Charities

Emmy-nominated actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson ("Modern Family") and partner Justin Mikita have just added a new neck knot to their wildly successful month-and-a-half-old line of jaunty bow ties -- a formal style suitable for wedding wear. The couple launched their Tie the Knot line, a collaboration with Chicago-based neckwear and accessories e-tailer the Tie Bar, on Nov. 15, with all proceeds going to fund various groups fighting for marriage equality. The inaugural collection of 20 limited-edition ties, which benefited the group Human Rights Campaign sold out by early December.

The Art of Elysium's "Heaven," the charity's sixth annual gala, is January's hot ticket on the Los Angeles social scene. Consider the host committee of Hollywood stars, among them Kristen Bell, Rachel Bilson, Sophia Bush, Gerard Butler, Finola Hughes. Camilla Belle, Justin Bartha, Dave and Odette Annable, Alicia Witt, Moby, Kat Von D, Topher Grace, Ahna O'Reilly, Kelly Osbourne, Busy Phillips, Courteney Cox, Joe Manganiello and Amy Smart. Actor David Arquette is to be honored with the Spirit of Elysium Award.

As the end of the year nears, you no doubt have been receiving a lot of mail requesting your charitable dollars. More donations are made at this time of year than in any other month. But to which organizations should you give, and why? To your house of worship? Or to your school or college? What about to medical research, or to the arts? My answer: None of the above. Given the huge discrepancy between how much most Americans have and how little the world's poorest people have, your dollars are likely to do more good if you give to charities helping people living in extreme poverty in developing countries - as long as you are careful to give only to the most effective ones.

Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg is donating nearly $500 million in stock to a Silicon Valley charitable foundation. The 28-year-old Zuckerberg said he and his wife, Priscilla, earmarked the gift of 18 million Facebook shares for health and education issues. "Mark's generous gift will change lives and inspire others in Silicon Valley and around the globe to give back and make the world a better place," Emmett D. Carson, CEO of Silicon Valley Community Foundation, said in a statement.

Fergie hosted the star-studded Voli Light Vodka cocktail party Thursday night to benefit Cell Phones For Soldiers at Skybar at the Mondrian in Los Angeles. The vodka brand donated 500,000 minutes to the charity, and Fergie, who co-owns Voli Light Vodka, presented the organization with a check at the party. Guests sipped Voli cocktails called the "Fergatini," "Red Carpet" and "Creamsicle. " The songstress walked the event in a sparkling red Monique Lhuillier dress and Fergalicious heels and dished on he favorite drink.

Charitable donations hit a notable high-water mark in California last year. According to a report released Thursday by the state attorney general's office, a little more than half of the dollars collected by commercial fundraisers in 2011 actually found its way to the charity that hired them. That's the first time since the state began reporting these figures in 1997 that less than half of the contributions were lost to fundraiser overhead and profits. But that's the average, not the rule, when it comes to commercial fundraisers.

If you worry that our culture's reliance on GPS and mobile maps is ruining our ability to explore the hidden nooks and crannies -- the unexpected -- in our world, this story is for you. It's the tale of former Marine Sgt. Winston Fiore, 27, who just completed a 408-day, 5,000-mile walk through nine countries in Southeast Asia to raise funds for the International Children's Surgical Foundation--an organization that provides free plastic surgeries to...

Some are slim and Zorro-like. Others are bushy, but well-kept. And still others, like Los Angeles City Councilman Joe Buscaino's, look like they belong on the mug of a biker dude named Bubba. Buscaino's handlebar mustache, one of a handful that have recently sprouted on City Hall faces, was grown in support of "Movember," a monthlong charity event geared toward raising awareness of prostate and testicular cancer. The sight of mustachioed staffers has become common along the corridors of City Hall in recent days - Tom Selleck look-alikes grabbing coffee or whispering asides to their bosses.

Ross Porter died. "He fell into my arms," says Lin, his wife of 51 years, "and said, 'I am leaving.'" Anyone who knows Lin won't be surprised with what happens next. She orders her husband not to leave. Doctors and nurses call a code blue at UCLA's Ronald Reagan Medical Center and Dr. Ramin Salehi-Rad sprints from the hospital basement to Porter's upstairs room. It's late July, a little more than three months ago, and Ross is not with us. He does not have a pulse for 48 seconds before a UCLA medical team goes to work on that great big heart.

Re "Hometown heartlessness," Column, Oct. 19 As a past resident of Costa Mesa and more recently a volunteer at the Someone Cares soup kitchen, I am incensed at the cruelty of Costa Mesa Mayor Eric Bever's threats to close the kitchen. The place is run professionally by the staff and loads of volunteers, many of whom may have crossed county lines. Every day you can count on these folks to give so many of the community's needy a hot meal and some compassion. Maybe Bever should visit the kitchen or lend a hand and talk to community members before he calls the place a nuisance and wants it shut down.