Donations, 2025

Jed

December 29, 2025

Here are the organizations I’m donating to in 2025.

Most of this list is repeated from 2021 (and earlier years), but since that last post I’ve removed a few organizations and added a few others.

The list is categorized for ease of scanning, though the categories are somewhat arbitrary in some places. Some items are listed under multiple categories.

Donations to almost all of these organizations (except as marked) are tax-deductible in the US.

Thoughts and philosophy

Before the list, here are some thoughts about my charitable giving this year.

I’ve been trying to cut back on my spending in general lately, for the sake of my longterm finances. But there’s more (and more urgent) need for aid than ever, and I decided that it would be better to spend more now and (potentially) less later rather than the other way around.

In 2025, my main foci have been supporting immigrants in the US, supporting trans people in the US, and supporting people in Gaza (though those foci aren’t clear from the list below). Some of that support takes the form of donating small amounts to individuals’ crowdfunding campaigns (which I haven’t listed on this page); other support takes the form of donating to organizations.

(My giving has been kind of disorganized this year. I’m pretty sure I’ve donated to several organizations that aren’t on this list; I may add some organizations to the list later as I look through records.)

With limited financial resources and an overwhelming number of people in need of aid, it can be hard to know who to give money to, and how to allot that money. In general, I feel like giving to organizations is more likely to be more effective for more people (for a given amount of money) than giving to individuals—but there are enormous numbers of individuals who aren’t fully supported by organizations, and those people need help too.

So I give here and there, knowing that there’s never enough to help everyone, but hoping that together we can provide enough support to help some people.

(Side note: This post doesn’t include organizations specifically focused on supporting candidates for political offices. For more about such organizations, see a separate post from 2024.)

Aid, relief, and housing

American Jewish World Service: “[T]he leading Jewish organization working to fight poverty and pursue justice in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.” “ AJWS supports more than 500 grassroots organizations, enabling them to continue and expand their work to build a more just and dignified world for the most vulnerable people on earth.”
Community Solutions: They work “to create a lasting end to homelessness that leaves no one behind.”
Direct Relief: “[A] humanitarian aid organization, active in all 50 [US] states and more than 80 countries, with a mission to improve the health and lives of people affected by poverty or emergencies—without regard to politics, religion, or ability to pay.”
Gaza Soup Kitchen: “Operating amidst unimaginable scarcity and risk, our team works tirelessly to prepare and serve hot, nourishing meals. We are not an outside aid group; we are the people of Gaza, serving our own community through the Gaza Soup Kitchen and local Palestine NGO efforts. Currently, across 10 active kitchen sites, the team prepares simple vegetarian meals […] often with severely limited supplies.”
Habitat for Humanity: “[A] global nonprofit housing organization working in local communities across all 50 states in the U.S. and in approximately 70 countries. Habitat’s vision is of a world where everyone has a decent place to live.” 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.
International Medical Corps: “[A] Global First Responder We deliver emergency medical and related services to those affected by conflict, disaster and disease, no matter where they are, no matter what the conditions. We also train people in their communities, providing them with the skills they need to recover, chart their own path to self-reliance and become effective first responders themselves.”; (They also seem to be a good alternative to Doctors Without Borders/MSF. I removed MSF from my list a while back after they reacted to my friendly suggestions about the required Title field in their donation form with strong hostility. I know that lots of my friends like and support MSF, and I don’t object to people supporting them, but I’m done with them.)
International Rescue Committee: “[R]esponds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people whose lives and livelihoods are shattered by conflict and disaster to survive, recover and gain control of their future. In more than 40 countries and over 20 U.S. cities, our dedicated teams provide clean water, shelter, health care, education and empowerment support to refugees and displaced people.” Several friends of mine and friends-of-friends have said really positive things about this organization.
Mercy Corps: “Our mission: to alleviate suffering, poverty, and oppression by helping people build secure, productive, and just communities. In more than 35+ countries around the world, nearly 4,300 team members work side by side with people living through poverty, disaster, violent conflict, and the acute impacts of climate change. We’re committed to creating global change through local impact—95% of our team members are from the countries where they work.”
National Abortion Fedeeration: Their mission: “to unite, represent, serve, and support abortion providers in delivering patient-centered, evidence-based care.”
No More Deaths: Among other activities, “No More Deaths maintains a year-round humanitarian presence in the deserts of southwestern Arizona. We work in the remote corridors into which migration has been pushed, where people are walking 30 to 80 miles. [NMD volunteers] hike the trails and leave water, food, socks, blankets, and other supplies. Under the direction of our medical team, volunteers provide emergency first-aid treatment to individuals in distress.”
Second Harvest of Silicon Valley: A food bank, giving food to people who need it. There are affiliated organizations all over the US.
Splash: “[W]orks to improve water, sanitation, hygiene (WASH), and menstrual health conditions for the urban poor, especially kids. […] Splash now serves more than one million kids in eight countries in Asia and Africa.”
World Central Kitchen: Provides “fresh meals in response to humanitarian, climate, and community crises.” I’ve been donating to them primarily because of their work in Gaza, but they also seem to be doing good work elsewhere.

Art and culture

Carl Brandon Society: Their mission is “to increase racial and ethnic diversity in the production of and audience for speculative fiction.”
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.
Con or Bust: “Connecting creatives and fans of color with community. […] makes direct cash grants to assist with travel, food, registration, and other expenses associated with attending industry events.”
Double Union: “[A] hacker/maker space and community workshop in San Francisco. We work together to maintain a comfortable, welcoming environment that centers nonbinary people and women.”
KALW public radio: A Bay Area public radio station. I don’t listen to it often, but I do appreciate that it’s there.
KQED public radio: I don’t listen to KQED often either; in fact, these days I don’t listen to the radio much at all. Still, worth supporting.
Neo-Futurists: Creators of the excellent ongoing-in-three-cities show Infinite Wrench, formerly known as Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind. (It’s been running for thirty-plus years in Chicago!)
Otherwise Award (formerly the James Tiptree, Jr. Literary Award): An annual award for science fiction and fantasy that expands and explores our understanding of gender. (Renamed in 2019.) I’m a member of the organization’s Motherboard.
Processing Foundation: See listing under Tech.
Speculative Literature Foundation: Their mission is to “promote literary quality in speculative fiction through our grants, programming, and more[.]”
Strange Horizons: The longest-running professional online sf magazine; I was an editor there for twelve years. September of 2025 marked the 25th anniversary of its launch.
WisCon/SF3: “WisCon is a feminist science fiction & fantasy convention”; when it’s in-person, it’s in Madison, Wisconsin. It’s my favorite convention. SF3 is its parent organization.

Education and learning resources

CuriOdyssey (formerly Coyote Point Museum): A nature learning center here on the Peninsula; I’m most interested in their wildlife program. A couple of us donate in Alex’s memory every year. See also my blog post describing Kam’s and my visit in 2005.
Exploratorium: Excellent and educational “museum of science, art, and human perception” in San Francisco. I rarely manage to visit, but I maintain my membership anyway, to support their work.
Processing Foundation: See listing under Tech.
Resource Center for Nonviolence: A Santa Cruz-based organization focused on using “nonviolence and antiracism as a means for personal and social change, to create a more just, equitable, joyful, and sustainable world.” John McCutcheon used to play a benefit concert for them in Santa Cruz each January.
Room to Read: They aim to create “a world free from illiteracy and gender inequality […] by helping children in historically low-income communities develop literacy skills and a habit of reading, and by supporting girls as they build skills to succeed in school and negotiate key life decisions.”
Swarthmore College: My alma mater, still providing an excellent liberal arts education.
Wikimedia Foundation: The “nonprofit that hosts Wikipedia.” Wikipedia is probably the single website that I visit most often, and probably the most useful and informative site that I visit regularly, despite its many flaws. I use it all the time, for all sorts of things.

Environment

Good Food Institute: “[W]e advance alternative proteins to help meet climate, global health, food security, and biodiversity goals.”
Opportunity Green: “[W]e use legal, economic and policy knowledge to tackle climate change.” “Our work focuses on equity, justice, and accountability, and ensures no one is left behind on the journey to global decarbonisation.” “[W]e focus our efforts [on sectors like] shipping, aviation, buildings, fisheries and energy.” UK organization, so donations are not tax-deductible in the US.

Gender

Global Fund for Women: “We fund bold, ambitious, and expansive gender justice movements to create meaningful change that will last beyond our lifetimes.”
Otherwise Award (formerly the James Tiptree, Jr. Literary Award): See listing under Art and culture.

Journalism and news

CalMatters: A “nonpartisan and nonprofit news organization bringing Californians stories that probe, explain and explore solutions to quality of life issues while holding our leaders accountable.” I’ve found their coverage of election candidates and ballot propositions especially useful.
ProPublica: An “independent, nonprofit newsroom” with a mission to “expose abuses of power and betrayals of the public trust by government, business, and other institutions, using the moral force of investigative journalism.”

LGBTQ

Ali Forney Center: New York organization to “provide homeless LGBTQ+ and at-risk youth a safe, warm, supportive environment to escape the streets.”
Lambda Legal: They work “to achieve full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and everyone living with HIV, through impact litigation, education and public policy work.”
Lost-N-Found Youth: Atlanta shelter for homeless LGBTQ youth. Also helps youth from other Southern states.
National Center for LGBTQ Rights: In 2016, a friend told me: “They do a huge amount of litigation work. They handle more trans cases (male, female, and non-binary) than any other organization in the country. They are very effective.”
National LGBTQ Task Force: In 2016, a friend told me: “they play an infrastructural role in the movement (training for LGBTQ activists, large scale joint fund-raising that mostly goes to other orgs). They also do more work with faith based groups than any other LGTBQ group that isn’t specifically about a religion. They run the single largest convening of LGBTQ activists in the world (creating change), with a large number of participants going on a scholarship basis. I am in their board. The staff is very diverse (more than half are POC, with a good gender distribution).”
Transgender Law Center: In 2016, a friend told me: “they are the largest trans rights group in the country. Still tiny by LGB terms, but they do very effective work (especially impact litigation). I am also on their board. The staff is very diverse (more than half are POC, with [good] gender distribution).”
Trans Lifeline: “[A] grassroots hotline and microgrants […] organization offering direct emotional and financial support to trans people in crisis—for the trans community, by the trans community.”

Medical and health-related

Breast Cancer Research Foundation: “[C]ommitted to achieving prevention and a cure for breast cancer. We provide critical funding for cancer research worldwide to fuel advances in tumor biology, genetics, prevention, treatment, metastasis and survivorship.”
Equal Hope (formerly Metropolitan Chicago Breast Cancer Task Force): “[D]edicated to saving lives and improving quality of life by eliminating health inequities” in the Chicago area, especially focused on breast cancer and (I think) cervical cancer.
HealthRIGHT 360 (formerly Haight Ashbury Free Clinics): Provides “healthcare, dental care, substance use treatment and mental health services for those without insurance” in San Francisco.
March for Our Lives: They work to “educate, engage, and mobilize young people into sustained action that challenges the systems enabling gun violence and creates the conditions for the cultural and policy change needed to make our communities safe.”; Donations to the March for Our Lives Action Fund (a 501(c)(4)) are not tax-deductible. Donations to the March for Our Lives Foundation are tax-deductible. For more about what the two groups do, see their FAQ.; (I wasn’t sure what category to list this organization under.)
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (formerly National Suicide Prevention Lifeline): “[P]rovides free and confidential emotional support to people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, across the United States and its territories. The 988 Lifeline is comprised of a national network of over 200 local crisis centers, combining local care and resources with national standards and best practices.”
Pan-Mass Challenge: “[A] Massachusetts-based bike-a-thon that raises […] funds for Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, a world leader in adult and pediatric cancer treatment and research.”
Planned Parenthood: “[W]orks to protect and expand access to sexual and reproductive health care and education, and provides support to its member affiliates.”
Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN): “[T]he nation’s largest anti-sexual violence organization and operator of the National Sexual Assault Hotline.”; (I wasn’t sure what category to list this organization under.)
Trust Women Foundation: They’re “dedicated to improving access to reproductive, and sexual healthcare [including abortion] to regions where it is limited, ensuring that everyone, regardless of ability to pay, can receive care without shame or stigma.”

Software and technology

Processing Foundation: They run the Processing programming language/art environment. “Our mission is to promote software learning within the arts, artistic learning within technology-related fields, and to celebrate the diverse communities that make these fields vibrant, liberatory, and innovative. Our goal is to support people of all backgrounds in learning how to program and make creative work with code, especially those who might not otherwise have access to tools and resources.”
Signal: Providing encrypted messaging and voice and video calls.
Software Freedom Conservancy: Their mission is to “ensure the right to repair, improve and reinstall software. We promote and defend these rights through fostering free and open source software (FOSS) projects, driving initiatives that actively make technology more inclusive, and advancing policy strategies that defend FOSS.” For more about them, see Sumana’s 2015 blog post, which includes a 3-minute video of Sumana talking about the Conservancy. Among the projects they support are Git, Mercurial, and Wine.

US civil liberties, civil rights, and immigration

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU): Supporting civil liberties, especially freedom of speech, in the US. (Donations to the ACLU are not tax-deductible.)
Autistic Self-Advocacy Network (ASAN): “[S]eeks to advance the principles of the disability rights movement with regard to autism. […] [It is] run by and for autistic people. ASAN is a national grassroots disability rights organization for the autistic community.”; (Note that this is a different organization from Autism Speaks. Many autistic people are very unhappy with Autism Speaks, especially because that organization focuses on parents of autistic people rather than on the autistic people themselves. ASAN, on the other hand, is run by autistic people; it uses the motto “Nothing about us without us.” I support ASAN and oppose Autism Speaks.)
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR): Their mission is “to enhance understanding of Islam, protect civil rights, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.”
Campaign Zero: They work to end police violence in America by “limiting police interventions, improving community interactions, and ensuring accountability.”
Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR): Public-interest lawyers “dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. CCR is committed to the creative use of law as a positive force for social change. We do that by combining cutting-edge litigation, advocacy and strategic communications in work on a broad range of civil and human rights issues.” They’ve put in a lot of work on the legal situation for the detainees at Guantánamo Bay, among other things.
Day Worker Center of Mountain View: “[C]onnects the day worker community with employers in a safe and reliable environment in addition to offering various programs for workers and community members such as providing healthy meals, ESL classes, technology classes, workshops about worker's rights and much more.”
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF): Sort of the online/digital equivalent of the ACLU, “defending civil liberties in the digital world. […] EFF champions user privacy, free expression, and innovation through impact litigation, policy analysis, grassroots activism, and technology development.” I sometimes disagree vehemently with their phrasing and approaches, but I strongly support most of the work they do.
Equal Justice Initiative: A friend of mine described them as a “nonprofit organization providing legal representation to indigent defendants and prisoners denied fair and just treatment in the legal system.” The website says: “EJI […] provides legal representation to people who have been illegally convicted, unfairly sentenced, or abused in state jails and prisons. We challenge the death penalty and excessive punishment and we provide re-entry assistance to formerly incarcerated people.”
Friends Committee on National Legislation: “[A] national, nonpartisan Quaker organization that lobbies [the US] Congress and the administration to advance peace, justice, and environmental stewardship.”; Donations to the Friends Committee on National Legislation are not tax-deductible. Donations to the FCNL Education Fund are tax-deductible.
HIAS (formerly Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society): “[P]rovides vital services to refugees and asylum seekers around the world and advocates for their fundamental rights so they can rebuild their lives.”
Immigrants Rising: They “create opportunities and resources for undocumented people to achieve their educational and career goals through personal, institutional, and policy transformation.” In 2016, a friend of mine wrote: “For those interested in helping young people with possible paths to documentation & residency/citizenship and college access I recommend [Immigrants Rising]. They do great advocacy & outreach on immigrant rights & social justice.”
Just Detention International: “[A] health and human rights organization that seeks to end sexual abuse in all forms of detention.” I’m onboard with their goals, but I don’t feel like I know enough about them yet to fully recommend them, and I wish the “international” part of their name were more fully realized. (They seem very US-focused.)
NAACP: They “advocate, agitate, and litigate for the civil rights due to Black America.”; Donations to the NAACP are not tax-deductible. Donations to the NAACP Empowerment Programs are tax-deductible.
National Bail Out (formerly Brooklyn Community Bail Fund): “[A] Black-led and Black-centered collective of abolitionist organizers, lawyers, and activists building a community-based movement to support our folks in abolishing pretrial detention systems and dismantling the prison industrial complex.” Among other things, they “[coordinate] the Black Mama’s Bail Out, during which we bail out as many Black mamas and caregivers as possible so they can spend Mother’s Day with their families,” and support bail reform efforts.
National Immigration Law Center: They’re “dedicated to advancing and defending the rights and opportunities of low-income immigrants and their loved ones.”
Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES): They “deliver legal and social services to people and families who want to put down roots in the U.S.—and cultivate welcoming communities that uphold our collective freedoms.”
Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network (SIREN): Their mission is “to empower low-income immigrants and refugees through community education and organizing, leadership development, policy advocacy, civic engagement and legal services.”
Spread the Vote: “We work every day to ensure that people have what they need to vote. 77% of the people we work with have never voted before.”
Vera Institute for Justice: Their mission is to “end the criminalization and mass incarceration of people of color, immigrants, and people experiencing poverty.”

Note about mailing lists

If you donate online to nonprofits, I strongly recommend finding the little box many of them provide that lets you choose whether you want them to share your name and contact info with other organizations, and checking or unchecking it as appropriate. 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 unsolicited mail anyway.

Lorem Ipsum

The website of Jed Hartman