know when a loved one may be hospitalized and require blood.

I donated to March of Dimes (www.marchofdimes.com). November is the prematurity month and also because my husband and I were very lucky that our twins were born full term after being in bed rest from 28 weeks on and the medical staff at our hospital predicted that I couldn't make it past 30th week. This was nearly 5 years ago.

More and more babies are born premature :(

I'm donating to Fava Kids, an organization that aids cancer kids. I just heard of them as a result of a recent boss and friend who passed away two days ago due to cancer in his brain.

You can read more about Fava Kids here (it's inspirational, funny, and sad all at the same time): http://www.modbee.com/2010/...

I donated to www.kiva.org to offset their costs because I really believe in their cause and effectiveness. I also loan money through them to help finance projects since I like to see that the money I give is being put to use and not wasted.

I have donated to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, simply to stop taking more lives.

I donated to the Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer Research. Don't give up, don't ever give up.

I donated to City Year targeted to the New Hampshire branch of the organization. I would explain more but my post keeps getting flagged as spam

I donated to the Alzheimer's Association North Central Texas Chapter in memory of my grandmother would had the disease before she passed. As a coder, nothing scares me more than a disease of the mind.

I donated to movember to increase awareness for men’s health, specifically prostate cancer and depression in men.

I donated to Compassion International because they help children around the world who are in need.

I had already donated to Children In Need (UK Telethon happening tonight), so couldn't decide who to donate to, so gave half to the Multiple Sclerosis society and half to Cancer Research UK, as that's how my grandparents died

I donated to Compassion International. I hope every kid can get Christmas presents. In a couple of weeks I'm going with some other folks to bring Christmas gifts to kids who's parents are in prison, a child shouldn't have to suffer because of their parent's mistakes.

My most recent donation was to our local volunteer firemen. (I don't need the software. Just want to say this is a lovely idea and bring some focus to the local firemen. :)

I donate my time to the other passions in my life: aviation.

I am proud member of South African Airways Museum Society (www.saamuseum.co.za) I give my time in both in giving tours of your display aircraft, and help with the website.

I am also the webmaster of the Aviation Society of Africa (www.aviation.org.za) and as a keep member of the group I handle the monthly meeting where we display old school slides and modern digital format media for your members to enjoy.

I feel my time is far more important, than any given currency.

And we're done... I'll wrapping up a few things and I'll be posting the winner shortly.

Let me just say... I'm truly surprised, honored, extremely grateful for what you guys have done.

Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

It was pretty cool to see other people participating in Movember :)

The winner is John Ramon. My super advanced contest selection code was to use randRange() and reload 5 times.

John, drop me a line and I'll shoot you the serial.

might've missed the deadline, but I donated to the ALS Association. my sister, brother-in-law, and me were rained in our hotel during a hiking trip a few years ago. we ended up back in the room watching an HBO special about a woman with ALS and how quickly and painfully it robbed her. ALS has been at the top of my list of charities ever since. www.alsa.org

Congratulations to John on the win, and kudos to everyone else that donated!