Where to give money?
Filed in: personal, Thu, Dec 29 2005 09:30 PT
I’m soliciting suggestions on what to do with my end-of-year giving. I’m looking for organizations who share my values. So far, the two that I can think of offhand, Creative Commons and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, have received a large portion of what I have to give. (The hurricane/tsunami/earthquake/locust-plague category has also been taken care of.) Clearly, I’m blanking out on other organizations that I support and respect. Who else deserves a donation?
December 29th, 2005 at 09:54 UTC
Might I recommend The Human Fund?
“Money for People”
December 29th, 2005 at 10:03 UTC
of course it’s goodd to support the wikimedai fountdation
http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Wikimedia_needs_your_help
December 29th, 2005 at 11:13 UTC
I am consistently impressed by the work done by Northwest Environment Watch.
They’re primarily a research and vision group, trying to measure and publicize trends in our region to facilitate political and social change towards a more sustainable model.
Their blog, Cascadia Scorecard, is interesting reading too.
December 29th, 2005 at 12:03 UTC
* erowid / MAPS / CCLE / other ‘cognitive liberty’ organizations
* local / regional enviro groups such as Conservation Northwest (formerly NWEA)
* ACLU (nat’l or WA)
December 29th, 2005 at 13:52 UTC
Lately I’m less fond of the EFF and I’ve stopped giving my money to them. I’ve been growing more and more uncomfortable with their position on file sharing and the “wink wink nudge nudge” endorsement of piracy. EFF has done some important things in their time, and will surely continue to do so again, but the last time I gave they sent me a t-shirt proclaiming pirates’ rights and I just can’t really keep giving them money in good conscience. Sure, DMCA is pretty brutal for consumers, but at least half the blame lies at the feet of the millions of people who just want to keep the “free entertainment” gravy train rolling and EFF’s stance is not in keeping with my own thoughts on the subject.
So for the past few years I’ve been giving to epic.org who have remained focused on *actual* privacy and electronic rights.
I’m also quite fond of MercyCorps as a secular humanitarian aid organization, for those who would prefer to not donate to religions organizations.
December 31st, 2005 at 00:13 UTC
Well, as one might expect, half of my side of the donations went to Creative Commons. The other half was split between:
EFF (Absolute positions always have sticky points, as we often see with the ACLU, and I prefer that approach to more fuzzy approaches.)
Center for Democracy and Technology
EPIC (Thanks for the reminder, Nugget!)
Ourmedia, one of the best new sites of 2005
KEXP 90.3, which kicks all kinds of ass, even if they hit a rough patch financially this year
I also gave to Médecins sans Frontières for my Christmas present to each of my parents.
Anyway, thanks to everyone for helping jog my memory. One less thing to worry about doing before New Years Eve.
December 31st, 2005 at 18:49 UTC
American Cancer Society would be a great charity to donate to!
January 6th, 2006 at 01:33 UTC
Are you willing to donate to 3rd world countries? “Bantay Bata 163″ (for abused and homeless children in the Philippines)