Get in the game, but which game?

My brother Leo has graciously offered to make a donation to a favorite charity for my birthday. Which charity? I must decide. It raises more issues than I expect. I have many favorites, all doing worthwhile work. But how to leverage my money, and my energy for that matter? What to care about most? My "right-wing friend" Todd, says "get in the game" but I find myself wondering, which game? Last year I gave a lot of money to political campaigns and organizations, and of course it ended all for naught. Leo assumed I'd want my donation to go to the Democrats, but I don't know if that money is very well spent. I still give to political causes, but I find myself turning my attentions more to poverty relief and economic development enterprises, favorite charities include the Bread and Roses Community Fund, a Delaware Valley organization that supports local economic development and social change (www.breadrosesfund.org), and Heifer International, an organization that provides livestock and training in third world countries (www.heifer.org). I also like the International Rescue Committee (www.theirc.org), "refugee relief, respect, renewal"-- whenever there's an international crisis like the tsunami, I always send money to them. What's more important, to address basic needs, or to try to get people elected who care about those basic needs (assuming such phantoms exist)? I have to contemplate it some more.