Donations 2008
I just finished (most of) my end-of-year donations; here are the organizations I'm donating to. Almost all of this is repeated from last year. New items on the list (since last year) are in italics.
The list is categorized for ease of scanning, though the categories are somewhat arbitrary in some places. Some items are listed under multiple categories.
Almost all of these organizations take donations online, either by credit card or PayPal. I'll explicitly mention it when an organization doesn't take donations online.
Donations to almost all of these organizations are tax-deductible in the US.
Aid and relief
- American Jewish World Service
- They're "dedicated to alleviating poverty, hunger and disease among the people of the developing world regardless of race, religion or nationality [through] grants to grassroots organizations, volunteer service, advocacy and education." They came to my attention when they were helping fund underground schools for Afghan girls during the reign of the Taliban.
- A Child's Right
- "[C]ommitted to providing the very best in water purification technologies and clean water systems to desperate children in orphanages, street shelters, children's hospitals and schools in impoverished nations throughout the world." A family friend has volunteered with them, and I like what I've heard about them.
- Direct Relief International
- "[P]rovides medical assistance to improve the quality of life for people victimized by poverty, disaster, and civil unrest at home and throughout the world." I found out about them through Google's tsunami relief page in 2004, but like most of the organizations listed there, they also do good work worldwide and year-'round.
- Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières
- See listing under Medical organizations.
- Habitat for Humanity
- They build houses for people, and require those people to help build other houses for other people. Some friends of mine don't like the fact that Habitat is a Christian organization, but that doesn't bother me. They seek "to eliminate poverty housing and homelessness from the world, and to make decent shelter a matter of conscience and action. Habitat invites people of all backgrounds, races and religions to build houses together in partnership with families in need." As far as I can tell, they don't proselytize.
- One Laptop Per Child
- See listing under Kids.
- American Red Cross
- Provides services including "domestic disaster relief [...;] community services that help the needy; support and comfort for military members and their families; the collection, processing and distribution of lifesaving blood and blood products; educational programs that promote health and safety; and international relief and development programs." And talking with Kam about her volunteer work with them has made me like them more--among other things, it turns out that 97 percent of their workforce consists of volunteers.
- Sarvodaya
- This is the organization that Arthur C. Clarke recommended supporting in Sri Lanka after the tsunami. They've been around for nearly 50 years. They have an American branch, Sarvodaya USA, that's registered as a 501(c)(3); Americans who donate to the US branch can deduct the donations.
- Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties
- They give food to people who need it. There are affiliated organizations all over the US.
Art and culture
- Broad Universe
- "[A]n international organization with the primary goal of promoting science fiction, fantasy, and horror written by women."
- Carl Brandon Society
- "[D]edicated to addressing the representation of people of color in the fantastical genres such as science fiction, fantasy and horror."
- Clarion West
- An annual six-week speculative-fiction writing workshop; I attended long ago. Many attendees have gone on to have high-profile careers in sf.
- DesiLit
- "[W]orks to build support for South Asian and diaspora writers by enhancing public awareness [...], creating opportunities for new and aspiring South Asian writers [...], and developing a supportive community."
- KALW public radio
- The Bay Area's other public radio station. I don't listen to it as much as I listen to KQED, but I do appreciate that it's there, and this year I finally remembered to donate.
- KQED public radio
- One of the few radio stations I listen to these days, usually in the car. Though since I don't drive much these days, I don't listen to the radio much. Still, worth supporting.
- Speculative Literature Foundation
- Their mission is to "promote literary quality in speculative fiction, by encouraging promising new writers, assisting established writers, facilitating the work of quality magazines and small presses in the genre, and developing a greater public appreciation of speculative fiction."
- Strange Horizons
- The online sf magazine I'm an editor for.
Domestic civil liberties
- American Civil Liberties Union
- Supporting civil liberties, especially freedom of speech, in the US. Donations to the ACLU are not tax-deductible, but they're in particular need of donations this year because two organizations that supplied a lot of funding to the ACLU have gone under due to the Madoff thing.
- Center for Constitutional Rights
- Public-interest lawyers "dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights"; they continue to work on improving the legal situation for the detainees at Guantánamo Bay, among other things.
- Electronic Frontier Foundation
- Sort of the online/digital equivalent of the ACLU, "confront[ing] cutting-edge issues defending free speech, privacy, innovation, and consumer rights." I sometimes disagree vehemently with their phrasing and approaches, but I strongly support most of the work they do.
Education and learning resources
- Coyote Point Museum
- A nature learning center here on the Peninsula; I'm most interested in their wildlife program. See my entry describing Kam's and my visit a couple years ago.
- Exploratorium
- Excellent and educational "museum of science, art, and human perception" in San Francisco. I rarely make it up there, but I maintain my membership anyway, to support their work.
- Peter Hartman Fund at the Pierce College Foundation
- My father taught at a community college near Tacoma, WA, called Pierce College. After his death, the college set up a fund in his name for providing math books for disadvantaged students. If you'd like to donate to it, fill out the online form and specify "Peter Hartman Fund" in the appropriate text box. (As with most of the items on this page, the Foundation is a 501(c)(3), so donations to it are tax-deductible.)
- Project Vote Smart
- Provides a huge amount of useful information about ballot measures and candidates.
- Resource Center for Nonviolence
- A Santa Cruz-based "thirty year old peace and social justice organization dedicated to promoting the principles of nonviolent social change and enhancing the quality of life and human dignity." As usual, John McCutcheon will be doing a pair of benefit concerts for them in Santa Cruz in January; this time the concerts will be on January 16 and 17, with the latter being (as usual) a kids-and-family-focused concert.
- Room to Read
- See listing under Kids.
- Swarthmore College
- My alma mater, still providing an excellent liberal arts education.
- Wikimedia Foundation
- Wikipedia is the single website that I visit most often (aside from the ones run by my employer), and probably the most useful and informative site I visit regularly. I use it all the time, for all sorts of things.
Environment and wildlife
(This section added a day later.)
- Coyote Point Museum
- See listing under Education and learning resources.
- Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care
- I blogged about them back in November, in my entry about Smokey the injured bear. They're "an independent, nonprofit volunteer organization whose function is to raise, rehabilitate and release orphaned and injured wild birds and animals" (in the Tahoe area). Don't know if they'll be on my list every year, but I did donate to them this year.
Kids and young adults
- A Child's Right
- See listing under Aid and relief.
- City Year
- "[U]nites young people of all backgrounds for a year of full-time service, giving them skills and opportunities to change the world."
- One Laptop Per Child
- Their mission is "[t]o provide children around the world with new opportunities to explore, experiment and express themselves." They now have an ongoing "give one, get one" program, where you can send them the money for two laptops and they'll send one to a kid in the developing world and one to you. Note, though, that these laptops may not make good gifts for kids who have access to more high-powered computers.
- Room to Read
- "[P]artners with local communities throughout the developing world to establish schools, libraries, and other educational infrastructure." Since 2000, they've helped local communities in Asia and Africa build 287 schools and 3870 libraries, among other things. Oh, and they've donated over 1.4 million books and funded nearly 3500 long-term scholarships for girls.
Medical organizations
- Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières
- "[D]elivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, natural or man-made disasters, or exclusion from health care in more than 70 countries." They do good work, even if they do have wacky ideas about titles. I continue to refuse to donate to them 'til they stop requiring a title in their web form; I've been asking them to fix that for three years, and was told a year and a half ago that they were working on it. I could certainly donate by phone without giving a title, but I'm annoyed with them. Still, they do good work, and as soon as they fix their online donation form, I'll send them money. I may even decide to stop being annoyed by this and just send them money anyway. But I do find it bizarre and baffling that (unlike every other organization on this list) you can't donate to them online without telling them your gender. I've told them exactly how to fix this; depending on their underlying system, it would take any competent web programmer about one to thirty minutes to get rid of the requirement. But they won't do it, and they've stopped replying to my emails about it. (Last year, one of their webmasters sent me a condescending note containing false information in response to one of my email queries about this.)
- Haight Ashbury Free Clinics
- They've been providing "free, high-quality, demystified and comprehensive health care that is culturally sensitive, nonjudgmental and accessible to all in need" in San Francisco for 40 years now.
- The Women's Community Clinic
- Another San Francisco organization providing high-quality free healthcare: "free, respectful, quality care for women, by women." Came to my attention via a Jon Carroll column in 1999.
Women
- Broad Universe
- See listing under Art and culture.
- Global Fund for Women
- "[A]n international network of women and men committed to a world of equality and social justice. [They] advocate for and defend women's human rights by making grants to support women's groups around the world."
- Pretty Bird Woman House
- A small women's shelter on a Lakota Sioux reservation in South Dakota that recently got Federal funding. Last year they had a successful fund drive to replace their building, which arsonists had burned down; this year, they have more mundane needs, like towels for the women and children who temporarily stay there.
- The Women's Community Clinic
- See listing under Medical organizations.
Okay, I think that's all for now.
Note: If you donate online to nonprofits, I strongly recommend finding the little box many of them provide that says either "Yes, it's okay to share my name with other organizations" or "Please don't share my name with other organizations" and checking or unchecking it as appropriate. Maybe everyone knows this, but in case not: it's quite common for nonprofits to trade or sell their mailing lists, which can result in a flood of donation requests from other organizations. Many of which are also worthy, but there's only so many places one person can donate to--and I hate junk mail anyway.