It's OK to Give

December 13, 2010 at 12:12 pm (Projects)

Every year around this time I talk about how it’s important for radicals and progressive left folks to truly step up and support our institutions and movements – not just with words, but with dollars. I’ve talked for a long time about this huge aversion to talking about money within our communities, but that to build and sustain our institutions and movements, we really can’t hide our heads in the sand. Despite what we may want, we live in a capitalist society and money (and understanding how to use it) is a tool that we must use to accomplish our goals.

If everyone I knew gave just 1% of their income to support a cause of their choice – well, that would be a significant impact. If you can do more, great, but 1% is still a lot.

That said, here are some of the awesome organizations and people that I have given (or will, later today!) money (and usually time) to this year, and I hope you give something, somewhere.

• Riseup – My perpetual number one choice. This small collective that provides free, secure email, list, and hosting services to the radical community. Just the email accounts alone they provide allow the global justice community to survive, and they are keeping us out of the Google empire. Go directly to their donate page here.
• The Electronic Frontier Foundation - Still amazing. They consistently work on issues that I care about and that directly effect me. Take this recent post clarifying some of the legal issues around the Wikileaks craziness. I would so love to work for them one day. Their donate page is here.
• The Yes Men – as I wrote recently, the Yes Men have been on the forefront of creative activism seemingly forever – and though they pull of big stunts, I know they, like most organizations, struggle for funding. I’m happy to make a donation to them this year, and you can go to their donate page here.

And that might be it for this year. I like to give $ to organizations that I’m involved with or that I follow, and I prefer to make larger donations to a small number of orgs instead of a tiny bit to a large number (though tiny bits help too!). I’m more and more and more interested in food, food politics, and cooking, so I’ll be doing some research about what organizations working in those areas are exciting to me. If you have a recommendation, please pass it on.

And don’t forget the magazines. Subscriptions are the best way  for you to support them, too. I subscribe to: The Sun Magazine; Upping the Anti; Yes! Magazine, and Cooks Illustrated. (And a whole bunch of mainstream, mainly cooking, magazines). Know a good cooking or baking mag? Let me know, I’ll probably subscribe!

One final plug: I am still reading & loving the Enough website / blog – radicals talking about money, wealth, support – how could I not love it? If only they posted more.

P.S. Yes, that’s a photo of the Christmas tree at my house. Despite being utterly non-religious (and living with three people who were raised Jewish), I still love Christmas, Christmas Trees, and even Christmas music (Check out The Ronettes singing “Sleigh Ride.”). I know, call me crazy. Thanks to my mom for creating awesome traditions and great feelings around this time of year as I was growing up. I love giving presents, snow, and all the extra effort people put in to visiting friends and family.

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