If there was ever a year to take stock of your blessings and pass them along, this is it friends. I’ve been thinking a lot about all of the ways in which charity is not transformation. Donating money to 501c3 nonprofit organizations is many things—thoughtful, generous, moral. But it doesn’t do much at the root level to change the game of who has resources and who has to ask for them, or who, as is too often the case in our historically unequal country, never gets them at all. I realize this sort of sounds like I’m convincing you giving small donations at the end of the year doesn’t matter. It’s not that. It’s that it does matter, and I don’t want you, me, or any of us to get it twisted: end-of-year giving is a beginning, not an end.
So if you’re feeling like you could use a little guidance, pick your philanthropic adventure via these beginnings, and then see where they take you…
Interested in understanding more about why small dollar donations, given to those closest to the problems they are trying to solve, are so effective? Give to Thousand Currents and start browsing their Medium channel. For almost 35 years, Thousand Currents (formerly IDEX) has invested more than $10 million in 1,000 community-led initiatives in the Global South.
Interested in creating a more equitable economy that invests in the brilliance of community businesses and shifts generational trends in Black and Brown Americans being stripped of wealth? Donate to Common Future and read its brilliant leader, Rodney Foxworth. (You might remember this Q&A with Rodney earlier in the year.)
And while Rodney’s got you thinking about the reparative brilliance of Black Americans, consider investing in Springboard to Opportunities, where visionary Aisha Nyandoro is headed into her second year of a first-of-its-kind guaranteed income program with single, Black moms in Jackson, Mississippi. And read this, by Aisha, and some of the country’s other best thinkers on race, gender, and the wealth gap.
Interested in exploring how White parents can take responsibility for countering racism, not just through lawn signs and the occasional protest, but by sending our kids to public, integrating schools? Donate to Integrated Schools and listen to their fantastic podcast. (You might remember we lost the founder of the organization a year ago this week. Sending love to all her beloveds who miss her so damn much.)
It’s been so moving to see the first frontline workers getting the covid vaccine. Want to learn more about how the patent system works and is in dire need of reinvention? Donate to I-MAK and listen to two of my heroes—Priti Krishtel and Angela Glover Blackwell—in conversation here. (And yes, you read about Priti here last month.)
Interested in advocating for a media environment where journalists are expected to explore solutions as rigorously and compellingly as they do problems? Wondering how we can diversify the journalism field so that our version of reality is more accurately reflected in our news? Donate to The Solutions Journalism Network and read this. (Full disclosure: I co-founded this organization, but I play a very small role now and am continually amazed by what the outstanding staff is up to.)
And don’t forget labor movement work like the National Domestic Workers Alliance, The Workers Lab, and PHI.
And some quick hits:
Care about environmental justice? Look up The Solutions Project.
Want to support Black girls’ and women’s leadership? Fund Girls for a Change and/or GirlTrek, who just reached their 1 millionth walker!
Believe that our justice system is in dire need of reform? Check out Uncommon Law.
And please don’t forget the local basics in your own community—grassroots medical clinics, food banks, schools etc. These organizations and institutions have been stretched thinner than ever by this year’s struggles.
Happy giving! I’ll be back in touch on January 6th.
Beautifully crafted, Courtney. Thank you.
This is an amazing and inspiring list, Courtney. Thank you. One in Northern California that focuses on the needs of low-income families so that their children are fed and clothed for school is Una Vida: https://www.una-vida.org/. If you ever do an addendum to your list, the focus on readiness for learning is a worthy addition.