Persistence Gift Giving Guide 2017

What’s the issue? The end of the year is the season of charitable giving for many Americans. In 2014, individual Americans gave $258.51 billion, giving 24% of their total between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. It just so happens that all year I’ve been highlighting awesome organizations that are helping advance the many issues I’ve talked about on this blog. Today I’m going to round them all up on one list for you to use as your one stop shop for all your holiday giving.

Things to keep in mind while giving:

1. Charitable donations make great gifts for others too! I love it when friends and family honor me by donating to a cause I’m passionate about. It’s all the joy of giving and receiving and helping make the world a better place rolled into one.
2. Check to see if your place of employment matches your donation. You could double your impact!
3. If you plan to claim a tax deduction for your gift, make sure you donate to a 501(c)(3) non-profit and get a receipt. You can double check that your donation will be eligible here.

So, without further ado…

The list (in alphabetical order by issue area):

Gun Violence Prevention

• Giffords Law Center. Donate here to support the nation’s leading policy organization dedicated to researching, writing, enacting, and defending proven laws and programs to save lives from gun violence by shifting culture, changing policies, and challenging injustice.
• Violence Prevention Center. Donate here to stop gun death and injury through research, education, advocacy, and collaboration.

International Assistance

• Amref Health Africa. Donate here to support the largest African-based nonprofit that delivers health services to over 30 countries on the continent.
• CARE Cuba. Donate here to contribute to the development of vulnerable areas and offer capacity, support and expertise as Cuba updates its social and economic models.
• DKT International. Donate here to support the largest and most cost-effective family planning organizations in world.
• Ipas. Donate here to give women and girls everywhere the opportunity to determine their futures, care for their families, and manage their fertility (including safe abortion).
• International Planned Parenthood Federation. Donate here to ensure people are free to make choices about their sexuality and well-being, in a world without discrimination.
• International Rescue Committee. Donate here to support refugees from some of the world’s worst crises.
• Marie Stopes International. Donate here to provide life-changing contraception, safe abortion and family planning services, empowering millions of women globally to take control of their fertility and futures.
• Mercy Corps. Donate here to respond to global emergencies and aid long term recovery.
• Partners in Health. Donate here to bring the benefits of modern medical science to those most in need of them and to serve as an antidote to despair.
• Population Services International. Donate here for measurable health impact in the developing world, including access to affordable contraception and safe abortion for women and girls around the world.
• Roots of Hope. Donate here to empower Cuban youth.
• Syrian American Medical Society. Donate here to support the front lines of crisis relief in Syria and neighboring countries to alleviate suffering and save lives.

Immigration

• National Immigration Law Center. Donate here to fight against unjust new immigration laws and policies at every turn, using the courtroom if necessary.
• Refugee Council USA. Donate here to support a coalition of 22 U.S.-based non-governmental organizations that are dedicated to refugee protection, welcoming, and the U.S. refugee resettlement program.
• United We Dream. Donate here to support a youth-led immigrant organization fight against President Trump’s agenda of hate and to protect undocumented immigrants.

Legal Action

• Anti-Defamation League. Donate here to stop the defamation of the Jewish people, and to secure justice and fair treatment to all.
• American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Donate here to defend Americans rights in court. I often highlight the ACLU for the work it’s doing standing up to the Trump Administration in court on behalf of refugees, immigrants, Dreamers, women seeking abortions, and more. Their website lists their issues as: capital punishment, criminal law reform, disability rights, free speech, HIV, human rights, immigrants’ rights, juvenile justice, LGBT rights, mass incarceration, national security, prisoners’ rights, privacy & technology, racial justice, religious liberty, reproductive freedom, voting rights, and women’s rights.

LGBTQ Rights

• Black Trans Advocacy. Donate here to support the only social justice program developed to collectively address inequities faced in the black trans human experience.
• Human Rights Campaign. Donate here to support lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer equality.
• TransLatin@ Coalition. Donate here to advocate for the specific needs of the Trans Latin@ community that resides in the U.S.A. and to plan strategies that improve quality of life.
• Trans Women of Color Collective. Donate here to uplift the narratives, lived experiences and leadership of trans and gender non-conforming people of color, our families and comrades as we build towards collective liberation for all oppressed people.
• Trevor Project. Donate here to provide crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) young people ages 13–24.

Progressive Political Action

• 5calls. Donate here to make it easy for everyone to contact their elected representatives and speak up about issues important to them.
• ActBlue Fund. Donate here to flip the House of Representatives for the Democrats in 2018.
• The Indivisible Guide. Donate here to fuel a progressive grassroots network of local groups to resist the Trump Agenda.
• Rock the Vote. Donate here to register and turn out millions of new voters, and support the largest nonprofit and nonpartisan organization in the United States driving the youth vote to the polls.

Puerto Rico

• Ambulantes. Search here for a regularly updated list of organizations on the ground in Puerto Rico where you can donate to help support hurricane relief.
• Connect Relief. Donate here to support hurricane relief efforts in Puerto Rico.

Racial Justice

• NAACP Charlottesville Chapter. Donate here to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination in Charlottesville.
• SOLIDARITYCVILLE. Donate here to support racial justice in Charlottesville, VA.
• Southern Poverty Law Center. Donate here to fight hate and bigotry and to seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of our society using litigation, education, and other forms of advocacy.

Reproductive Justice

• Black Mamas Matter. Donate here to advocate, drive research, build power, and shift culture for Black maternal health, rights, and justice.
• Guttmacher Institute. Donate here to support research and policy committed to advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights in the United States and globally.
• Kentucky Health Justice Network. Donate here to ensure all Kentucky communities and individuals have power, access, and resources to be healthy and have agency over their lives.
• Planned Parenthood. Donate here to advance the cause of reproductive justice, to make sure all women (and LGBTQ people) have access to contraception and reproductive care, and to ensure access to safe abortion in the United States.
• Planned Parenthood Action. Donate here to help fight for laws and policies to protect your rights and health, and elect officials who will do so too.
• The Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States. Donate here so that all people have the information and access they need and have the right to in order to lead healthy sexual lives.

Other

• Drug Policy Alliance. Donate here to advance those policies and attitudes that best reduce the harms of both drug use and drug prohibition, and to promote the sovereignty of individuals over their minds and bodies.
• The Ocean Cleanup. Donate here to help clean up half the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in 5 years.