The essence of philanthropy is that giving is better than receiving. But what if you don’t have to choose? Condé Nast Portfolio surveyed nonprofits around the nation to find ones that offer unique experiences and rare rewards to their donors. From $150 to $5 million, here’s what you can get for your patronage.

$150
The L.A. Stage Alliance takes you on a “secret stage tour,” where you can watch rehearsals and chat with cast members at area performing-arts centers.

$1,000
The Theatre Development Fund, in New York, allows you to create Halloween costumes from its 75,000-piece wardrobe, which includes duds from Broadway and Off Broadway shows and garments from Metropolitan Opera productions. Radio station WBGO, in Newark, New Jersey, gives you a dinner or brunch where you can hobnob with famous jazz musicians such as Jimmy Heath, Ron Carter, Paquito D’Rivera, and Eric Reid. The Drama League in New York lets you buy house seats at sold-out Broadway shows.

$2,049
The Earthwatch Institute, in Maynard, Massachusetts, lets you spend two weeks in the cloud forests of Ecuador helping researchers track rare-bird migrations.

$4,000
Radio station WFMT, in Chicago, sets you up with a video iPod that comes programmed with classical-music and video content.

$5,000
The National Space Society, in Washington, invites you to a meet and greet with astronaut Buzz Aldrin and other celebrities who support space exploration (Tom Hanks has been seen at the receptions). New York’s Museum of Arts & Design admits you to Inner Circle Salon Nights, a series of evening visits to the apartments of famous architects and collectors such as Calvin Tsao and Peter Norton.

$10,000
Global Health Action, in Atlanta, gives you a copy of Nobel Peace Prize winner Albert Schweitzer’s autobiography, signed by the author’s daughter, Rhena Schweitzer Miller. The Museum of the Moving Image, in Queens, New York, admits you to premieres and private receptions with stars, directors, and producers (luminaries such as Francis Ford Coppola and Jessica Lange have participated).

$25,000
The Chicago Council on Global Affairs invites you to an intimate gathering with dignitaries of various stripes. Attendees have included Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice, Barack Obama, and John Howard, the prime minister of Australia.

$5 million
Harvard University, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, will name a new reading room in the university’s Widener Library—which has one of the largest collections in the world—in your honor (or in the honor of someone you choose). The School District of Philadelphia will let you rename its new state-of-the-art, wireless-based high school (sponsored by Microsoft), currently called the School of the Future.