Things are not good right now, are they. I think I’m going with links.
1. The ACLU has a good article on the right to peacefully protest, but the format is annoying because you have to keep clicking to get to the next item on the list. Still, it is a good list, if you are wondering about what is allowed and what is not, maybe because you are planning to participate in a protest, or maybe because people in your Facebook feed are acting as if it’s illegal to do so, or maybe because people in your Facebook feed are acting as if protesters don’t have to follow any rules at all. (Perhaps you are extra-lucky and you have BOTH kinds of people in your Facebook feed, fighting each other as you try not to let it make you want to start digging a hole for the bomb shelter.) Know Your Rights for Peaceful Protests. Here is a PDF version that doesn’t make you click to get to the next item: PDF Know Your Rights.
2. Sometimes it is hard to know where to send money to be HELPFUL: should the money go for legal support, or for education, or for the families of people affected? Should I send money to put out current fires, or would the money be better spent on preventing future fires? I can easily end up spinning my wheels and doing nothing. When I am overwhelmed by choices but want to do SOMETHING, I like to send a check to Plan International. They’re a non-religious charity that works on the very basics of making the world better: water, food, medical care, shelter, and not getting sold into slavery.
3. Or, here is a list of charities in the Human & Civil Rights category that Charity Navigator rates 4 stars (the highest rating). But I feel a little overwhelmed even with a pared-down list like that. Too many choices. On the other hand, I find it soothing to see how many people are working on making things better.
4. This Craig Ferguson quote:
“…Ask yourself the three questions you must always ask yourself before you say anything:
1. Does this need to be said?
2. Does this need to be said by me?
3. Does this need to be said by me now?”
Excellent.
Thank you.
I am prone to worrying about whether I am donated to The Best Possible Charity, and I often need to remind myself that a good charity is, you know. good.
Also someone I like is being fairly awful on social media to someone else I like, and it’s not my place to step in (Ladies, ladies, let me tell you how to be [your minority group]), but . . . awfulness.
Your comment made me think of this website I recently heard about:
http://www.charitynavigator.org/
You can compare charities that you are considering donating to and then see which one you prefer.
Right, that’s the one Swistle linked to in her post. I not only use it, I donate to Charity Navigator, which is itself a charity.
There are a lot of ways to evaluate charity. Spending is one. Effectiveness (but now to measure?) is another. And you also need to think about the goals of the charity — is it right to donate to an art museum when there are starving children? Does a financially efficient charity that underpays its workers count as a good cause? If a group I support is hasty with its endorsement of a political candidate that has not been a strong ally, what do I do then?
Argh, that before-last point: I worked for so many NGOs that were ‘financially efficient’ by underpaying their staff and relying on their dedication ‘to the cause’ (i’ve literally been told i should not be asking for a well-deserved raise but instead focus on the cause) that for me, it has become an important point to check if an organization i donate to pays their employees fairly. If not, they’re just not doing a very good job at being ‘good’, in my eyes.
Thank you, donating helps me feel less helpless. Drawing up the plans for the bomb shelter any day now.
Regarding number 4, I often find myself following that with a) if not me, then who? and b) if not now, then when? I generally stay out of it, because a Facebook comment is unlikely to change an opinion, but sometimes silence is dangerous.
Thank you. <3
Oooo, are you still doing that loan thing? What was it called? I remember wanting to do that.
Oh, Kiva.org! I LOVE it. I ask for Kiva gift cards for birthday and Christmas, so I get to make fresh loans more and more often.
Look into zidisha too. They don’t have a middle man/bank with high interest rates.
Thanks so much for sharing this information!
My standard charity is Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières in Canada). They have a great rating and help people in very dire circumstances.
I’ve set up my credit card to round up every purchase I make and donate all my change monthly, but I can, and do, set a monthly minimum in case I don’t use my credit card much that month.
They are my favorite, too. I always just give them unrestricted money. No matter what is going on where, I feel confident that they will send my cash where ti’s going to do the most good. Unfortunately it doesn’t help much trying to figure out what do here in the States…
Recently someone on my FB feed posted about a dog rescue situation that tugged at her heart. Cue all the people telling her that she shouldn’t care about dogs when people are suffering OR the people telling her she shouldn’t care about THOSE dogs when THESE dogs are clearly in need of more help. Her response was perfect. She said, essentially, “I always assume that we all get called in different ways. As long as we all follow whatever is calling us right then, theoretically we can cover it all.” I loved that and found it super helpful for getting out of my head when trying to figure out who and what to help. Just figure out where my heart is right then and DO IT. Doing > fretting, always.
That is a great response. It’s always frustrating whenever anyone is upset about anything, people will argue there are other, more important things to be upset about. The thing is, you can simultaneously worry about different things and if no one expressed any feelings on anything for fear of looking unsympathetic to a different situation, well, we would never express any feelings at all. It is not a zero sum game. For example, caring about the need to solve world hunger does not take away from caring about the need for medical care.