Burning Mom’s Unsolicited Guide To Giving Tuesday
“I got him Yankees tickets! He got me a piece of paper saying, "I've given your gift to someone else!" (George Costanza, The Strike)
Micro Rage
Paperwork. It is so tedious and infuriating in the most innocuous circumstances, but more often than not it feels like some sort of Groundhog’s Day plot where I am constantly filling out the same thing to the same people. My husband started handling school paperwork during the pandemic, and it is the only reason I am still sane.
Macro Rage
The December after I graduated with my Masters in Social Work, my husband and I boarded a plane bound for Kigali, Rwanda to spend a year as volunteer teachers. After concentrating in political social work, I was anxious to learn more about NGOs (non-governmental organizations) firsthand. What I found was disappointing. Instead of engaging communities in meaningful change, most organizations seemed to implement actions without a thorough needs assessment. That is, they were deciding what a community needed before asking the community what it needed. Unfortunately, I found many of the same problems when we moved back to the United States. I have so many thoughts on nonprofits and NGOs and donating, and I am quite certain even this curated corner of the internet has no interest in reading my ramblings late on a Monday evening. Instead, I give you my unsolicited guide to Giving Tuesday, which if I had put together sooner would include nice references. As it stands, these will be my unsourced thoughts.
Think about things you love, use regularly, and want to support. State parks? Museums? Libraries? Local theater? These places need money, and I always feel comfortable supporting something I already use and enjoy and want to see more of in the world.
Think about causes you support. Now think local. More local. Maybe even more local than that. No matter what the issue, I am confident there is a group of local activists working on it. Yes, you could give to the big name charities, but personally, I would much rather donate cash to a local mutual aid group or grassroots org. Let’s use reproductive justice as an example. Instead of giving to Planned Parenthood (where, real talk, the money is not going into your immediate community), you could look into a statewide org like AVOW, or a regional org like Frontera Fund, or a group providing direct aid like Buckle Bunnies.
Use guides like Charity Navigator as a reference tool, but know they are going to be limited.
Start by sharing your time. When you volunteer, not only are you helping, you’re getting a chance to see how the sausage is made. You’ll be able to see the fruits and the chaos firsthand.
A Small Thing
I just want to send some love to the comedic satire The Windsors on Netflix. I watch a bit every evening before bed, it makes me laugh, and I feel better.
A Big(ger) Thing
Land Trusts. I am still learning, but these seem like great places to donate time and money.
A great reminder! Hyper-local donation it is. I wonder if I could turn my huge backyard into a land trust....