It’s Been a Tough Year. Let’s Help Each Other Out.
There may be a dark shadow hanging over this year’s holiday season, but there are still ways to give to those in need.
Because of our crazy production schedule, I’m writing my annual end-of-year donations column a week after the election, and I have to admit I’m having a hard time summoning up my usual holiday cheer. “Bah, humbug” is more like it, and “grr” and “oh hell.” By the time you read this, I’m hoping we’ve recovered from gloom and doom and are ready to spread some comfort and joy—and maybe even some hope. Silver lining: At least you won’t be donating to candidates. That means you can splash out on these important groups and do some good.
1. Baltimore Beat. Everyone complains about the death of local news. In 2023, an average of two and a half local papers closed every week, up from two per week in 2022. No wonder people don’t know what’s going on. Baltimore Beat is a weekly paper by and for Baltimore’s Black community—and yes, it’s on paper, because not everyone is online, and some people like to read an actual newspaper while they eat their lunch or ride to work. It has politics, arts, investigative reporting, and much more. (Recent headline: “After Bail Reform Effort, Baltimore Residents Are Being Held in Jail at Higher Rates Than Before.”) Check it out, subscribe, and donate. Keep news alive! baltimorebeat.com
2. Economic Hardship Reporting Project. Founded by Barbara Ehrenreich, EHRP finds and funds writing about the economic struggles of ordinary people and places it in newspapers and magazines you probably already read, from The New York Times and The Washington Post to Time, Rolling Stone, and, yes, The Nation. If you’re sick of media geared to the affluent, the frivolous, and the conventional, donate to EHRP and help them tell the other side of the story—reality. (True confession: I’m on the board.) economichardship.org
3. African Library Project. If you love books and have some energy and time, please consider volunteering to make a school library with the African Library Project. I’ve been collecting and sending books for years with help from friends and husband, and believe me, there are days when I think, “Well, at least I sent 1,000 children’s books to a school that didn’t have any.” This is a great project for a school—or a scout group or book club or family or just for yourself. I promise you’ll be glad you got involved! africanlibraryproject.org
4. Standing Together. This small but mighty grassroots Jewish-Arab social movement is based on the premise that Arabs and Jews can live together in a progressive, peaceful Israel. Sounds like wishful thinking, I know, but stranger things have happened, and what is the alternative but staggering levels of violence and hatred? Plant a seed of hope by joining and donating. standing-together.org
5. The Life You Can Save. Founded by Peter Singer, whose book by that title urges us to give till it hurts to alleviate poverty, disease, illiteracy, and the oppression of women and girls in the developing world, this philanthropy finds and funds the most useful and high-impact organizations in each area. You can use the very informative website to support individual charities, from GiveDirectly, which gives money to poor people in Africa and elsewhere; to Seva, which preserves and restores eyesight in 20 countries; to Educate Girls, which focuses on girls in rural India. You can also give to all the charities at once, with a bit left over for the organization’s own research projects. A dollar goes a lot farther in a poor country than in a rich one, so don’t hold back. thelifeyoucansave.org
6. The National Abortion Federation Rachel Falls Patient Assistance Fund. You may have read that the Dobbs-inspired wave of donations to help low-income women get abortion care has subsided, and abortion funds, and even Planned Parenthood, have had to cut back on what they give out. Sadly, this is true—but you can help change that, and how often does that opportunity arise? Donate to the Rachel Falls Patient Assistance Fund of NAF, the professional association of abortion providers, and get necessary care for a person in a desperate situation. prochoice.org
7. One Simple Wish. Kids in foster care don’t have easy lives, but you can make sure they get at least one thing they really want, whether it’s new shoes, a bike, a book, a tablet, or a toy they’re obsessed with. This website makes it simple to grant a wish—just browse, read a child’s story, and click the donate button. I’m warning you, though: It’s hard to pick just one. This website may be habit-forming. onesimplewish.org
8. American Near East Refugee Aid. This nonpolitical, nonreligious NGO helps people in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, and Jordan with material aid, education, medical needs, and more. I put it on last year’s donations list at the recommendation of my friend, the Gazan poet Mosab Abu Toha, and I’m repeating it here this year because, as you may have noticed, the situation in the Middle East has deteriorated dramatically. Please help ANERA help some of the most desperate people in the world. anera.org
9. American Indian College Fund. Higher education gets such a bad rap these days (high tuition! political correctness! student debt!), you might think it’s hardly worth going. That’s nonsense, of course. College is the best, perhaps the only, way up and out of poverty for young Native Americans, many of whom will return to their reservations after graduation to serve their communities. But first they need scholarships and help with expenses, and that means they need you. Think of it as reparations—much more useful than a land acknowledgment at the bottom of an e-mail. collegefund.org
10. Afghan Women’s Fund. The Taliban is back, more brutal and misogynistic with each passing day. Now women are not only denied work and education but can barely stir out of doors to beg, since it’s illegal for them to speak in public. The AWF has worked in Afghanistan for years, and it’s still there, providing everything from vocational training for adult women to flash drives that enable homebound girls to continue their educations. afghanwomensfund.org
11. Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project. Trump’s promised expulsion of undocumented immigrants will bring lasting shame to our country and untold misery to millions. Get ready to defend them now by supporting the FIRRP, which provides legal help and social services to people in immigration detention and unaccompanied children in Arizona. firrp.org
12. The City. Wouldn’t you love to know what really goes on in New York City? From the latest scandal in the Adams administration to the “Trump Bump” in marriages as LGBT and immigrant couples rush to make it legal before Inauguration Day, The City has the city covered. It’s helmed by brilliant erstwhile long-time Nation editor Richard Kim, so you know it has to be great. thecity.nyc/
Happy holidays. Well… holidays.
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