Julia Belluz created the infographic below to compare how much money is donated to fight various disease and how many people in the USA die from those same diseases for an article in Vox.
First, this is an awful infographic. Visually it makes no sense as to what we are looking at or trying to understand.
That aside, it does not really seem to address which of these are genetic, preventable, or other category of diseases.
If people want to donate to a charity, I hope they do it with the following in mind:
Understand to whom you are making the donation. Some charities are poorly managed and provide little actual service to the problem they are trying to solve.
Donate within your own budget. We have to take care of ourselves and our families before we can truly help others. This is debatable, but I hold this opinion.
Research the problem to which you are donating. I am not saying one cause is better than the other. Just want people to know what they are trying to help "fix."
Be passionate about the cause to which you are donating. We all do great things when we are passionate about them. Passion is usually driven from personal connection. The ALS challenge is a perfect example of what can be done when somebody who is passionate about something that greatly affected them or somebody in their lives.