good cause

good cause (countable and uncountable, plural good causes)

1. (law, uncountable) Adequate or substantial grounds or reason to take a certain action, or to fail to take an action prescribed by law.
2. (countable) A charity or other enterprise that is worthy of receiving donations.
   • 1848 August 9, D. S. Welling, “For the Herald and Journal. A Great Evil in the Church.”, in A[bel] Stevens, editor, Zion’s Herald and Wesleyan Journal, volume XIX, number 32, Boston, Mass.; Portland, Me.: […] [T]he Boston Wesleyan Association, for the New England Annual Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church, →OCLC, page 125, column 5:

     I speak here of the matter of individual effort in promoting the success of the various schemes of usefulness, and not of the matter of actual donations to these causes. There is such a thing as giving to a good cause, yet opposing its prosperity by discountenancing its operations and object. To successfully push on a benevolent enterprise, requires more than giving; it requires action, and feeling, and talk.