Ten ways to get charitable

Share the love, fight for humanity, support a good cause - this is the month to turn your good intentions into benevolent action.

1. Kitchen support

Know someone having a baby or recovering from an operation? Relieve them of one extra chore by recruiting a group of people to donate a home-cooked meal each that can be stored in the freezer. If cooking’s not your thing, pick up a bag of ready-made meals next time you go to the supermarket.

Time toll: 45 minutes a couple of times a year

2. Cyber surf

Make the most of hours surfing through cyberspace by swapping your search engine of choice to www.goodsearch.com. Goodsearch is powered by Yahoo so provides excellent search results and donates 50 per cent of their revenue to charities and schools. While you are online, log on to www.aidtochildren.com or www.freerice.com and test your language skills — for every question you get right, people in need benefit.

Time toll: As much or as little as you wish

3. Tress gift

Fancy a new do? Chop off your long tresses and donate them to charity. Non-profit organisations such as www.locksoflove.org, www.wigsforkids.org and www.littleprincesses.org.uk, collect healthy hair and provide wigs for kids who have lost their hair through illness or accident and whose family can’t afford to buy a prosthetic hairpiece. You need at least ten inches of untreated hair, secured in a ponytail or braid.

Time toll: One hour

4. Share the power

When electronic items are sent to landfill sites, not only are toxic materials and chemicals being released into the environment, but raw materials are having to be tapped to produce new items somewhere else in the world. If you’re planning on upgrading your PC, take your old unit down to the computer recycling drive at Sharaf DG at Times Square Centre (800-344357), where it can be fixed up and donated to someone in need.

Time toll: 20 minutes

5. Give smart

Make the most of every penny you give by donating online to financially-credible organisations. US-based charity, Room to Read (www.roomtoread.org), was started by an ex-Microsoft employee after he trekked in Nepal. This award-winning organisation has helped more than 3 million children in developing countries by giving them access to reading materials and education. They have been audited by various charity evaluation agencies and have achieved some of the highest efficiency ratings. Other high-rating charities include SOS Children’s Villages (www.sos-childrensvillages.org) and World Wildlife Fund (www.wwf.org).

Time toll: 30 seconds

6. Karma initiative

Commit to a 29-day giving challenge, as prescribed by South African medicine woman Mbali Creazzo to Cami Walker, founder of the 29 Gifts movement. The challenge involves giving away something of value to someone else every day for 29 days, whether it be a supportive phone call to a friend who is feeling down, food to a local charity drive or old clothes donated to a charity shop. The purpose is to empathise with others’ needs through generosity and experience positive emotional, physical and spiritual gains in return. Visit www.givingchallenge.ning.com.

Time toll: 29 days

7. Skill service

Satisfy your desire to save the world without leaving your sofa by checking out the various ways you can volunteer online. Whether your skills lie in building websites, researching and compiling information or in translation, UN Volunteers (www.onlinevolunteering.org) will have something for you. Alternatively, www.volunteermatch.org offers virtual volunteering opportunities, such as mentoring a South African child, marketing, fundraising and more.

Time toll: 90 minutes a week

8. Take charge

Being charitable doesn’t have to be about writing out cheques — by encouraging friends, colleagues or fellow parents at your children’s school to clear out their wardrobes, kitchen cupboards and toy rooms, you can unearth a whole heap of useful and donatable items. Local organisations such as Helping Hands (www.helpinghandsuae.com), YOU (www.you-dubai.com) and Al Ihsan Charity Centre in Ajman (06-7449087) all collect items and redistribute them to people in need.

Time toll: Ten hours

9. Join the grid

Download some clever IBM software, and sign your computer up for a night-job, researching for global causes, such as childhood cancer, muscular dystrophy and clean energy projects. The World Community Grid (www.worldcommunitygrid.org) is currently utilising more than a million computers, logging into them when they are turned on but not in use, and using them to create a vast supply of computer power, reducing research time from years to months. Using the grid, scientists were able to find 44 potential cures for smallpox in less than three months — a project which would have taken more than a year.

Time toll: 30 minutes

10. Get sponsored

Sign up for the Dubai Marathon in January 2010 and run on behalf of START children’s charity (www.startworld.org) who will cover your registration fee and provide you with a T-shirt. If 42km sounds a bit much, opt for the 10km or 3km runs instead. If running isn’t your thing, how about getting sponsored to walk the Great Wall of China, compete in a charity rally drive, cycle across the UAE or skydive in fancy-dress? For fundraising tips, visit www.raisingfunding.co.uk.

Time toll: Months of preparation