Several months ago, one of you DMed me and asked if we would be doing a round-up of charities and philanthropic organizations, because you wanted to share one! And I said that was a great idea and I sincerely meant to get to it much, much, much sooner than this. I’m sorry for my tardiness — but here we are at Giving Tuesday and there truly is no better time than the present to share the causes and organizations you plan to support either now at the holidays, or throughout the year! Please chime in down in the comments — and feel free to share links, which I will go in and make clicky for you! (Sharing a link will get you automatically put into moderation as part of our spam set-up, but don’t worry, I will fish you out. And because people always thoughtfully ask about this, if you work for an organization that relies on donations, feel free to share that as well.)
As for myself, I do monthly donations to the Los Angeles Mission, which is a long-running local organization that helps folks in Southern California experiencing homelessness, and I give regularly to my city’s local senior center, which has truly had a lot of work to do over the course of the pandemic to reach out to folks who were unable to go in for their usual services and camaraderie. As I’ve mentioned before, I also love Kiva, which allows you to give micro-loans to folks — usually small business owners all over the world. 97% of the people who receive loans pay them back, and I’ve personally never had one defaulted. Then you can either take your money back, or re-invest it in someone else; so far, I’ve given to a butcher in Ecuador, a woman with what seems like a great coffee cart in Rochester, seamstresses in Lebanon, a woman raising pigs in Colombia, and a woman in the Bay Area with a tamale company, among other folks. It’s really rewarding (and interesting).
I’m so interested to hear where you plan to put your support this year, if you’re able to do so — and please also share if you’re doing volunteer work!
