simple normal
And thou shalt take no gift: for the gift blindeth the wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous.
Exodus 23:8

I have been unable to think of any polite way to tell this to people directly, so I'm going to say it on my webpage. I have enough stuff. If you want to purchase a present for me, please donate as much as you would spend on me to one of the following charities. A $5.00 donation means so much more to me than a $50.00 gift certificate. Of course if you want to make me a pizza or just say, "John, you're the bomb." that's okay, too.

Every charity I list is one whose goals I agree with* and your donation is tax deductible — with three serious exceptions:

You can see gifts I've received in my trophy room.

Humanitarian and social effortsCharity Navigator.org rating
The Book Thing of BaltimoreNeed a book? Take. Have a book? Give. You can donate physical books or money. This is a local Baltimore charity.No.
The Red CrossThis is one of my favorite charities. Giving blood or platelets means a lot more to me than money. No amount of cash can generate human blood. To donate blood, call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE (1-800-448-3543) or visit http://www.givelife.org. Yes.
Big Brothers and Big Sisters of AmericaThis is a "mentoring" organization which pairs up volunteers with children in need of guidance, friendship, tutoring and other older-sibling type services. I'm too socially awkward to actually volunteer, but why not solicit donations?Yes.
The Marrow FoundationThis is the non-profit organization which helps fund the National Marrow Donor Program. You should also submit a blood sample to the NMDP to save the life of somebody who matches your marrow. Any donation can be done completely anonymously.Yes.
The National Federation of the BlindThis organization is by the blind, for the blind. They provide job-training, legal advice, braille materials, computer usage advice and much more to blind people across the United States.Yes.
Oxfam InternationalWhat they doYes.
Bread for the WorldWho they areYes.
Computer oriented and technical things
SDFThis is the non-profit educational UNIX system that hosts my website for free, gives me my e-mail and lets me compile programs and do lots of other neat computer-geek stuff. You can join, too, if you'd like to learn more about UNIX.
netBSDThis is the operating system that the above mentioned SDF runs. It is also the operating system that I run on my home machine.
OpenBSDSimilar reasoning to netBSD above.
SnowNews creatorI don't have the patience to explain what this is. It's an RSS feed reader. You can look up what that means in the Wikipedia. The point is, it's a free program that I use and donations help them.
PuTTY developmentI don't have the patience to explain what this is. It's a program. You can look it up in the Wikipedia. The point is, it's a free program that I use and donations help them.
VimperatorThis is a firefox add-on that changes the entire functionality of Firefox to one that is maximally efficient (for nerds who can handle it). It's a free program that I use and donations help them.
Project GutenbergA resource for free electronic versions of every book that is out of copyright.
Videolan ProjectAn open source video player
Controversial or politically oriented thingsCharity Navigator.org rating
The Electronic Frontier FoundationEvery time you hear about the government sifting through phone records, these are the guys that sue them to protect your privacy.Yes.
True MajorityThis fledgling organization is trying to counter the religious right's ability to mass mail the United States Congress with mass faxes and mail demanding liberal reforms. If you're not to the left of the political center, you probably don't want to give these people money.No.
Naturist Action Committee Learn more about NAC from their FAQ. You may want to see my arguments for public nudity.No.
Project Prevention.Make sure you understand what they do before you give them any money. This group is pretty controversial. Maybe you should read their FAQ as well.No.
Nearly frivolous things

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* "With whose goals I agree" is pedantry up with which I will not put.

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