Wildwood Farm Sanctuary

I think this might have flipped the switch for me. A quesadilla sounds a hell of a lot less appealing to me now than it used to. 

Saturday's daily challenge for the 22-Day Veg Challenge was to learn about farm animal sanctuaries. The bonus was an organized trip to visit Wildwood Farm Sanctuary, a small farm animal sanctuary just outside of Newberg (about 45 minutes SW of Portland). There were about 10 of us from the 22 day challenge that made the trip out there to see the animals and learn more about the sanctuary and its mission.

We met Shauna, the founder of the sanctuary. Her grandfather used to raise cattle on the land; the family now raises some crops, as well as making space for the rescued animals. She's also a vet tech, which is part of what led her to become vegetarian, then vegan, and to want to provide a safe haven for animals subjected to the meat industry. There are goats, sheep, cows, chickens, turkeys, alpacas. They are sometimes rescued from abusive backyard-type farms situations, or allowed to be taken just after being born if they're of no use to a farmer (e.g., male cows). 

One of the things she told us that particularly made an impact on me is what "organic" really means to farm animals. It doesn't just mean they don't get unnecessary antibiotics - it means they can't get antibiotics when they're actually sick. So little baby cows that get sick can't be helped in any real way, simply because they're being raised to be organic. It's the obvious consequence, but that had never occurred to me before. 

Wildwood is a newer sanctuary, and become a 501(c)(3) in 2014. In addition to Shauna and her family, there are volunteers that keep it running - I might wait until the weather is better (it was rainy and windy while we were out there - but worth it), but I definitely want to attend one of their work events to help out. The animals are all so sweet; some friendly and desiring petting more than others (The goats in particular loved attention! One of the roosters liked to follow people around, but was a bit more variable on touching.), but you can see all of them are loving creatures, with emotions just like our pets. 

Citizens' Climate Lobby: November Meeting

For a couple years, my friend Heather has been inviting me to attend a meeting of the Citizens' Climate Lobby, a local chapter of a national organization that she's a part of it. It sounded like a great group, I just never was available or managed to get to one of their monthly meetings. 

Finally, in November, I did! And it's a really nice welcoming group, as well as a cause that I think is important, so I wanted share a bit about how the meeting works, and what they're working towards.

Also: Today, for Giving Tuesday (December 1), there's a $80,000 matching grant, for all donations. (While CCL is a political organization, donations are made via a related organization that is a 501(c)(3) for tax-deductible contributions.)

While obviously taking steps in your own life to reduce your own impact on the environment is important, CCL is working towards making big changes by lobbying politicians to follow the will of the people, and gathering support to show that the will of the people is to reduce carbon emissions. The big project is supporting a carbon fee proposal, which makes the environmental cost of using resources into an economic cost, thus providing incentive to reduce it. Actions are taken to contact politicians, as well as write in letters to get published in newspapers.

The meeting

It's a really welcoming group, it skews a bit on the older side (50s - 60s), but there were some younger people there, including the two main leaders. T opened with a little reading, and we went around the circle introducing ourselves and giving our reaction to the reading (which was... a little hippy dippy for my taste, perhaps, but was nonetheless a decent way of leading introductions).

At 10:00, we called into the national conference call - this is set up so that all chapters are meeting at that time (10 am on the west coast, 1 pm on the east coast, and in between). There was discussion of some ongoing actions, and the main speaker (for about 20 - 30 minutes, I think) was Rob Williams, an economist. He talked about some studies done on the impact of the proposed carbon tax, relating it back to the consumers to whom businesses would pass on the cost, and ways to return the money to them to make it a less regressive approach. (It was the perfect intro the topic for a tax preparer like me!)

After the conference call and a short break, we paired off for "laser talk" practice. There was a set topic sheet for the month, this one about how rural voters would benefit from a carbon fee and dividend model. It addresses concerns that people who live rurally (and thus have more transportation needs) would be hit harder by a tax on fuel. This handout gives data that in fact, we use more fossil fuel through the consumption of goods, rather than transportation and utilities. Thus, higher-income people who buy more things will be more impacted by a carbon tax, and can adjust their consumption accordingly.

In our pairs, we each read the hand out (a brief, maybe 2-minute spiel) out loud to each other, then discussed. The point is to get you familiar with the talking points and the facts, and comfortable talking about them, so it's easier to pull them up in conversation. 

Mention was also made of the Climate Change Conference happening in Paris (which began this week). I believe there are some delegates from CCL there to encourage the specific proposals that they believe would be beneficial.

Finally, we reported on actions taken and opportunities to take in the next month. Members are encouraged to write to legislators to promote eco-friendly bills, as well as write letters to the editor in response to articles related to the environment, such as about the Paris conference. There are bigger actions that some are working on, like finding big name people who can "endorse" CCL's proposals, giving it more leverage to others who can have influence. The group also tries to build community and socializing into their actions, such as a social night (that I unfortunately couldn't attend) during this month to view "This Changes Everything", and monthly dinner meetings to write letters together to the editor or legislators.

Social Action Night

I went to the regularly scheduled night for letter writing this month; I hadn't gotten around to signing up for the online forum yet, so I didn't see the announcement that the SW location one had been canceled for that day. But another couple from the group had also missed the memo and shown up, so I got to know them and we had a lovely conversation and dinner together.

My understanding is that normally, the group leader will bring some hot topics and letter templates to discuss and use a base for writing letters. It sounds like it's normally a really great social and educational night. 

Toastmasters Speech: Can't Buy Me Love

The next Toatmasters speech focuses on vocal variety. In addition to tone, pitch, variation, etc., I was trying to focus on not speaking too fast. Plus, instead of standing behind the podium, I set my notes on the table and stood beside it (the ideal would be standing in front of the table, but that makes it hard to occasionally reference notes, which I still need to do). I feel like I made a huge leap forward with the presentation of this speech last week. 

Title: Can't Buy Me Love

I hope you all had a happy mothers’ day last weekend! I’m not a mother yet, but I do have two girls that I consider my babies - our cats Imogene and Hera. I know it’s not the same, but it does involve the occasional middle of the night wake-up, feeding them mushed up food, and dealing with someone else’s feces, so there are definitely some similarities to the human variety.

I adopted Imogene in 2009; and Lincoln and I adopted Hera last fall - I think a one-to-one cat to human ratio is ideal - they each need to have a designated lap, and each lap needs a designated cat. They’ve both been wonderful companions and additions to our family, and so I am grateful to the shelters that allowed us to find them. 

If you’ve considered adding a furry friend to your family, I strongly encourage you to seek them at a shelter, rather than purchasing from a pet store or breeder. According to the Humane Society, 2.7 million adoptable cats and dogs are euthanized each year. With that many animals waiting for a home, there’s absolutely no need for anyone to profit from creating even more. Many animals raised for breeding are not kept in good conditions, but crammed into too small crates, becoming pregnant far too young and too often. A cat can become pregnant at as young as 4 months, and can have 5 pregnancies a year. That’s way too many kittens - for the mother and the world.

I found Imogene at the Cat Adoption Team in Sherwood, and we got Hera at the Oregon Humane Society in NE Portland. A bonus you get at any good shelter, is some degree of notes on what they had seen of each cat’s personality, and whether they would be well suited for a home with children and/or other pets, and have rooms to spend time with a cat before you adopt. You get to pick the best animal for your home, rather than merely a cute kitten. Granted, even shelter conditions, as good as they try to make them, are not exactly comforting to a cat, so both were definitely a bit shy and scared when we tried to introduce ourselves.

Once I got Imogene home, though, she was pretty content and immediately took it upon herself to explore her new surroundings. Estimated to be about 3 years old, she was still somewhat in the teenage phase, and quickly found a basket of toys I’d bought for her sitting on a book case. I had planned to name whatever cat I adopted “Agatha”, but the shelter had called her Imogene, and it just suited her classy, friendly but dignified, personality so well.

Hera was about one year old when we adopted her, and the information the shelter had indicated she had been a stray cat living outside. She had a little harder transition - the first 24 hours or so, she tried to cram herself into any available corner to hide, although if we held and cuddled her, she warmed up pretty quickly. We had discussed some “h” names - we have a household naming scheme we wanted to stick to - but landed on Hera, a powerful name for her to rely on for strength to overcome her fear. Though she’s still wary of strangers, she has proved herself to be incredibly NOT shy or timid overall, and is constantly meowing demands at us and chasing her older sister’s tail.

There’s nothing like having a cat curl up on your lap on a cozy evening on the couch - except for two cats curled up on your lap - or watching the intentness with which they stare at something invisible on the ceiling. Having grown up with cats around the vast majority of my life, I’ve found them to be extremely intelligent, beautiful, and loyal creatures.

They may not be able to directly speak to us, but if you’ve had a cat or dog, I think you know what I mean when I talk about how their personality shines through, and how precious their love for you - their caretaker, their family - truly is. I’m grateful to the shelters who take them in when someone else couldn’t see that, and allowed us to find them. If everyone adopted a cat from a shelter, they could provide that much better care to the animals remaining who wait for their forever home, and would be able to stop needlessly ending lives of cats who just happen to be one too many for the space available. Trust me, the love you receive is well worth it!

The Vegetarian's Dilemma: Eating at Omnivore Restaurants

I've often said I have the palate of a 10-year-old, so I'm never been one to try out lots of new restaurants. I like what I like, and go to the same handful of places, and order the same things at each place. 

I've had to branch out a bit more lately, both in self-imposed goals, and because of the influence and expectations of others in my life. Abe is definitely one who loves exploring new restaurants and flavors. His mom is also that way, but not only does she enjoy seeking out new restaurants, but she's very much into seeking out upscale restaurants.

Personally, even aside from the main issue I'm about to bring up, I don't think these fancy restaurants are worth the price. I guess the plates look pretty, and the food tastes good, but it doesn't taste proportionally better than food at lower price points. It doesn't have a value I would consider worth spending extra cash on. But, her money, if she wants to spend it at ritzy places and invite us along, that's her choice.

However, these upscale restaurants - even in a liberal hub like Portland - tend to have extremely limited vegetarian, much less vegan, options. There are some upscale veg restaurants (and especially as I think I'm going to set a goal for 2015 to try new vegan restaurants each month, I'll probably do what I can to push the group consensus in such directions as much as possible), but ultimately when it's her treat it's her decision, and it's often also influenced by location (e.g., when we're going out to dinner before a show).

There's been at least one place that literally had nothing vegetarian on the menu. Sure, since they're so fancy, you can just ask the chef to make something for you, or they'll willingly adapt something on the menu to make it vegetarian, but it still makes me uncomfortable that they don't think our patronage is important enough to deliberately set forth options, that meet their standards, on their menu in the first place. 

On the other hand, maybe they simply haven't had enough business by vegetarians to warrant investing in such options, and they need to have customers to ask for that in order for it to become economically feasible.

I'm not saying this isn't a problem at more budget-priced restaurants, but in my experience the more "family restaurant" style a place is, the more likely it actually does have vegetarian option. Something about the fancy places seems to have an ingrained concept that dishes must have meat to have merit.

Which do you think is better economic activism: rewarding restaurants who already provide numerous veg options, or pushing the request at restaurants who don't?

My Thanksgiving Turkey

No, I haven't changed my mind since yesterday to eat a turkey. I "adopted" a turkey!

Meet Turpentine: 

Farm Sanctuary, a farm animal rescue and advocacy organization, is doing their annual "adopt a turkey" fundraiser. In exchange for your donation to the non-profit organization, you receive a cute certificate and photo of the turkey you choose to adopt.

Did you know [source]:

• Researchers have identified 30 distinct vocal sounds in turkeys.
• Turkeys recognize each other by their unique voices.
• Turkeys form strong social bonds that can last a lifetime.
• Turkey's heads change color depending on their mood.
• Possessing superb geographic skills, turkeys can mentally map up to 1,000 acres.
• More than 46 million turkeys are killed each year for Thanksgiving alone.

You know what most of those facts remind me of? My own cats, the pets that are part of my household and my family, and whom I lovingly care for and protect. They - cats and turkeys - may not be capable of human intelligence, but they are nonetheless smart, beautiful creatures who are capable of loving and being loved.

Maybe, instead of basting a turkey tomorrow, you'll consider adopting Turpentine, Gable, Anna, Tibbott, Elsa, Cecelia, or Martha.

What Does "Sponsored" Mean: In General

There was a comment on my blogkeeping post that brought up some important concerns about including sponsored content on my blog. I know as readers you don't want a blog you enjoy to turn into one big advertisement; I promise I don't want to turn my blog into one big advertisement either! I was going to add a blurb at the beginning of a Influenster-related post about how it worked and how I see it working into my content, but I realized it's important enough, and a big enough issue, that it warrants its own post.

If I ever get any further commercial or semi-commercial opportunities after the current Influenster box, I imagine they'll be similar in that it'll be working with an organization (Influenster or similar) (versus the brand itself), or it'll be a longer-term ambassadorship with a brand (versus a one-off sponsored post). Any further activity with Influenster will link back to a disclosure post (in addition to having its own clear disclosure), and I will do a similar post to this one for any future partnership to make it very transparent what is expected.

I honestly don't think there has to be inherent disconnect between sponsored content and the blogger's own voice. Sure, maybe sponsored posts often end up - whether by laziness on the blogger's part or actual specifications by the sponsor, I'm not sure - as a mere regurgitation of branded words. Who wants to go to a blog they enjoy for the unique voice and just end up reading marketing copy? Not me!

So far, with just doing the Influenster box, the only "required" content is to include certain hashtags when posting about certain products. There isn't any specific language (beyond disclosures) that has to be included in a blog post - so I can take it any direction I want. I not only don't have to include a marketing department's writing instead of my own - I don't even have to write a typical product review. I'm choosing to view the review products are more of a prompt, than actual content. 

What does a "review product as a prompt" look like? Well, for example, in the Influenster box I got, there was a mascara. I've been looking for a new "perfect mascara". But it's hard to find because my criteria includes not just actual effectiveness and price/value, but also animal testing, corporate social responsibility, and eco-conscious packaging. So while the post will include some aspect of reviewing the product I received for free from Influenster, what the post is really about is how I evaluate companies and products for being socially responsible, what I consider waaay too much unnecessary packaging, and how the free mascara and the current two mascaras in my makeup box stack up against my standards. 

Though it still doesn't fall into the primary topic of my blog of running, this expanded topic of buying mascara in an ethical way is absolutely a topic that is important to me, and one that I'm thrilled to have an excuse to write about. And ultimately, my blog is about anything that's important to me (for example, the Wedding Crap series - nothing to do with running, but everything to do with me!), so I don't see it being out of place to write about. Getting a free mascara just allows me one more example to discuss in the overall topic.

I also would like to see myself as a bit of an anomaly when it comes to commercialism like that - most of the Influenster posts are probably just going "yay! makeup! free!". And even when they are honest reviews, pointing out the product's flaws as well as benefits, how many of them view the plastic encasing as a huge flaw? Probably not that many. So while it may be naive and idealistic to think that I can continue partnering with big brands via an organization like this and point out stuff like that, I'd like to think I can just be a realistic voice and activist for responsible purchasing amidst all the big brand marketing.

There's no real way to ensure that your opinion is completely unbiased once you're being compensated, even if it's just by a free product, but I want to try to make it as transparent as possible so at least you can evaluate for yourself what my bias might be. I want to set forth a standard for myself, beyond just meeting the bare minimum requirements set forth by the law or a brand. I want to be as upfront as possible, if you just want to skip over all sponsored content, you can easily do that without reading an entire post before finding a disclose at the bottom and feeling like you wasted that time.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

My promise for all content, on my blog and related social media, that is or could be construed as sponsored is as follows:

• Post a detailed disclosure post for the company/sponsor, and link to it in any sponsored blog posts.
• Disclose, in the disclosure post and/or sponsored posts, clear definitions of hashtags used on social media related to the sponsored content.
• Include a clear disclosure at the top of each sponsored post, in addition to the word "sponsored" and the name of the sponsoring company in the post title.
• Fully comply with all disclosure requirements by the sponsor, if they go further than, or are expressed in a different way, in addition to my own disclosure requirements.
• Use "no follow" coding on all links that are, or could be construed as, paid or compensated links.
• Not use "continue reading" page breaks to enhance page click stats. I currently only use the "continue reading" function from the main blog page if a post is excessively long and/or has a lot of photos, which could cause an extra long page loading time. If a sponsor requires a page break to track its return on the sponsored content, I will clearly disclose that before the page break.
• Keep sponsored content to a minimum percentage of total content. As with Instagram, on which I'm promising at least 80% cat photo content, I will make sure that, even if I get a lot more opportunities for sponsored projects, I will make sure my own original blog content is also at least 80% (i.e., at most one sponsored post per week on a typical M - F posting schedule). 
• If I am doing a blogging challenge (like NaBloPoMo) or otherwise in a routine of posting every day or a certain number of times each week, a sponsored post will not count as that day's post, but will be in addition to whatever posting is required for the schedule.

And this got much longer than I anticipated, so I'm going to do the Influenster detailed disclosure post separately!

Please continue to feel free to share any concerns you have about this or any other future sponsored content. I know my blog is worthless to brands without an audience, and it's worthless to me - even without sponsorship opportunities - without readers to have a conversation with! I don't want to do this at the expense of you enjoying reading this, so let me know when I've crossed that line.

Donating Hair to CWHL

After looking into the various organizations that take hair donations, I picked Children with Hair Loss (CWHL). CWHL is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that started in 2000 to provide hair replacements at no cost to children who have lost hair due to any medical condition (such cancer, alopecia, and burns). 

1. Grow out hair. My hair started just a little longer than the length I cut it to, and it took about two years (with a couple short trims along the way) to grow out enough to donate and have chin-length hair left. Avoiding hair dye or other chemical processes is preferred by CWHL, and required by some organizations.

2. Go to any hair salon to get your hair cut. Although salons sometimes partner with organizations to provide free or discounted hair cuts for people donating, you can go where you'd like, just read up on the requirements so you can give proper instructions to your hair stylist.

3. Have your stylist start the hair cut by putting your hair into multiple ponytails or braids, placing the rubber bands (my stylist recommended these instead of the hair ties I had brought, so they would stay in place better) just below where you want the cut to be. Using multiple ponytails will maximum the hair available to donate and what's left. Cut a little above the rubber band so it will stay in place. Then continue your hair cut as usual. Be sure to give a good tip to your stylist for the extra step!

4. Making sure the ponytails are completely dry (my stylist waited until after cutting off the ponytails to wet my hair for the real cut), put in a ziploc bag. Mail with the CWHL donation form and, if possible, a monetary donation.

5. Enjoy your new hair style!

I highly recommend donating hair at least once in your life! It's really a super easy way to give to those in need.

A Look Back to the Future

Recently, I went through my gmail account, which I've had since 2005 or 2006, and deleted about 90% of the accumulated conversations. I at least glanced at everything before deleting it, and found one interesting conversation with my friend Jessica. She sent me a link to an article called The Omnivore's Delusion, the premise of which was basically that people who claim that there are moral and ethical issues with farming don't understand how much technology has improved the industry.

My reaction to it:

Very interesting. My main response would be: yes, I do expect farmers to live and work more like their grandparents... because I am also trying myself to live more like my grandparents (or even further back in the family tree).  

Five years from now, my ideal vision of my life would be carless, generate very little garbage (that is, garbage headed to a landfill) maybe a bag or two a year, compost most waste that I generate, grow a significant portion of my food myself, etc.  I think it's healthier for both us and the earth, physically and psychologically to exert more effort, rather than trying to make things as efficient and convenient as possible.  

One idea I've been dwelling on lately is that the specialization of labor is psychologically harmful - that it's most fulfilling to be actively involved in all the aspects of your life, rather than merely in one aspect that you can trade to have other aspects taken care of by others, even though that will obviously mean compromising certain things that have become to be thought of as necessities in our current society.  Can I really live by that philosophy?  Maybe not, it will certainly be extremely challenging, but if that's my ideal, then at least I'll be doing my best to work towards it.

That was almost five years ago. I'm nowhere near that picture of a self-sufficient lifestyle, but it is still something I'm striving towards.

Ender's Dilemma

I first heard of Orson Scott Card's book Ender's Game in calculus class in high school. We were learning about numerical derivatives (don't ask me now what those are), and the function in our graphing calculators was labeled nDer. We used that as shorthand in conversation - "then you take the n-der...". Mr. Glenn, who could easily go on Jeopardy and win, would often spout off random pieces of information, and one day segued from nDer to talking about Ender not knowing he was playing a game. The story sounded interesting, so I soon decided to read it.

I think that was my start of loving science fiction. I try to keep a quasi-minimalist household, so I don't own a lot of books, but about a third of my bookshelf is comprised of the Ender series, and it's some of my most well-read and worn books.

There have been rumors of a movie version of Ender's Game for many years. Finally, it happened! - starring Asa Butterfield and Harrison Ford - and it's being released this Friday, November 1.

I posted something on facebook about going to a showing Thursday night (I still don't understand why the premiere showings start at 8 pm on October 31? Is this a new trend, that "midnight" showings are being pushed up a few hours, or is this just because it's Halloween?), and a friend replied with a link to the Skip Ender's Game movement. 

Card is Mormon, and has been actively involved in opposing gay marriage, even going so far as to claim that homosexuality is linked to pedophilia and paraphilia [source]. His 2004 essay "Homosexual 'Marriage' and Civilization" is quite nauseating, to say the least. Apparently, all gay people need to do to gain the legal rights of marriage is find someone of the opposite sex to get married to; children need a parent of each sex in order to have appropriate role models; not having a father results in a lack of moral judgment and self-confidence; most homosexuals became that way because of abuse; etc. 

But Card's personal views really have nothing to do with Ender's Game, which was published as a novel in 1985 and originally conceived as a short story in 1977 [source]. It's about the nature of humanity, how to be a leader, and weighing individual rights against the good of the many.

In subsequent writings, you can definitely see Card's pro-heterosexual stance - the sequels to Ender's Game are basically about finding purpose in life by securing a mate and raising children. But there isn't any anti-homosexual propaganda in his fiction that I've read, it's just clearly written from a culture that assumes heterosexuality as the norm.

A few ways I'm trying to justify going to the movie anyway:

1. I'll make a contribution to a pro-gay marriage organization to help offset any income from my movie tickets that would be indirectly going to support Card's political views.

2. Now that DOMA has been overturned, Card has basically conceded the point, at least as far as legal rights are concerned [source] (though I'm sure he still believes it will be our moral downfall). Although I understand not wanting to give income to someone who has done awful things in the past, it appears that we can nonetheless be assured that income from Ender's Game isn't going to be contributed to campaigning to reinstate DOMA.

3. Although Card has been fairly involved in the movie adaption, more so than some authors probably are, he's only one of several producers [source]. He's not the only one who's going to make money from box office profits, and the studio and other individuals involved have explicitly distanced themselves from Card's political statements [source] [source]. If you want to avoid supporting Card, I think a boycott of his books is more appropriate than a boycott of this movie.

4. Card has directly spoken/written against gay marriage, and presumably contributed money to related political campaigns - however, even if he weren't personally working on this anti-cause, he would still be contributing money to the Mormon church which would then be using it to campaign against gay marriage. Why did no one boycott the Twilight franchise? Although Stephenie Meyer has not, to my knowledge, spoken up about any specific political views, she is also Mormon [source], and no doubt tithes her (very large) income to the church, thus indirectly contributing a great deal of money to campaigns they are involved in. Although I think "voting with your dollars" is a great thing in terms of supporting companies that make socially conscious decisions, to take it to the point of boycotting an individual based primarily on their religious and political viewpoints makes me uncomfortable. 

5. Although the value from Card's writing cannot make up for his political actions, I think it has to be possible for a creative work to co-exist with whatever its creator has done personally, even if contradictory. Ender's Game is truly an amazing work of fiction, and I have a hard time believing that what it contributes to society should be ignored on grounds that exist completely outside of the book.

Would you see a movie that is written/produced by someone who has actively campaigned against a cause you believe in?

Happy Bartolome Day!

See full explanation at The Oatmeal here. 

Source

Where Should I Donate My Hair?

My hair length varies, as I tend to only cut it 2 or 3 times a year, but mostly it goes between a chin-length bob and just above my shoulders. A couple years ago, though, I decided to grow it out (1) just for fun, since I feel like I'm approaching the age where super long hair makes you look older than you are, and (2) to donate to an organization that provides wigs to sick children. I'm planning to chop it off sometime soon after the marathon.

The organization I'd often heard of, for many years, that does that is Locks of Love. There were occasional negative reviews of them, though, and I have to admit that the larger and more well-known a nonprofit is, the more suspicious I am that they might not be the most efficient stewards of resources. More recently I started hearing about Beautiful Lengths as another option for donating hair - but they're a program run by Pantene, which makes me very uncertain about their charitable intentions.

After some searching, it looks like the following five organizations are options for donating hair. I've summarized some information based on the charitable-ness of the organization and the requirements for donating hair. This information is from each respective organization's website, Charity Navigator, and the organizations' Forms 990 available via GuideStar. It is accurate to the best of my knowledge as of September 2013.

Locks of Love

Charitable status: 501(c)(3)
Charity Navigator rating: 57.03 out of 70
Highest paid employee: $62,183 - general manager. All other officers and board members listed are unpaid.

Charitable beneficiaries: Children under 21, with hair loss from any medical condition
Cost of beneficiaries: Free or sliding scale, depending on family's need

Length required to donate: 10 inches
Can you donate:
Gray hair - Yes, but it will be sold to cover expenses, not included in a child's wig
Chemically processed hair - Yes, except for bleached hair
Layered hair - Yes, if some pieces are shorter than the minimum they will be sold to cover expenses

Other notes: 
In their FAQ, they answer the question "Is my hair donation tax deductible?" with "Please check with your tax preparer." While that is normally a suitable answer for any tax-related question, in this case it's stupid, because the correct answer is that DONATING YOUR HAIR IS NEVER TAX DEDUCTIBLE. 

If you have costs incurred only because you donated your hair, those might be (like postage to mail it, and the hair tie that will be sent to them holding your ponytail) (but please, check with your tax preparer), but you don't have any basis in your hair, so it's not going to be tax deductible. The costs related to donating your hair that aren't being incurred solely because of the donation (hair care products, hair cut) are almost certainly personal expenses that are not deductible.

However, they do provide a lot of information on their website about the donation program. Most of the negative reviews I've seen of the organization appear to be due to people not reading information that was readily available.

Pantene Beautiful Lengths

Charitable status: Beautiful Lengths is a partnership between Pantene (a for-profit company), and the American Cancer Society (ACS) which is a 501(c)(3)
Charity Navigator rating (of ACS): 46.75 out of 70
Highest paid employee (of ACS): $831,855 - CEO. 11 other officers/directors are also paid more than $300,000.

Charitable beneficiaries: Women with cancer
Cost to beneficiaries: Unclear. It appears that Pantene invests money in making wigs out of donations, and then donates the wigs to ACS, which then distributes the wigs to those in need. It implies that the ACS wig bank provides them for free, but I couldn't find information to confirm this.

Length required to donate: 8 inches
Can you donate:
Gray hair - No more than 5% gray
Chemically processed hair - No
Layered hair - No, the shortest layers should meet the minimum length

Other notes:
I think their "pony up" campaign is obnoxious.

Although I don't think the 6-figure salaries for the ACS's officers are completely outrageous (they are responsible for running a very large organization, after all), they're a bit higher than I'm quite comfortable donating to.

Wigs for Kids

Charitable status: 501(c)(3)
Charity Navigator rating: n/a - not rated because less than $1 million in revenue
Highest paid employee: $29,077 - executive director. All other officers and board members listed are unpaid.

Charitable beneficiaries: Children age 18 or younger, with hair loss from any medical condition
Cost to beneficiaries: Free

Length required to donate: 12 inches
Can you donate:
Gray hair - Yes
Chemically processed hair - No
Layered hair - Unclear, appears that all pieces must meet minimum length

Children with Hair Loss

Charitable status: 501(c)(3)
Charity Navigator rating: n/a - not rated because less than $1 million in revenue
Highest paid employee: $36,400 - chairman. All other officers and board members listed are unpaid.

Charitable beneficiaries: Children under 21, with hair loss from any medical condition
Cost to beneficiaries: Free

Length required to donate: 8 inches
Can you donate:
Gray hair - Yes
Chemically processed hair - Yes, if in good condition, but not preferred
Layered hair - Unclear, appears that all pieces must meet minimum length

Childhood Leukemia Foundation

Charitable status: 501(c)(3)
Charity Navigator rating: 20.25 out of 70 (eek!)
Highest paid employee: $154,111 - executive director. All other officers and board members listed are unpaid.

Charitable beneficiaries: Children with cancer
Cost to beneficiaries: Unclear

Length required to donate: 10 inches
Can you donate:
Gray hair - Unclear, not addressed
Chemically processed hair - No
Layered hair - Unclear, appears that all pieces must meet minimum length

Other notes:
There isn't very much information available on the organization's website about the hair donation program, how the hair is used, who benefits from it, etc. Granted, this is just a small part of what the organization does (unlike the others who specialize in it), but the single web page about it was just very underwhelming.

In this case I think the low-6-figures salary is fairly reasonable for the primary officer in charge of a large organization.

My choice

I've ruled out Beautiful Lengths because of its for-profit association and annoying marketing campaign, and the Childhood Leukemia Foundation because of its low charity rating and lack of information. My hair isn't long enough for Wigs for Kids 12-inch requirement (I have about 10 inches to cut off and still have my chin-length bob left).

That leaves Locks of Love and Children with Hair Loss, and I'm leaning towards the latter, mostly just based on gut feeling and that it's a smaller organization. 

Update: I ended up donating to CWHL. See post about it here. 

Do you have experience with any of these organizations? Who would you recommend donating to?

Three Things Thursday - Take Action Edition

1. A friend from last year's VegNews yoga retreat posted on facebook that she was going to be donating blood for the first time, and was nervous. Fortunately, I was able to let her know that when I attempted to donate blood a few months ago, it turned out that all rural areas of Nayarit are in a malaria risk zone, and we aren't allowed to donate blood for a year after returning from there; she confirmed this with the Red Cross and is deferring her plans to donate until December.

As part of that facebook conversation, though, someone posted this article about the ban on gay men donating blood. The lifetime ban was instituted when it wasn't possible to easily and quickly test donations for HIV, so banning the group that was a higher risk for HIV seemed like the most reasonable step. Now, that's no longer the case, but the FDA has refused to change the rules. Check out the Banned4Life organization to sign a petition for the FDA and read about other steps that are being taken to bring awareness and try to change this policy.

2. My cousin's family is participating in Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation's Million Mile Run this month. ALSF was started by a 4-year-old cancer patient to raise funds for cancer research and support for  families affected by childhood cancer. Their team has a fundraising page for this project and you can read about other ways to get involved.

3. My friend Christine is spending 2013 fundraising for environmental and human rights issues in the Ecuadorian Amazon through Off the Mat - an organization encouraging yogis to take their philosophy into the world to promote social change. Check out her fundraising page to read about the projects being supported and consider contributing to the cause.