We have lots of glorious opportunities to use lucrative affiliate links to suggest gift ideas for you, but this morning, how about you tell us about your pet projects? What are the philanthropic and charitable and non-profit organizations that have helped you, or that you have helped, or that you think could benefit from our collective attention?
(Me, I’m a Law Students for Reproductive Justice person, because access to safe, legal abortions is something that matters to me, and I anticipate that investing in those who will be fighting the bullshit attempts to slowly erode Roe v. Wade will pay its own dividends in time.)
Let’s hear it. You can be hopelessly biased, you can root for your own team, we don’t care. We want to know: if our readers have ten extra bucks, where should they send it?
Tags: advice, charities, holiday giving, I’m canadian deal with the extra u, philanthropy
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In the vein of access to safe, legal reproductive health care of all sorts in the face of certain adversity, here is the donate link for Planned Parenthood! They do so much for so many. Alternately, you can also give directly to the Planned Parenthood in your area–that link is for the general donate page.
(ps: all donations to PP are currently being matched, so if you give between now and the end of the year your donation will be doubled!)
That’s awesome, thanks for reminding me. I’ve got a credit card that allows me to donate my “bonus point dollars” to a charity of my choice, but I’m so in the habit of giving locally that I get stumped on who I can give to on the list… Setting it up today!!!
That is pretty cool and very handy. Nicely done, credit card! (And you, of course!)
This is very specific to my little corner of the world, but British or Irish Toasties might consider fundraising or donating to the Abortion Support Network- https://www.abortionsupport.org.uk/. They help provide financial assistance for Irish women who need to travel to the UK for an abortion.
Awesome, thanks for the suggestion!
Oh, I love this idea! One org I’m very passionate about is Out in Schools in Vancouver, BC. Fighting homophobia and bullying in schools by bringing indie queer film to classrooms for presentations and discussions, filmmaker bootcamps for youth, and curriculum packages. They’ve travelled to smaller communities in remote areas around the province. So, so important!
I fundraise & donate bigtime for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society because my good friend is leukemia survivor and my grandpa had lymphoma. I do team in training (running) and this year our team raised over 25k. A lot of the money goes to medical research which is really mindbending. Did you know they are using HIV to fight blood cancer? I cant describe it any more than that because dont understand, BUT.
I’ve also always been really curious about Kiva. Has anyone done microloans?
I made my first microloan last week! I can’t speak to the repayment process because I’m not at that stage yet. But my experience has been positive thus far and I like their model a lot. I am interested in funding women’s education and global health care. The first loan I made was actually in the United States for an immigrant woman opening her own daycare. Pretty cool!
If anyone wants to use my URL to make their first loan, I get credited $25 that I can loan to someone else. Just a heads up if you want to increase your loaning power! http://www.kiva.org/invitedby/kelly5778
I will totally use that! thanks!
I’ve been on Kiva for a few years now. With an investment of around $300 (built up bit by bit over the years) I’ve made over 80 loans. Some tips:
1. Join a team! I’m part of the Atheists et. al team, and I love it. I signed up for the “daily digest” of team message board, and I’ve found some really great articles that way. People also post suggestions about loans to fund, ones that are expiring soon, etc. It’s a good place to start. They have teams for just about every interest (nationality based, religion based, “women in hats,” something for everyone).
2. Investigate the field partners. There was a big hooplah recently over Opus Dei affiliated loans – both the Atheists et al. team and the LGBT team were up in arms about it, and the message boards were a little crazy for a while. I know that the Atheists et al. team actually keeps an up-to-date Google doc of all the field partners and their scores on things like religious affiliation, social focus, and risk.
3. Diversify. I’ve never made a loan to one person/group that was more than $25. This way, if they default on the loan (which for the record I have NEVER had happen) you only lose a little bit of your money.
4. Look at the repayment terms. Some loans are very short term, so you’ll have your money back within 6 or 7 months to loan out to another person, while others are 4+ years.
And most of all, have fun with it! I usually get enough money back in repayments every month that I can make one or two new loans with that money. I usually look for loans that speak to me, and that fit into my own parameters for who I am comfortable lending through (i.e., I don’t lend through field partners that have a heavy focus on religion because I’m not comfortable with that).
Oooh, thank you for the group info. I was really put off Kiva after the whole Opus Dei thing came out.
this is really useful! thank you!
hey, where is the field partner google doc? I just joined and I’d love to see that.
Bah, tried to link to it and it somehow just linked back to this page. Whatever.
Go here: http://atheist-monkey.blogspot.com/ and click on the *NEW* Comprehensive List of MFIs (the link is a bit down the page, in grey text).
Big fan of Kiva here. I’ve been with them for years, and turned my $255 into $1000 worth of lending. I’ve never had a loan default on me either, but statistically that is a bit odd. Also, if you speak another language, you can help them out by volunteering to translate loan descriptions from the field partners.
http://www.kiva.org/volunteer
Plugging the Kiva volunteer program here. If you speak another language that is great (Spanish especially, but also French, Russian, or Portuguese). However, many field partners post in English, so volunteer English editors are also a huge part of their volunteer force. It’s a great volunteer experience, and something you can do anywhere in the world with an internet connection.
Thanks for this. I would like to use my editing skills for this kind of charity!
I’m a big literacy and education person, so my favorites are:
Donors Choose (Fun fact: GCs from here are great gifts because the giftee gets to pick whatever project is most meaningful. Or you can be a total troll and do what I did one year, which was fund a project dedicated to studying owl vomit in my brother’s name as a gift.)
I also give to Room to Read, specifically their Girls’ Education program.
And locally, The Home for Little Wanderers does so much work for at-risk kids, and they have a huge gift drive every Christmas.
Oh my god, that Donors Choose tactic is brilliant and beautiful.
Donors Choose is the BEST.
I’m sooo in favor of Donor’s Choose, because of their great mission, of course, but also I’m impressed by how fun they make the donation experience – they really build strong connections between givers and receivers, and it leads to warm fuzzies all around but most importantly the feeling that your gifting has a direct impact for good.
They really do — my favorite thing is that if you give a certain amount (I think $50? Which is a lot, I know!) the students write you thank you notes and it is THE CUTEST. Some of them drew me pictures of the frogs they got!
Just came here to push for Donors Choose, glad to see others supporting it!
I worked in a critical needs school in the Mississippi Delta, and I and the other teachers had no resources– no classroom supplies were provided by the school my first year there and many of my students could not afford to buy school supplies. The library was almost empty and there was no bookstore within 30 miles (I taught reading, so this was a problem). I don’t know what I would have done without Donors Choose! I don’t know a single teacher there that didn’t spend hundreds of dollars on supplies for the kids, and Donors Choose made such a difference for us and our students!
Man, I LOVE Donors Choose. I give them $10/month automatically and sometimes I remember and use it right away and sometimes I forget for a few months so then I have more in my account to give at once. I love all the creative ways teachers are coming up with to improve their classrooms and getting the updates later. And the thank-you cards from the little kids are ADORABLE.
Law Students for Reproductive Justice is a great suggestion. Thank you for making it!
Another one that is (unfortunately) close to my heart this year is the ALS Association. One of my best friends lost her dad to ALS this summer and it is just a totally horrific, hopeless disease right now. Hopefully at some point it won’t be quite so horrific and hopeless.
🙁 I’m so sorry for you and your friend!
Thanks dear! Obviously there’s no good way to lose a dad (especially as not-old as he was), but ALS is such a death sentence right now that it’s particularly horrific.
I’m sorry about your friend’s dad. My aunt died of this, and my friend’s uncle has it right now. It is truly a vile disease.
The two I usually donate to are the Gulf Restoration Network and City Harvest. GRN focuses on the health of the Gulf of Mexico, coastal communities, and rebuilding the natural buffer that area has against hurricanes. City Harvest is the only charity in NYC that rescues fresh food from restaurants/markets and giving it to those in need, which is great because most food banks focus on channed/nonperishable food. I’ve lived in both New Orleans and NYC so these are both really important to me, and usually I give to each on my birthday.
http://www.cityharvest.org/ https://healthygulf.org/
+1 for City Harvest. Great org.
city harvest is great! local hunger orgs are always a good place to give $$$.
Sorry for the many posts, I’m excited about this topic and keep remembering things! As of a few weeks ago, I pledged to give more and to give more intentionally to charities so this is very timely.
Another recommendation is donating within your community to domestic violence survivor shelters. There is often a need for clothing and personal hygiene items. Also look up your local food bank and check their “most wanted items” list so that you can donate most effectively. One food bank in my area actually has an Amazon wishlist of nonperishable foods, so it took like two minutes to donate a bunch of cereal and rice bowls.
thats a great idea – the amazon wishlist. I know my local foodbank prefers $$ to food donations because they can stretch dollars a lot further using connections and subsidies.
I am a HUGE proponent of abortion funds. Low income women face so many barriers to basic self determination, and abortion funds help to make it a little easier. As more and more restrictions are put into place in states across the country, they are needed more than ever. Abortion funds not only help with the cost of the procedure itself, but also with travel costs that are increasing as the right wing assholes get more wins.
If you want to help out a fund in your area, you can find a national directory at http://www.fundabortionnow.org/ that will point you in the right direction. The National Abortion Federation ( http://www.prochoice.org ) helps women nationally and is also a great org to support – if you want to direct your gift to abortion funding select the “Rachel Falls Patient Assistance Fund” when you give.
Many of these organizations (Such as the DC Abortion Fund where I volunteer – http://dcabortionfund.org/ ) are run ENTIRELY by volunteers so that every cent possible goes to women in need. Please consider them this holiday season and every time of year.
That national directory is fantastic! It has my favorite local fund, too! I’m really happy that there’s a way for all the little ones to get their names out there (and a little saddened by how few there are, especially in certain places).
Yeah – if any Toasties want to start one in Mississippi, Arkansas, or Alabama, that site has resources on how to get started, too 🙂
Thanks for this! I didn’t know my state had a fund, but now they can take my money.
Just located and donated to my state’s fund! Thanks so much for the link, I didn’t know this existed until now.
I am SO GLAD this is getting people connected with their local funds! This has seriously made my day.
I just wrote up a thing about this on my tumblr, too! You are spreading the word. Thank you again 🙂
I have heard tell of the Lilth Fund, too, but no personal experience with it to know how good it is…
to help women outside america,
Women on Waves/Women on the Web will send the abortion pill to women in countries where abortion is illegal – they also have a ship that stays in international waters and provides surgical abortion to women. It also provided information on how to hide an abortion/make it look like a miscarriage etc. http://www.womenonwaves.org/
This is a movement rather than a specific charity, but I’m a great fan of Giving What We Can: http://www.givingwhatwecan.org/
It focuses on measuring charitable efficacy and encouraging people to give to charities that give the highest QALY (quality-adjusted life year) return. For example, $5 to research for a rare, annoying but unfatal disease will not return very much, but $5 on 50p deworming treatment can literally save ten lives.
Here’s their page on recommended charities: http://www.givingwhatwecan.org/where-to-give/reco…
That is such a great resource! I hadn’t heard of it, thank you.
Similarly, Charity Navigator is a good resource for finding out exactly how much money goes to actual causes and how much goes to overhead (significant side-eye in the direction of Susan G. Komen).
That is a really good point, but it’s also important to remember that well run organizations can make every dollar go further. When overhead spending is TOO low, it often speaks to mismanagement and overburdened, ineffective staff.
This is a very, very important point, thanks! Important to look at a lot of different aspects of an organization. Thankfully there’s quite a few resources out there to help us make informed decisions.
I would really like to second this comment. I work at nonprofits, always have. As much as I would love to see more money directed towards the causes I work for, at the end of the day, I also need to have shelter and food and a life. Paying bare minimum salaries ensures that truly skilled, well-educated workers will look elsewhere simply to earn the means to get along in this world. Susan G. Komen is an example of how this can go wrong, but there are incompetent charities everywhere that demonstrate what happens when people unthinkingly turn up their noses at overhead costs. Effective charities need to keep the lights on, they need to be able to pay for skilled, well-educated employees, and they need to have enough in the bank to develop and launch new initiatives.
This is very true and so important. Thank you for the perspective!
GiveWell is another group that evaluates charities and makes recommendations. They’re really really rigorous and mostly recommend public health charities. They are awesome!!
Booktrust! They work towards fostering a love of reading to all people of all backgrounds and incomes, and while it may not be a life-saving charity it is a life-changing charity. I live in a first world country, fourth richest on the planet, yet adults are still leaving the school system functionally illiterate. It closes them off from jobs, they can’t even apply for benefits. Plus, the ability to read and love reading are gifts that never leave you, that open you up to new worlds of education and hope.
I raised just under £100 for them by walking Hadrians Wall recently. http://www.booktrust.org.uk/
I usually give to the Women’s Medical Fund which my local abortion funding organization, but they have them all over the country so if you go to The National Network of Abortion Funds you can look for one in your region (to give or receive).
I also really like theAutistic Self Advocacy Network.
Thanks for the ASAN rec. I realize this is completely delayed, but I was just looking to set up some monthly contributions, and I wanted to avoid Autism Speaks.
My new thing is donating STUFF, since cash is in short supply chez Iceberg. We pass on almost all of our baby stuff. Just started a knitting group with the idea of making things to donate to the local women’s shelter too.
I second Planned Parenthood.
I also love the Boys & Girls Club – it’s a great organization that provides daycare, before-and-after school educational programs, sports teams and fitness programs, meals, and a whole lot more for at-risk kids. They make a huge difference at a local level.
Besides those two, I give to various animal rescue and environmental charities – WWF, EDF, ASPCA, and the Animal Welfare Association of Voorhees, New Jersey, where I adopted my dog.
I’m a big fan of the Ali Forney Center. They’re a homeless relief organization in NYC that supports LGBT teens, which make up a disproportionately large percentage of the homeless population in NYC (due to their families rejecting them and them having nowhere to go). I know they could always use more money– one of their shelters was very badly damaged in Hurricane Sandy and they have limited resources as it is. You can also purchase items from their Amazon wishlist. In addition to clothing and supplies, they’re registered for items that help their clients transition into the working world.
Yes! This is great! I have a lot of feelings about giving money or in-kind dontations to organizations supporting teenagers. Teens, especially those who are homeless (as you say, disproportionately LGBT) or in the foster care system do not have the built in “cuteness” factor that small children do, and so orgs that have a mission to support them are sometimes overlooked. In San Francisco there is an awesome shelter called Larkin Street Youth Services, that I especially like. They have a very detailed list on their website of the in-kind dontations they need, as well as an Amazon wish-list. I’m sure lots of other cities have similar organizations.
For foster kids, Sleep Train (not sure if they are a national chain) actually does a lot of different dontation drives throughout the year (toys/school supplies/coats), which I’ve given to a few times, because I love shopping for things and then just dumping them in a bin somewhere! Totally selfish, but it feels awesome!
I’m also a big fan of Donor’s Choose, as a lot of readers have mentioned above, and my local food bank. I just do an automatic monthly donation and I don’t even really notice it.
A bit London- based this one but Centre 404 in Islington is a place that helps differently abled kids and their family carers, they do direct support, information, respite, activities, advocacy, help with personal budgets and form filling, and access to social groups and other local networks etc etc. They have a great garden too! http://www.centre404.org.uk/fundraise-or-make-a-d…
A variation on Nicole’s, I give to Medical Students for Choice which helps students get abortion training. I also give to The East Side Soup Kitchen as a memorial to my favorite teacher in high school.
Wow, great thread! Okay! So, I’m new to this having-enough-money-to-be-charitable thing, but I surprised myself by setting up a monthly payment to the Lilith Fund and then forgetting about it. They are awesome, and I’m interested in looking for similar orgs in other states with extremely restrictive abortion regulations. Any suggestions?
I’m also very intrigued by Random Acts, which encourages people to do kind things for others, and also gives out small grants to folks who want to do something to help those they know. I haven’t gone much past researching with them, but I love the concept and their numbers and projects look sound. When I think of all the times growing up where we were screwed over a small but unexpected crisis — the car needs a battery, the gas bill jumped up $50, we need diapers or milk or whatever and are just short — a little bit of help would have made such a difference.
And yesterday, I was looking at local homeless shelters, and I think I’m going to try to volunteer with The Road Home Dane Co. There’s also The Respite Center which offers crisis child care and is a big help to the families at the shelters; I didn’t even know something like that existed until I met someone who worked there, and I was shocked that I’d never heard of something like that, even though it is such a crucial service. I’m sure there’s got to be other places like that in other cities, and I was told they always need diapers and someone to help with the laundry.
Bread for the City is in DC and provides free/low-cost medical (and dental!) services, legal/social services, and also has a food pantry. I am biased because I know people who work or volunteer there but I think they are great.
St. Francis Inn is a Philadelphia group that has a soup kitchen (they serve sit-down meals “restaurant style”), women’s center, thrift shop (people who receive the other services can work there!), and a social services center. I know the religious aspect may be off-putting but the people who run the place are (or at least seemed to me) very liberal and they are these fiery nuns and ah they were great. Lots of love and respect for the people they serve. A great one for lapsed and/or angry Catholics who want to support good work done by members of the church.
Local environmental groups are also cool because they often need the money more than big orgs like Greenpeace or Sierra Club, etc. (Some big groups also have local chapters which may take donations too!) Side benefit that these organizations are often really narrow in focus, so if your community has a particular issue – fracking, food, etc – these groups are likely to be dealing with it.
And Planned Parenthood. Not that this is an original response but still.
If anyone knows of any other food access groups (esp in the DC area) let me know!! That is a Thing I Care About but don’t really know where to look/start.
Food access in DC: Capital Area Food Bank and Martha’s Table are on my list!
Food and Friends is another good one in the DC area. Now that more people are living longer and healthier lives after contracting HIV, F&F has expanded its mission to cover not just HIV/AIDS patients but also people with any kind of major medical issue–lots of breast cancer patients these days. Clients get three meals a day, delivered by volunteer drivers; the chefs make sure that the meals are balanced, varied, and designed to meet clients’ needs (diabetic, soft, and low-sodium options are offered). F&F are usually booked up with volunteers during the holiday season, but they need help all year, and they treat volunteers really well.
I try to split my $ between Bread for the City and SOME (So Others Might Eat). (Though now I am on their mailing list, which I need to change, but they do some good stuff beyond just food)
I have yet to do any Christmas shopping, and I think this is a sign that I should just donate to some of these organizations in the names of friends/ family members. Awesome thread idea and contributions!
I love this thread!
I support Planned Parenthood and the HRC monthly, I donate to ALS charities any time I am asked on behalf of my late grandmother, but the non-profit that is closest to my heart right now is Boston GLOW. Young and completely volunteer run it empowers girls and women to become leaders in Boston. Girls’ Leadership (GL) is a scholarship, micro-grant, and mentoring program for 13-19 year olds and Organized Women (OW) hosts monthly, issue-focused events, networking and service opportunities for adult women.
Full Disclosure: I am the Director of Finance, but it’s great! And all our money goes to programming! This is probably most relevant for Boston Toasties, but we take support anywhere we can get it!!
A nonprofit that I have been involved with in the past (being vague for the flimsy veil of anonymity) is currently in the process of a membership drive. Grand Aspirations is a truly amazing youth led organization, empowering young people in communities all over the country to start projects and enterprises that foster justice, sustainability, community, and prosperity. The young people are the leaders and there’s a ton of peer-to-peer education. At the same time, there are actual projects and enterprises spinning off this leadership training that are improving the food, energy, manufacturing, and transit situations in over 20 communities nationally (and internationally — beekeeping in Bulgaria!).
If you like those themes, but would like to give to a more specific project and/or live in Chicago, you should definitely check out this worker collective of young people from Rogers Park doing rain garden installations, who are currently fundraising their capital costs.
DC Books to Prisons. http://dcbookstoprisoners.org/about
If you have any money or volunteer time left over after contributing to reproductive health access (which is my number one cause) look into this or other books for prisoners projects. If you are a horrible middle-class person like me who did not always know that, for example, not all prisons have libraries, even bad ones, this may speak to you. I am a vindictive and a punitive person and do not have a great deal of compassion for a lot of people, but there is no crime on earth that should strip someone of their fundamental right to read a book of their own choosing whenever they want to. I really believe this.
i was hoping someone would post something like this. thanks!
We have the Prison Book Program in Boston that is great. And a really fun volunteer opportunity. You get to the read the request letters which are great (and occasionally terrifying, but mostly great) AND it is run out of the church where John and Abagail Adams and John Quincy and Louisa Adams are entombed, which is kind of awesome.
There’s also one in Chicago — Chicago Books to Women in Prison (sorry men) — http://chicagobwp.org/
Hiya! I’m a long-time volunteer at CBWP- we also serve folks who identify as trans no matter what institution is holding them, and we redirect the men who write to us toward other projects that focus on them. Thanks for the love!
WE DO? I did not know! I am so excited to hear these wonderful Boston suggestions — I’ve been looking for a prisoner-focused nonprofit to give to.
From a DC resident who loves reading: thanks for sharing this.
Doctors Without Licenses
I really, truly love these people: http://www.ministryofstories.org/
If you are in England, you can support them at http://www.monstersupplies.org/, too, where they sell fantastic food with incredible names. You can just give them money, too, and it supports stories and children and literacy in the poorest borough in the UK. I don’t know how to link, sorry.
Also! I cannot find the stray “u” that Nicole is talking about, which probably is because I am very very English.
“Favourite” in the title. I had to hunt for it too, and I’m not even a little bit English.
Ministry of Stories/Monster Supplies (SO COOL) seems similar to 826NYC/Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co. 826NYC is geared toward helping kids expand and hone their creative writing skills and is, I think (?) associated with McSweeny’s.
I suspect that they are based on the same thing! And yes, it is so cool. I’ve just put in an application to work there, and I am SO EXCITED. Fingers crossed!
SO COOL tell us all about it if you get it please!
Ministry of Stories AND the fantastic Fighting Words in Dublin are both sort-of sister orgs to the eight chapters of 826 National, which is indeed affiliated with McSweeney’s.
I’ve been volunteering with the Seattle branch since 2005 and spent a couple months as a volunteer at Fighting Words, too; all of these orgs are VERY worthy of your support. Also: La Fabbrica delle Parole (the Word Factory) in Milan; there are also versions in Stockholm, and maybe also Vienna…it’s a good, portable, open-source model.
In short: yay, 826.
Oh fantastic, thank you for the confirmation! Yay 826 indeed.
That is a great charity AND a great shop. I’m gonna send my aunt some Creeping Dread for christmas
Everybody needs more Creeping Dread at the holidays.
I wish they had ‘Anxiety Spiral’ as that is my christmas go-to-state
I’m sure it would make a lovely Christmas ornament, too.
Everyone I know is getting a bar of Milk Tooth chocolate this year- chocolate with extra crunch from children’s teeth! Mwahahaha.
For all the Amazon shoppers out there, shop through AmazonSmile. (Don’t know how to embed a link, but this is the URL: http://smile.amazon.com/) Just choose a charity of your choice (you can choose from thousands) and it donates .5% of your purchase to that organization. Might be only pennies, but at least it’s something out of a purchase that would otherwise go entirely to Amazon!
Also mentioning Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, because she and it are perfect: http://usa.imaginationlibrary.com/.
I don’t have any personal experience with Black Girls Code, but it sounds like an excellent idea (their Mission statement: “To increase the number of women of color in the digital space by empowering girls of color ages 7 to 17 to become innovators in STEM fields, leaders in their communities, and builders of their own futures through exposure to computer science and technology.”).
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline does a lot of good mental health and suicide prevention work (their Mission statement: “The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline provides free and confidential emotional support to people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Since its inception, the Lifeline has engaged in a variety of initiatives to improve crisis services and advance suicide prevention.”).
Local food banks almost always need more cash (donated cans are great if that’s what you have to give, but cash goes further because it lets food banks buy supplies in bulk directly from suppliers).
I’ve given to Black Girls Code and think they’re a fine group – they’re really good about supporter updates and they’re making measurable progress in teaching girls to code and remain curious and interested in STEM.
Just $30 a month will sponsor one woman through Women for Women International, if that’s a bit much (which it is for me right now, but hasn’t been in years past) they also take donations of different amounts. I like the sponsorship, though, not to feel like any kind of white savior, but to just know that the money is going directly to ONE WOMAN who has already survived hardships beyond my imagination, and will really, truly make a difference to her quality of life and ability to take care of herself and her family. I know foreign aid is a touchy subject, as it should be, but this charity to me makes a lot of sense.
What a great idea for a post! For several years now our family has worked with Living Water International: http://www.water.cc
They build and maintain water wells in third world nations; unclean water is the biggest killer in the world, and it’s estimated that nearly 800 million people worldwide lack access to clean water. They have a cool gift card program, wherein you can give someone a Living Water gift card and they can go online and choose which project to support with that gift.
We donate to the District Alliance for Safe Housing, which helps survivors of domestic & sexual violence in DC access a safe place to live in the long term (i.e. beyond shelters), as well as Partners in Health and the Capital Area Food Bank (mentioned above).
A friend recently put together this punk compilation called Beyond Inversion as a benefit for Rachael’s Women’s Center, which helps homeless female-identified people in DC. The compilation is pay-what-you-wish for download! There’s also a cassette that comes with some awesome art, but I think it’s sold out .
I donate to a few local organizations pretty regularly. WestSide Baby (http://www.westsidebaby.org/) is one of the few places that’s certified to accept and hand out used car seats, and they also do a lot of diaper drives (diapers aren’t covered by WIC or food stamps). I stop in every few months and donate season-appropriate stuff that G has outgrown, in addition to blankets, diapers, etc.
We adopted our dog through Greyhound Pets, Inc (http://www.greyhoundpetsinc.org/) and while yes, some greyhound ladies are basicallly crazy cat ladies with 60lb dogs, they work to bring dogs from the southeast to various places around the country where there’s a market for big couch dogs. Because they’re such sedate and trusting dogs, they used to be used in a lot of animal testing (or would just be straight up shot or put down after their career was over), but they’re actually fantastic pets, therapy dogs, and are universal dog blood donors.
And I donate to Planned Parenthood every chance I can, because they saved my ass for years, and I hope to help them do it for someone else.
This awesome group does crowdfunding for projects oriented toward the advancement of women and girls: http://www.catapult.org/
Also, donate to your local Legal Aid Society! http://www.napaba.org/napaba/showpage.asp?code=le…
Also, if someone could teach me HTML. That’d be great.
The toast does a nice thing where URLs automatically linkify (the technical term) in the comments, but if you want to embed a link like this , just type exactly the following, but replace the parentheses with < and > :
(a href=”http://the-toast.net”)like this(/a)
and to embed images or gifs, use this:
(img src=”http://24.media.tumblr.com/2e3b87e2b5472896c421a74ef7eda1b3/tumblr_mnwi57bIFR1s2i348o1_250.jpg”)
which results in:
This concludes everything I know about html.
To bold, (b)text here(/b).
To italify, (i)text here(/b)
To strike, (strike)text here(/strike)
I know there are ways to make things wee and large, but I can never remember what they are.
I support a few animal, nature, and conservation organizations that I believe most people have heard of, as well as Doctors Without Borders. I also pledge on cats that are on death row in various shelters around the country, as this helps encourage rescues to pull them, knowing that at least some of their expenses are covered.
One charity that people may not have heard of is Project Onward, which supports artists with mental and/or physical disabilities in the Chicago area: http://projectonward.org/
Aside from sending money and art supplies, I like going to their gallery openings and their shop and talking to some of the artists. So many of these artists are dealing with heavier burdens than I think I could deal with, and their art is a lifeline for them, a way to cope and a way to express themselves, and they take such pride in what they create. And rightfully so! There’s so much energy and creativity in the art I see there.
I give mostly to Reading Camp (readingcamprocks.org), which is an org that takes at-risk third and fourth graders and send them to camp for a week in the summer for free. While there, they get intensive reading and writing instruction each morning and meaningful camp activities each afternoon. It’s based in Kentucky, but there are camps all around the country.
Disclosure: I am on the board, but it is a truly awesome program and has a significant impact on the communities it serves.
Reading Camp is such a good program! (From someone who is not on the board but is in the community.)
Thanks for posting about this! I just checked their site & they have a camp here in Cleveland. I’ll definitely be donating.
What is this extra u business? I just see things spelled properly 😉
A couple of Canadian things, then:
I <3 the Stephen Lewis Foundation, which does a ton of great work with HIV/AIDS-affected communities in Africa (and works mostly, if not entirely, by supporting local community groups run by women and people with HIV/AIDS): http://stephenlewisfoundation.org
Evidence for Democracy is a new organization that’s pushing for evidnece based science, energy, environmental, and health policy in Canada, which is sorely needed: (full disclosure: I’ve been involved with them) https://evidencefordemocracy.ca/
Bless all of you and your abortion funds :’) I blog about reproductive rights at http://bebinn.tumblr.com/ and volunteer as a rape victim’s advocate in my home/college town. I mostly answer the 24-hour crisis line, since I don’t have a car to go and sit with victims during their hospital exams or police interactions. Being an advocate is wonderful and I would really recommend people look into it. Some of the calls are hard, but being there to pick up the phone can make all the difference.
(Oh, one of the women on the board is also part of one of our state’s abortion funds, to bring my comment full circle.)
I love your Tumblr! Absolutely one of my favorites, I’m always happy I follow you.
You could help a group of working class Oakland dudes with equipment and beer money by donating to my baseball team The Oakland Beers. I’m joking. But really there’s this cool program called Bay Area Girls Rock Camp who I donated a drum set to and they were really nice and could always use $ or music equipment. Or see first comment and donate to Planned Parenthood.
CHILD, Inc (Children’s Healthcare is a Legal Duty) is a controversial but IMHO really important group.
From their page: they were founded “to protect children from harmful religious and cultural practices, especially religion-based medical neglect.”
In a perfect world, a parent’s freedom to practice their culture/religion wouldn’t have to be pitted against the health of their child; but that’s what happens all too often, and religious organizations have done a good job of ensuring that the law sides with the parents. This means that kids are literally being left to die by their parents, and the law supports the parents’ right to choose, over a kid’s right to live. (I know this may sound uncomfortably close to anti-choice/pro-life rhetoric, but to me, the difference is that these kids are actually walking around outside the fetus, going to school and doing kid things, when their parents decide to let them die.)
Full disclosure: I’m a Type 1 Diabetic, and use insulin every day. Sure, I have to be vigilant about my medical care, but I lead a pretty much normal life. CHILD fights laws that allow parents to deny their kids insulin, leading to their wasting away and inevitable death. I’m 30 now and I was 12 when I was diagnosed, and I’m enraged that other Type 1 kids diagnosed at the same age I was may not make it to 13, simply because their parents want to assert their religious freedom.
http://childrenshealthcare.org
This is a GREAT cause.
In light of a truly horrifying article I read a couple weeks ago–Why Did the Schaibles Let their Children Die?–I am prepared to throw every cent I have at that cause. So incredibly important.
All of the above, and for a not necessarily monetary way to help out – bethematch.org! They’ll send you a spit sample kit, and you’ll be registered in a national database of possible bone marrow donors! i’m fairly certain they accept cash donations for research and such as well if you’re not comfortable with being on the registry.
also if you have extra cash, severely underemployed new lawyers in the washington dc area need booze- contact your local dive bar to see if you can sponsor a new lawyer this holiday season.
Yes, yes, join bethematch.org! I’m on the registry, and it was very, very easy.
I joined years ago and it’s awesome! I’ve had bone marrow sampled and while yeah it’s kinda painful, it’s ABSOLUTELY worth it if it meant I could help someone. I also donate blood and platelets when I’m not knocked up.
Two projects that are near to my heart are the Wounded Warrior Project http://www.woundedwarriors.ca/ and Wounded Warriors Canada http://www.woundedwarriors.ca/ which are both aimed at helping soldiers with PTSD and battlefield injuries transition back to civilian life. Regardless of your views on war, these are projects that are helping men and women who have been through some unimaginably hard shit. No one deserves to live in pain and terror from PTSD, to struggle in dealing with their family, and to feel forgotten by society.
Four Canadian combat vets have killed themselves in the past week. Injured vets need a voice.
I hope I can ask this without sounding like a jerk, because I do not mean to be — do you know anything about their financial/fundraising processes? (I’m asking, not telling, promise!) I gave to them a couple of times and I really love both the focus and scope of their mission, but the more I read the more it seems like their fundraising is not the best — not corrupt or anything, just super inefficient. Do you have any insights?
Also, if you (or anyone else) knows of any other veterans’ focused nonprofits I am very very interested to hear about them! Charity Navigator and Google have not been very helpful.
This thread is EXCELLENT. I can’t wait to come back to it over and over again when I’ve got some extra dollars lying around. As for my picks –
Planned Parenthood, obviously
Survival International (survivalinternational.org) is doing fantastic work for uncontacted tribes all over the world, and helping to fight on the side of indigenous people trying to preserve their land.
Anyone else who’s in New England can send boxes of animal supplies (or boxes of money) to the Northeast Animal Shelter (northeastanimalshelter.org).
I love the idea of sending a box of money to an animal shelter.
I’m on board with all of the above, and I’ll add Best Friends Animal Society. They run a no kill rescue program in partnership with organizations US-wide and a sanctuary on 33,000 acres in southern Utah. You might recognize them from National Geo Channel’s Dogtown show. They took 22 of Michael Vick’s fighting pit bulls and rehabbed and adopted out almost all of them, despite PETA and the US Humane Society recommendations that they be put down.
If you’re ever in southern Utah touring Bryce and Zion NPs, etc., maybe pay the sanctuary in Kanab a visit. They have cabins you can rent and will even lend you a dog or cat or pig for a sleepover. You can volunteer during your stay and walk some pups in the red rock canyons or pet a parrot or groom a pony, etc. They also have a research/rehab hospital that takes difficult medical and behavioral cases, often from the communities of the Four Corners region, where poverty reigns.
The people there are also worth our support. Last time I sent them a tiny donation, their founder called me to say thank you.
They will LEND YOU A PIG FOR A SLEEPOVER? I am so there.
That sounds like a truly lovely organization and I’ll add them to my list. Thanks for the tip!
I might be wrong about that but I swear someone posted a story on the site about a pig sleepover–maybe it depends on whether the resident peegs are housepigs or barnyard pigs? Anyway, good stuff.
I am having such a great time on their website. Thank you again! I think I’ll do charity donations in the names of friends for gifts for far-away people this year and this is a perfect fit for a friend of mine who just adopted a dog. 🙂
Aw, I’m tearing up. xoxoxo.
Two projects that are near to my heart are the Wounded Warrior Project http://www.woundedwarriors.ca/ and Wounded Warriors Canada http://www.woundedwarriors.ca/ which are both aimed at helping soldiers with PTSD and battlefield injuries transition back to civilian life. Regardless of your views on war, these are projects that are helping men and women who have been through some unimaginably hard shit. No one deserves to live in pain and terror from PTSD, to struggle in dealing with their family, and to feel forgotten by society.
After years of being a passionate supporter of Kiva, last year I finally got to work for them. I was worried that being on the inside would disillusion me/expose some hideous seething underbelly. Instead, I met a bunch of wonderful, frighteningly competent and educated people doing amazing and impactful work! I won’t try to explain how it works because the brief, charming video on their website already does an excellent job of this. I try to loan $25 quarterly, so that as I’m repaid I eventually have a cycle of repayments coming in every month and I can just lend it right back out again. You can give folks Kiva cards as gifts – a great idea for people who have everything and don’t want any more junk. You get to pick exactly who your money goes towards. Also, Kiva recently launched its Kiva Zip project, which allows you to lend directly (no bank middleman) to small business owners around the world – and in your own backyard. I’ve been able to lend to small businesses right here in San Francisco, which I like to consider part of my own personal fight against gentrification. This month they passed the $500,000,000 mark for loans given out! Just amazing.
Thanks for such a good idea. I just bought cards for all my relatives for Christmas. I like that it should even appeal to the conservative ones since it’s a loan and they can choose what they think is a worthy goal. Plus, they’ll feel obligated to keep reinvesting since it was a gift. yay! You just saved my entire shopping season.
My favorite, local (in Washington, DC) place to give is Scrap DC (I give money, donations and volunteer there)! They are a creative reuse center and a wonderful resource for this city. And look, they happen to have an Indiegogo campaign happening right now: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/scrap-dc-creati…
How convenient! Thanks, Toasties.
I also advocate donating to your local abortion clinic or fund, or DV shelter/homeless shelter/food bank.
On a different note though, veteran’s organizations are a great place to give to (I have mixed feelings about WWP, but to each their own). Service Women’s Action Network (SWAN – http://servicewomen.org/) has done a great job on projects like ending DADT, the combat exclusion policy, and sexual harassment/violence in the military. There’s also Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (http://iava.org/) – they lobby for the needs of gulf war veterans on Capitol Hill and provide support to them.
There’s also veteran’s crisis hotlines like http://veteranscrisisline.net/ or http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org.
Sebastian Junger founded RISC: Reporters Instructed in Saving Colleagues (http://risctraining.org/) after Tim Hetherington died in Syria; it provides first aid/response training to freelance journalists who report from combat zones so they can provide basic aid to wounded colleagues until they can get to a hospital.
I always suggest people donate to ReSurge International. I have a repaired cleft lip and I want children to have the surgeries that I was able to have. I used to recommend Smile Train and Operation Smile, but I think ReSurge is a better charity because they cover a lot more types of issues from birth defects to burns.
I just got a political email that pertains to this. In light of the Michigan State legislature passing a bill forbidding basic health insurance plans from covering abortions–in ANY circumstance–maybe donating to Emily’s List would help.
(Part of me wants an anti-choice person to show up here and spout some jargon just so I can read the replies but I’m not that much of a stir stick. I only like so much conflict, then it gets exhausting.)
Gotta root for my home teams:
I work for Housing Works, which is a charity committed to ending HIV/AIDs and homelessness through advocacy, lifesaving medical and community services, and housing. You can donate but also SHOP online and at the thrift stores if you’re in NYC.
I volunteer for The Wild Bird Fund, NYC’s center for bird and wildlife emergency care and rehabilitation. If you can make it to the center, they sell really cute merch and fine art photography – great for the holidays!
I love this thread so so so so so so so much. Thank you, Nicole and everybody!
One of my personal local favorites is the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center. They do crisis management/counseling and prevention/advocacy, they explicitly welcome male and trans* survivors, they incorporate anti-racism into their work, they’re committed to allowing survivors of sexual assault to make their own decisions instead of being told what they “should” do, they seem to be really good to their staff and volunteers…they’re just amazing.
Another Boston-y one I love is The Food Project. Every summer they bring together a (very deliberately) diverse group of Boston teenagers, then the teenagers work on sustainable agriculture together all summer while also doing workshops on systemic inequality, food deserts, personal identity, etc. The vegetables and fruits they grow go to local food banks. (The kids get a stipend for the work they’re doing, too, it’s not a “we’ll educate you if you weed these carrots” kind of situation.)
Aaaaand question: does anyone have suggestions for environmental/wildlife preservation nonprofits they can vouch for? I would very much like to give money to keeping our oceans from turning to poison and all that jazz, but the groups I know of addressing those issues seem to be HUGE and not really going to be needing my pitifully small contribution.
Man, I hope my html tags work.
Not quite oceans, but I just recommended the International Rhinos Foundation , which is wonderful. The Defenders of Wildlife people (also online) are pretty good too, and they have some marine creature and ocean environmental projects you could fund.
Oooh, neat! Thank you!
I’m being biased and rooting for my own team! I work at Hopewell (www.hopewell.ca) in Ottawa, we are the only support centre for people affected by eating disorders in Eastern Ontario. We don’t receive any government funding or other ongoing financial support. Last year alone more than 2000 individuals and their family members and friends turned to Hopewell in need of support. Whether at our doorstep, on our help-line, at one of our support groups, or through one-on-one mentoring sessions, we offer knowledge, support and hope to so many people dealing with the realities, and potentially fatal consequences, of these illnesses. Hopewell also works tirelessly to promote the prevention of eating disorders by helping youth understand the importance of healthy attitudes towards body image, eating and physical activity.
We will happily accept your extra ten bucks!
96% of the people who show up at the health clinic in the rural village Banda, Rwanda, have hook worm! 96%!! Kageno, an org I’ve worked with, has a crowdrise campaign to build latrines throughout the village, since feces in streams where people step/bathe is the main mode of transmission of hook worm. There are very few latrines right now, and a handful (or less) of actual indoor toilets.
If you are so inclined after donating to all the other awesome charities, causes, and campaigns, consider donating to this project!! They’re just raising money for the materials, and community members will donate their time/labor! It’s a really awesome example of a project for and by the community. It’s not some western-imposed program that has no chance of sustainability.
http://www.crowdrise.com/kagenolatrineproject/fun…
Ponder the next time you’re pooping on a toilet indoors, not a stream!
I volunteer for the Niagara Region Sexual Assault Centre, and I know we’re short on both volunteers and funds. I’m constantly getting emails about hours needing to be covered on the crisis line, and I’m probably going to have to add another ten or twenty hours per month to the forty I usually do once my work schedule goes back to being 8 am – 4 pm. http://www.sexualassaultniagara.org/sponsor-donat… I do 90% of my charitable giving in a lump sum in December, and most of it will be to the Centre this year.
I also do the Plan Canada Gifts of Hope – these days I usually pick things like scholarships for girls or literacy training, both because I value those things and because there are very good arguments against doing animal gifts. https://plancanada.ca/GiftsofHope/shopdisplayprod…
If you’re interested in a ranking of Canadian charities, there’s one here that may be helpful: http://www.moneysense.ca/the-2013-charity-100-gra…
Personally I am a big fan of the International Rhino Foundation, which discourages the hunting of black rhinos around the world, trains and pays locals to be rangers, and owns a special nature preserve in Indonesia where they breed Javan rhinos and protect them very energetically from poachers. Javan rhinos are almost extinct: there are only 44 individuals left in the world, and only 4-5 breeding females. Plus they are absolutely adorable (they are hairy! unlike most other rhino species), and if you donate, the IRF will send you lots of wonderful photos. You can also be friends on Fb with several rhinos. It’s just a great organization that is careful to involve local communities directly in their conservation efforts: http://www.rhinos.org
With the recent cuts to SNAP, it’s increasingly important that our local food banks have the resources to provide for our neighbors. One in six Chicagoans faces hunger every day! I set up an automatic monthly monetary donation to the Greater Chicago Food Repository (http://www.chicagosfoodbank.org/). If you can’t send money, volunteers are always needed at these places!
I’m a fan of street newspapers, which help empower people facing homelessness and also give them a chance to voice their experience and opinions. My local one is Street Roots (http://streetroots.org/) and worldwide it’s the International Network of Street Papers (http://www.street-papers.org/).
Free resource referral services also make a huge difference in people’s lives. Oftentimes help may exist but those in crisis don’t know how to access it. My state has 211info (http://211info.org/) and people can call, text or go online to find out what services are available – everything from help paying utilities to counseling for their kids. The national page is http://www.211us.org/.
Food banks, homeless and domestic violence shelters always need a boost, and if you’re rural and depend on public radio to guide your travels (or reconnect you with your lost dog, as the station near me is always doing for folks), show them some love.
I make small monthly payments to Planned Parenthood and a scholarship for first-generation students majoring in English at my alma mater. The link to the first was already shared and the link to the second wouldn’t do much good. The one I will share is my smallest monthly contribution, but something I want to increase giving to as I can, and that is Girls Write Now (girlswritenow.org). They’re based out of NYC, and I am not, but I still am amazed by the programming they do for young women (focused on granting visibility, helping them find their voice/tell their story, and mentoring).
I give to the Wikimedia Foundation, because I use that shit all the time. I also like Mother Jones and other nonprofits that do investigative journalism, because our conventional news sources are stretched too thin these days to cover all the stories that matter.
A friend of mine who has worked in refugee camps and conflict zones all over the world has great things to say about Doctors Without Borders. They save lives every day, she says, and she sends all the money she can spare to them.
My other favorite cause is dogs. They have evolved to live with us. Their 100% vulnerability and trust in humans devastate me. Your local rescue group or shelter can always use your time, your money, or an extra bag of your dog’s food. I also like nationwide advocacy and rescue organizations like BADRAP and the Best Friends Animal Society.
For all you Northern New Mexicans (and others, too, of course), please consider donating to Esperanza Shelter for Battered Families: http://www.esperanzashelter.org/donate.php
They do fantastic work with women and children who are victims of domestic violence. They also provide counseling services for abusers. I think it might even be the ONLY one in all of Northern NM. Which is like, !!??
Whenever I can, I give to the Dr. Hawa Abdi Foundation: http://www.dhaf.org/
She runs an ever-growing “village” in Somalia that provides safety, education, and healthcare for displaced Somalis (specifically women and children). You can read a wonderfully colloquial version of her completely incredible life story here: http://www.badassoftheweek.com/hawaabdi.html
I recommend her book, too: http://www.amazon.com/Keeping-Hope-Alive-Woman-Ch…
One of my favorite charities is Partners in Health, which provides health care, especially for HIV and TB, in several developing countries. http://www.pih.org/
Another is CARE, which works on eliminating global poverty, with a focus on women. http://www.care.org/ (donations are currently being matched)
And then this is one of my favorite charity rating sites–they’re extremely stringent in their guidelines and recommendations, so lots of popular charities don’t make their top charity list, but I feel like they raise a lot of important issues to consider when choosing a charity http://www.givewell.org/charities/top-charities
If you’re looking to give a donation as a gift, I would highly recommend Mercy Corps:
http://gifts.mercycorps.org/category/all
They have all kinds of different donations you can make, for example you could buy a cook stove for a family in Africa or a rural solar panels in a developing country. They start at $18 and go up from there. Each donation comes with a beautiful greeting card and a little information about the donation.
I like to make a donation and then find some small related gift — for example, last year I gave my cousin the “Tea Booth” along with my favorite green tea.
I used to tutor for Seattle Music Partners (www.seattlemusicpartners.org). It’s a great organization that does after-school music education in low-income-area schools in Seattle.
If you have the means, I also recommend donating to a local classical musical group (your local chorale or symphony, etc). Most of them are non-profits and rely very, very heavily on donor support. It varies by group, but many are involved in community education and outreach as well!
There are no shortage of causes out there in need of support and organizations that would like to do just that. Myself I appreciate a group that does the most it can to support directly those in need, and as such have been donating consistently to Modest Needs – http://www.modestneeds.org/ for years.
I could drone on for paragraphs about their methods and focus, but you would be better served just to click through and read for yourself how and why it works, and works well.
Last Christmas I gave everyone in my office a certificate for $20 to donate to the charity themselves, not just in their name, in hope of sparking more interest. Despite being around for a decade you would be surprised how few people have heard of this quality group.
RAINN, usually.
Women on Waves/Women on the Web will send the abortion pill to women in countries where abortion is illegal – they also have a ship that stays in international waters and provides surgical abortion to women. It also provided information on how to hide an abortion/make it look like a miscarriage etc. http://www.womenonwaves.org/
I know I’m late to the party, but I want to recommend The Nature Conservancy (http://www.nature.org/)! I’m biased, because I choose to work there, but between all 50 states, and more than 30 countries, there are conservation, wildlife, sustainable food, and human health projects to appeal to absolutely everyone. Here’s a video with just a small sampling of work from the last year (with penguins! And kangaroos!): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljaJSRhSI1o. Plus, donations in the next couple of days can be given as gifts (Adopt an Acre in someone’s honor, protect a Rhino, save 5 trees in Costa Rica, etc.: https://support.nature.org/site/SPageNavigator/gi…
Ministry of Stories AND the fantastic Fighting Words in Dublin are both sort-of sister orgs to the eight chapters of 826 National, which is indeed affiliated with McSweeney's.
I've been volunteering with the Seattle branch since 2005 and spent a couple months as a volunteer at Fighting Words, too; all of these orgs are VERY worthy of your support. Also: La Fabbrica delle Parole (the Word Factory) in Milan; there are also versions in Stockholm, and maybe also Vienna…it's a good, portable, open-source model.
In short: yay, 826.
Wait wait! this is really important! http://globallives.org/ 24 hours in the lives of such different individuals. amazing work, amazing project, making the world smaller and bigger at the same time. And right now, they’re looking for donations to send global lives kits to schools so that children can experience the world! https://globallives.crowdhoster.com/help-100-000-…
Wait wait! this is really important! http://globallives.org/ 24 hours in the lives of such different individuals. amazing work, amazing project, making the world smaller and bigger at the same time. And right now, they’re looking for donations to send global lives kits to schools so that children can experience the world! https://globallives.crowdhoster.com/help-100-000-…
This is a great thread! Aside from Partners in Health (already mentioned), I like to donate to my local hospice organization, Hospicare (http://www.hospicare.org/)–they vastly improve many people’s end-of-life quality of life, provide free grief counseling, and don’t turn anyone away for lack of funds.
Also the Afghan Institute of Learning (http://www.afghaninstituteoflearning.org/), which educates Afghan women; and Edna Adan Maternity Hospital (http://www.ednahospital.org/) founded by a kickass woman in Somaliland, which in addition to delivering babies, also trains midwives and fights female genital mutilation.