Top Charities in Alaska (2026)

Food Bank of Alaska was founded in 1979 by Anchorage church volunteers who started collecting surplus food that would otherwise be wasted. In its first full year, the organization distributed 47,470 pounds of food to 22 partners. In 2025, it distributed 10.1 million pounds — including 4.4 million pounds recovered through retail, wholesale, and fishing industry partnerships — through more than 150 partner agencies statewide. The scale difference is enormous; so is the geography. Getting food from Anchorage to Bethel or Barrow or Unalaska involves logistics that no mainland food bank deals with.

Programs include Meals to You — which delivers pre-packaged meal boxes by US Postal Service directly to children in 31 rural communities where traditional summer meal sites don't exist — and the Food Is Medicine initiative, connecting Alaskans to nutrition support through clinics, tribal health centers, and healthcare providers. The Food Rescue Program recovers surplus from grocery retailers, wholesalers, and the fishing industry. In 2025, the organization's Navy Week partnership brought service members to volunteer at the warehouse — the first Navy Week in Alaska's history. Every $1 donated provides 2 meals. Volunteer shifts run Monday through Friday at 2192 Viking Drive in Anchorage.

The Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC) is the largest tribal health organization in the United States, working on behalf of 157 Alaska Native tribal governments to administer healthcare services across the state. ANTHC manages the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage — the largest and most sophisticated medical facility in the Alaska tribal health system — and provides water and sanitation infrastructure, community health programs, and medical transportation for villages that have no local hospital or clinic. They are a central part of Alaska's nonprofit economy, representing a large portion of the $8.86 billion in state nonprofit revenue.

Alaska Native communities face some of the country's most severe health disparities — rural villages often lack running water and flush toilets, which drives chronic disease rates. ANTHC's water and sanitation infrastructure program is one of the most distinctive aspects of its work: it builds safe water and wastewater systems in remote villages as a foundational public health measure. For Alaska Native people, ANTHC is the primary healthcare access point for services ranging from routine primary care to complex surgery and cancer treatment.

Covenant House Alaska is the state's largest organization serving homeless and at-risk youth, providing emergency shelter, transitional housing, education, employment training, and mental health support for young people ages 13–24 in Anchorage. Alaska has significant youth homelessness, driven by a combination of factors: young people fleeing unsafe home situations in rural villages who end up in Anchorage with no support network, youth aging out of the foster care system, and LGBTQ+ youth who've been rejected by families. Covenant House provides a safe place, meals, showers, and case management regardless of a young person's situation.

Their Rights of Passage transitional living program provides a path from emergency shelter to stable housing — youth work toward goals including education, employment, and savings while living in CHA housing with support services. Volunteer roles include mentoring, helping with programs, and supporting events. Covenant House Alaska has a strong record with Charity Navigator and is part of the international Covenant House network.

Habitat for Humanity of Anchorage builds affordable homes and provides critical home repair in Alaska's largest city. Anchorage housing costs have increased substantially with population growth and the influx of remote workers — median home prices in Anchorage now exceed $400,000, putting homeownership out of reach for working-class families in the service and tourism economy. Habitat's sweat equity model provides a rare pathway to homeownership for those families.

Alaska's climate creates distinct home repair challenges: extreme cold, permafrost issues, and the effects of a warming Arctic on building foundations mean that critical repair is even more urgent than in milder states. Habitat Anchorage's repair program targets elderly and disabled homeowners whose homes have become unsafe due to structural or mechanical failures. Build days run year-round when weather permits. ReStore accepts furniture, appliances, and building materials. Alaska also has Habitat affiliates in Fairbanks and other communities.

The Alaska Community Foundation manages charitable funds, scholarships, and grants for nonprofits statewide. ACF participates in Pick.Click.Give — Alaska's unique charitable giving program that allows residents to donate a portion of their annual Permanent Fund Dividend directly to nonprofits when completing their PFD application. This program is genuinely unique: Alaska residents receive an annual dividend check from the state's oil revenue Permanent Fund, and they can designate any amount to one or more nonprofits listed on picklickgive.alaska.gov at no cost beyond their PFD allocation.

ACF also manages disaster funds that have activated after significant Alaska events — earthquake recovery (the 2018 Southcentral Alaska earthquake), wildfire response, and the Typhoon Halong recovery in 2025. For donors who want to support Alaska nonprofits broadly without picking a specific organization, ACF's funds and the Pick.Click.Give platform are the most practical entry points. Their website lists vetted Alaska nonprofits across all cause areas.

Alaska's animal welfare sector includes the Alaska SPCA, Anchorage Animal Care and Control, and numerous rescue organizations covering different regions. Alaska's unique challenges include a significant sled dog population — working and racing dogs that require specialized care — and rural communities where veterinary access is essentially nonexistent, contributing to high rates of suffering and shelter intake when owners can no longer care for animals. The Alaska SPCA runs adoption, spay/neuter, and rescue programs in the Anchorage metro.

The statewide animal welfare picture is complex: remote villages often have large numbers of free-roaming dogs with no access to spay/neuter services. Organizations like the Iditarod Trail Committee partner with animal welfare groups on sled dog welfare standards. Mat-Su Borough (the fastest-growing part of Alaska) has Animal Rescue of Mat-Su covering the Wasilla and Palmer area. Volunteer opportunities vary by organization — contact the Alaska SPCA for current Anchorage needs.

The Red Cross Alaska Region responds to home fires, floods, winter storms, earthquakes, and wildfire statewide. Alaska has a history of major disasters — the 1964 Good Friday Earthquake remains the most powerful recorded in North America. The 2018 Southcentral Alaska earthquake caused widespread damage in Anchorage and surrounding communities. Alaska's wildfire risk has increased significantly with warming temperatures — more acres burned in the 2019 and 2022 seasons than in any prior recorded year. The October 2025 Typhoon Halong disaster involved Red Cross in coordinating with state and tribal organizations on emergency shelter and relief.

Blood collection is particularly important in Alaska because geographic isolation makes mainland transfers difficult in emergencies. Donation appointments are available at Anchorage and Fairbanks chapter locations. If you need emergency assistance after a disaster in Alaska, call 1-800-RED-CROSS.

Catholic Social Services of Alaska provides refugee resettlement, immigration legal services, emergency food and housing assistance, and counseling statewide. Alaska receives refugees from various countries — Anchorage has resettled significant populations from Sudan, Central America, and Southeast Asia. CSS provides resettlement coordination and ongoing legal and social support. Their emergency assistance covers food, rent, and utilities for families in crisis regardless of faith background.

Alaska's geographic isolation creates particular challenges for immigrant and refugee integration: the cultural distance from rural Alaska to Anchorage is already vast for Alaska Natives, and newly arrived refugees navigating Anchorage's services while managing housing costs and employment face distinct barriers. CSS provides one of the few comprehensive immigration legal services programs in the state. Services are available to people of all faiths. Volunteers assist with food assistance, resettlement support, and administrative roles.

The Salvation Army operates in Alaska's major cities — Anchorage, Juneau, Fairbanks, and the Mat-Su Valley — through the Intermountain Division. Programs include emergency food, overnight shelter, rent and utility assistance, and after-school programs. Alaska winters are severe across most of the state, and heating oil — the primary heat source for many Alaska homes — is extraordinarily expensive in rural communities, where it must be flown in by small plane. The Salvation Army's utility assistance and emergency heating help is especially critical in a state where winter temperatures routinely reach -30°F or below in the interior.

During the Typhoon Halong and government shutdown crises of October 2025, the Salvation Army activated emergency food distribution at its Alaska corps. Red Kettle campaign runs November through Christmas. Thrift stores accept goods year-round. Call before visiting to confirm current program availability.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Alaska matches children facing adversity with adult volunteer mentors in Anchorage and other communities. Alaska has significant child poverty and adversity across its population — urban Anchorage has concentrated poverty in neighborhoods that receive limited services, while rural Alaska communities face youth who often migrate to Anchorage without support systems, ending up in homelessness (Covenant House serves many of these youth). BBBS connects children ages 6–18 with mentors for at least a year of regular contact.

Community-based mentoring requires meeting 2–4 times per month for at least a year. School-based mentoring runs weekly during school hours. Alaska's outdoor culture creates distinctive mentoring activities — hiking, fishing, skiing, and camping are natural match activities. Demand for mentors in Alaska consistently exceeds available volunteers.