How to choose a non-profit

How does one choose a nonprofit to volunteer time or resources to? In some situations, it's likely easy. If a loved one is diagnosed with a serious illness or perishes from cancer, it's easy to choose to get involved spreading awareness about the disease, or raising money for research and treatment.

I've been fortunate in that I've only had one major illness play a role in my life, my daughter's diagnosis with scoliosis made a huge impact on my life, but there's not really a lot to be done raising awareness or funding research for that treatment, and there are definitely no disease-specific groups in the immediate area to be involved with.

I considered briefly, getting involved with the Methodist church. I've previously been very involved with the church, although that was when I lived in Colorado. While I would have likely enjoyed that work, since I haven't been attending a church here, I know that there would be some limitations to what I could actually help with.

Finally, I settled on literacy, because I believe that literacy is one of the most important things in life. I believe that with literacy any barrier can be breached, no matter the difficulty. I decided to reach out to and volunteer with the Valencia County Literacy Council. 

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