The San Francisco Food Bank has been bringing daily healthy morning snacks to hungry students at schools throughout San Francisco for the past three years, largely in part thanks to the generosity of the local community. Federal Express is currently matching donations to the program through Friday, April 13th (up to $30,000), so now's a great time to donate to the food bank if you've been meaning to do so. more ›

The Human Rights Campaign released financial documents today from the National Organization for Marriage (AKA NOM, the organization partially responsible for Proposition 8, California's same-sex marriage ban) that show a staggering $10,000 donation from Governor Mitt Romney's PAC prior the November election in 2008. While Romney's views on civil rights and gay marriage are not terribly surprising (as you can have surmise, the GOP presidential hopeful is staunchly against two dudes getting married), how he went about making the donation should give voters pause for concern. more ›

While the exact number remains unknown, loads of people lost their homes and belongs after today's five-alarm fire in the city's Western Addition. A ruined holiday season is the least of their worries. But you can help. The Red Cross will have a tent area at 1455 Golden Gate (at Pierce) tonight and tomorrow taking donations of clothes, blankets, good tidings, etc. monetary donations only. You can go to the downtown San Francisco Red Cross at 85 2nd Street (at Mission). more ›

The California Fair Political Practices Commission is mulling over the idea of allowing citizens to use texting as a way of making political donations. We can already donation to a slew of charities via text, so why no politicians, parties, and/or political action committees? Politico reports: more ›

When Charlie Sheen brought his bipolar act to San Francisco last week, the troubled actor donated a whopping $20,000 to Bryan Stow, the Giants fan beaten outside Dodger Stadium in March. The former Two and a Half Menstar rounded up $9,000 worth of his merchandise, $4,000 in donations from fans at the SF show, and $7,000 from his own pocket. Thanks, Charlie. more ›

Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum will contribute $25,000 to the fund to aid Bryan Stow, the Giants' fan who was critically injured in a brutal attack at Dodger Stadium. "This was a senseless act of violence and I wanted to help out Mr. Stow and his family," Lincecum said in a statement. "It's also close to me because not only is Mr. Stow a Giants fan, but I have family and friends who are firefighters, police officers and paramedics and this honors their service to the community." more ›

Four months after the San Bruno blast, city officials are still trying to figure out how to best distribute the $395,000 worth of donations to the victims. The issue is pretty complicated since the city doesn't want to pay for losses that might eventually be covered by PG&E and other insurance companies, and agencies such as the American Red Cross provided a lot of aid early on. Classifying the victims also poses a challenge. more ›

Bay City News reports via the Examiner that the St Anthony Foundation's 23rd Annual Curbside Holiday Donation Drive started this morning. They're accepting clothing, food, toiletries, and other items to be handed out free of charge to homeless and low-income residents. more ›

KGO reports that food banks across the Bay Area are struggling to meet the growing demand for donations. San Francisco Food Bank's demand has risen a disheartening 32% in the past year, and other Bay Area food banks have experienced similar numbers. Here are some ways to help. more ›

Help a Mother Out received such a tremendous amount of donations benefiting San Bruno fire victims over the weekend that they've halted their drive. more ›

Update: Help a Mother Out received such a huge response that they've ended their donation drive. Help a Mother Out is having a donation drive through September 20 at the following locations: Natural Resources, 1367 Valencia St. (SF), Junior Gym, 101 South B Street (San Mateo), and Cubes & Crayons, 154 E. Dana Street (Mountain View). Donations being accepted include more ›

Aiming to ease the ruckus raised over Target's donation to Minnesota Forward, a conservative committee that ran TV ads for anti-gay Republican candidate Tom Emmer, the company's CEO apologized publicly today for the, er, gaffe. AP reports: "Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel wrote employees to say the discount retailer was "genuinely sorry" over the way a $150,000 contribution to MN Forward donation played out. Steinhafel said Target would set up a review process for future political donations." more ›

UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief) A+ more ›

American Apparel is offering "Legalize Gay" shirts for those of you who feel the need to (gaudily) show your support for same-sex marriage on your chest. You can even get one for free with a purchase of $50 or more. Cool, huh? But, at the risk of nitpicking, we're not entirely comfortable with a company making money off of discrimination. While American Apparel's heart is in the right place, if Prop. 8 went away, their market for this item would dry up. Maybe they should donate even a scant bit of the proceeds to an equality organization? Like, for example, Act Blue, who need money to help defeat the same people who ran the yes on 8 campaign in California who moved to Maine to crush gay marriage. Or, better yet, something like this. At least then we'd know that some of our money is going towards a good cause rather than being crammed into the sweaty pockets of a tiny little pair of track shorts. more ›

U.S. District Judge Morrison England Jr. ruled in favor of keeping proposition 8 donor info public. Anti-gay marriage ilk tried to get a preliminary injunction to hide the identities of those who financially backed prop 8 campaign. Because they are cowards. But today, things were coming up neither roses nor daffodils for those who helped allow discrimination into the California state constitution. more ›

Sympathetic with the plight Jabba's gay uncle, Ziro the Hutt, as well as countless same-sex couples throughout California, Marin County resident and filmmaker George Lucas, plunked down a cool $50,000 to the No on 8 effort. But wait, there's more! Lucasfilm, George's company perched in the Presidio, donated an additional $50,000 to boot. In related news, Google co-founder and president and the most attractive man in the galaxy, Sergey Brin, donated $100,000 to the No on 8 campaign this week, while co-founder Larry Page added a $40,000 donation. (We'll take that as a personal shout out to SFist, Sergey. Sigh.) To find out more about stopping 8, go here. (SJ Merc) more ›

But some good news: The LA Times has a helpful breakdown worth a moment of your time, on how you can help people (and pets!) in need right now. We've re-printed it for your convenience: more ›