Consider these worthwhile charities

The Motley Fool has raised more than $2 million for charity over the past nine years. Our annual charity drive is again under way. Please learn about and consider supporting these impressive organizations:

•Co-op America ( www.coopamerica.org, 800-584-7336) works directly with businesses, investors and consumers to solve social and environmental problems. It has helped more than 200 magazine publishers switch to recycled paper, it helps people and companies reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, and it’s helping launch a solar revolution to achieve globally affordable prices.

•Half the Sky ( www.halfthesky.org, 510-525-3377) provides nurturing care and enrichment programs for thousands of orphaned children across China, often all the way to adulthood. Its trained staff develops deep emotional bonds with the children in their care, bonds that neuroscientists have found are crucial for healthy development.

•The National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) ( www.nfte.com, 800-367-6383) helps young people from low-income communities do better in business, school and life by teaching them entrepreneurship and financial literacy. Since 1987, NFTE has helped more than 150,000 youngsters create original business plans, honing skills in math, reading, teamwork and decision-making.

•Rare ( www.rareconservation.org, 703-522-5070) is building a global conservation movement, giving individual communities meaningful reasons to protect water, save forests, stop poaching and build more sustainable livelihoods. Through training and outreach in more than 40 countries, Rare is systematically reducing threats to some of the world’s most important species and ecosystems.

•Room to Read ( www.roomtoread.org, 415-561-3331) is breaking the cycle of poverty through education. Partnering with communities throughout the developing world, it establishes schools and libraries, and funds girls’ scholarships, intervening early in the lives of millions of children. The lifelong gift of education can improve socioeconomic conditions for families, communities and countries.

Learn more at www.foolanthropy.com. You can also send checks made out to any of the charities above (not to Foolanthropy, please) to us at: Foolanthropy, c/o The Motley Fool, 4000 Duke St., 4th Floor, Alexandria, VA 22314. We’ll forward the checks.

Ask the Fool

Q: How can I invest in a socially responsible manner? — P.F., Panama City, Fla.

A: First, understand that the more socially responsible you try to be, the more difficult it can become to find acceptable companies. A company may not discriminate against female employees, but it might pollute or test compounds on animals. It’s hard to find completely objection-free organizations.

Still, you do have several options for socially responsible investing (SRI). For starters, you can invest in a socially responsible mutual fund. As with most funds, not all SRI funds have stellar records. Still, some do, such as the Neuberger Berman Socially Responsive fund, recommended in our Motley Fool Champion Funds newsletter. Learn more about SRI investing and funds at www.socialinvest.org and www.greenmoney.com. You can also visit the sites of firms that run responsible funds, such as www.calvert.com, www.domini.com and www.paxworld.com.

Alternatively, seek out companies whose practices you approve of. You can research the social track records of various individual firms at www.socialfunds.com (click on “Corporate Research”). If you’re not online, check out these books: “Socially Responsible Investing” by Amy Domini (Kaplan Business, $20) and “The Mindful Money Guide” by Marshall Glickman (Ballantine Wellspring, $13).

My dumbest investment

I invested in a mining company that claimed it had lots of land in Canada, where it was drilling for diamonds. Turns out the firm had no diamonds, it only held leases, and the little drilling it did was fruitless. The company would not share its results and didn’t publish its financial reports. I learned the lesson to never invest in a penny stock that has no financials. Or better still, no penny stock whatsoever! The company was eventually de-listed from the stock exchange, which was the correct thing to do. There was no need for someone else to put any hard-earned money into a company that could not get three financial statements in place. — J.A., Dallas

The Fool Responds: Many penny stocks (those trading for $5 or less per share) are tied to companies built on dreams, not dollars. As you discovered, it’s often very hard to gather any information on them.