A List of Organizations to Support During This Giving Season

Looking for organizations to support this year or into 2019? There are so many causes needing financial help, so I’ve rounded up my favorite non-profits that would appreciate your support. I hope this list of charities encourages you to donate this giving season, or at least introduces you to new organizations. If you can’t afford to donate cash, maybe a new year’s resolution is to volunteer more?

Below is a list of organizations and their mission statements, in their own words.

Environmental Preservation & Animal Welfare

Carbonfund is leading the fight against global warming, making it easy and affordable for any individual, business or organization to reduce & offset their climate impact and hasten the transition to a clean energy future. Carbonfund.org achieves its goals through climate change education, carbon offsets and reduction, public outreach

Friends of the Earth exposes those who endanger the health of people and the planet for corporate profit. Friends of the Earth organizes to build long-term political power and campaign to change the rules of our economic and political systems that create injustice and destroy nature.

Humane Society provides direct care to more than 100,000 animals each year through sanctuaries, veterinary programs and emergency shelters and rescues. National and local Human Societies work to professionalize the field of animal care with education and training programs, come to the aid of animals in crisis, and attack the root cause of the problem. The Humane Society’s most important goal is to prevent animals from getting into situations of distress in the first place.

The Nature Conservancy is a conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. The Nature Conservancy addresses threats to conservation involving climate change, fire, fresh water, forests, invasive species, and marine ecosystems.

Natural Resources Defense Council combines the power of more than three million members and online activists with the expertise of some 600 scientists, lawyers, and policy advocates across the globe to ensure the rights of all people to the air, the water, and the wild.

Project Wildlife has been dedicated to giving injured, orphaned and sick wild animals a second chance at life since 1972. Wildlife rehabilitation is the treatment and care of injured, orphaned or sick wild animals in effort to release them back into the wild.

World Wildlife Fund works to preserve the diversity and abundance of life on Earth and the health of ecological systems by: protecting natural areas and wild populations of plants and animals, including endangered species; promoting sustainable approaches to the use of renewable natural resources; and promoting more efficient use of resources and energy and the maximum reduction of pollution.

Environmental Working Group empowers people to live healthier lives in a healthier environment. With breakthrough research and education, EWG drives consumer choice and civic action.

Civil Rights

ACLU (The American Civil Liberties Union) Foundation provides legal presentation in cases involving issues of civil liberties and constitutional rights ranging from administrative hearings to trials and appeals. In addition, the Foundation educates the public as to civil liberties and constitutional rights by disseminating literature and other publications.

The Center for Reproductive Rights uses the law to advance reproductive freedom as a fundamental human right that all governments are legally obligated to protect, respect, and fulfill.

Equal Justice Initiative is committed to ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the United States, to challenging racial and economic injustice, and to protecting basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society.

National Bail Out works with groups all over the country on Mother’s Day to bail out as many Black Mamas and caregivers as possible, provide supportive services and fellowship opportunities for those bailed out and organize to end money bail and pretrial detention and support Black communities.

National Women's Law Center protects and promotes equality and opportunity for women and families. NWLC champions policies and laws that help women and girls achieve their potential at every stage of their lives — at school, at work, at home, and in retirement.

Southern Poverty Law Center is internationally known for its tolerance education programs, its legal victories against white supremacists and its tracking of hate groups. The SPLC legal department fights all forms of discrimination and works to protect society's most vulnerable members, handling innovative cases that few lawyers are willing to take.

Urban Justice Center is a social justice advocacy organization that works for and empowers the most vulnerable amongst us through a combination of direct legal service, systemic advocacy, community education and political organizing. Through our work, we enable people to surpass the barriers of poverty.

Youth

CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children) volunteers are appointed by judges to advocate for abused or neglected children, to make sure they don’t get lost in the overburdened legal and social service system or languish in inappropriate group or foster homes.

Monarch School is the largest and most comprehensive K-12 program of its kind for homeless students in the U.S., and is a model for how a community can successfully educate homeless children to become productive citizens.

Save the Children provides a voice for children who cannot speak for themselves. Save the Children is dedicated to ensuring every child has the best chance for success. Our pioneering programs give children a healthy start, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. Our advocacy efforts

Health & Human Services

Autism Research Institute conducts and fosters scientific research designed to improve the methods of diagnosing, treating, and preventing autism.

Compassion & Choices improves care, expands options and empowers everyone to chart their end-of-life journey.

ElderHelp of San Diego provides personalized services and information that help seniors remain independent and live with dignity in their own homes.

Include Autism empowers individuals with autism by providing community access and meaningful skill-building programs, while engaging the community through outreach and education.

NARAL Pro Choice America works to support and protect, as a fundamental right and value, a woman’s freedom to make personal decisions regarding the full range of reproductive choices through education, training, organizing, legal action, and public policy.

Planned Parenthood is a trusted health care provider, an informed educator, a passionate advocate, and a global partner helping similar organizations around the world. Planned Parenthood delivers vital reproductive health care, sex education, and information to millions of people worldwide.

RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) is the nation's largest anti-sexual violence organization and carries out programs to prevent sexual violence, help survivors, and ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice.

Gun Violence

Everytown is a movement of Americans working together to end gun violence and build safer communities. Gun violence touches every town in America. For too long, change has been thwarted by the Washington gun lobby and by leaders who refuse to take common-sense steps that will save lives.

Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America is a grassroots movement of Americans fighting for public safety measures that can protect people from gun violence. Moms Demand Action campaigns for new and stronger solutions to lax gun laws and loopholes that jeopardize the safety of our families.

Refugees

Families Belong Together works to permanently end family separation and detention, seek accountability for the harm that’s been done, and immediately reunite all families who remain torn apart at the US/Mexico border.

Miry’s List provides a mechanism for people to directly help new arrival refugee families with the things that they need to get started in their new lives – from diapers to beds to cleaning supplies and toiletries. Refugee families come to the United States seeking a safe haven from violence and persecution in their home countries. They leave behind family and friends, as well as virtually everything they own.

RAICES (Refugee & Immigrant Center for Education & Legal Services) promotes justice by providing free and low-cost legal services to underserved immigrant children, families, and refugees.

Media

Charity Navigator works to make impactful philanthropy easier for all. Charity Navigator's goal is to equip the entire philanthropic ecosystem with the tools, ratings, and information they need to make impactful investments.

NPR (National Public Radio) is an internationally acclaimed producer and distributor of noncommercial news, talk, and entertainment programming.

The Wikimedia Foundation is dedicated to encouraging the growth, development and distribution of free, multilingual content, and to providing the full content of these wiki-based projects to the public free of charge. The Foundation operates Wikipedia, the fourth most visited website in the world.

Happy donating!

I realize I’m missing some of your favorite charities. That could be because our passions don’t align, and that’s okay. Or, it could be because I’m not aware of an organization that’s doing wonderful things for the world. If you think of a charity that’s deserving of attention, please leave the name and website in the comments so folks can check them out.