Charitable Contribution Time
Dec. 12th, 2017 09:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livingdebWe can't contribute to all the important causes, but if we all pick a few, the world will be a better place for it. Normally I focus most of my contributions into three areas: protecting the environment, fighting poverty, and fighting pain/abuse/torture. This year I feel like I also want to support civil rights. I'm still narrowing down my choices.
Environment
* Rainforest Foundation - I like this one slightly more than the Nature Conservancy and Conservation International because I've heard it's more effective. I don't really know. I love the way they all pick some environmentally important land and protect it.
Poverty
I'm deciding between a few different ones.
* Accion International and FINCA International - Old favorites - microlenders, they lend money to poor people, mostly for businesses; when they repay it, it gets lent again. Also, borrowers get to be in support groups. Interest rates tend to be high, though. And I've heard that sometimes the loans are for things like doctor bills, so that makes it feel more like exploitative payday loans.
* Give Directly - Solves the interest problem make making grants rather than loans. I may switch to this.
* Engineers Without Borders - they dig wells and build schools and stuff
* Against Malaria Foundation - Rated #1 by GiveWell as the most effective/efficient way to help with poverty. I think I prefer to focus on food and water rather than a specific disease, though.
Pain/Abuse/Torture
I've experimented with crisis centers and pain research institutes but I think this year I'll just pick the one classic to free up money for civil rights.
* Amnesty International
Rights
John Oliver and the bloggers at Grumpy Rumblings have provided me with many great ideas, but I want to drastically narrow down the list. In alphabetical order:
* American Civil Liberties Union (advocates for the rights of many groups)
* Center for Reproductive Rights (women's health)
* Council on American-Islamic Relations
* Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) (protect digital privacy and free expression)
* International Refugee Assistance Project
* It Gets Better (LGBT youth)
* NAACP Legal Defense Fund (blacks)
* Trevor Project (lgbtq youth)
* Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund
* New York Times, Washington Post, Pro Publica (journalists/truth)
* RAINN (helping survivors and preventing sexual violence: 68% helping survivors, 27% educating the public, 5% improving public policy)
* Southern Poverty Law Center (many)
* Union of Concerned Scientists (truth, facts, effectiveness)
Currently I'm leaning toward the Southern Poverty Law Center, which I've been getting a fair amount of news about over the past year. They bring lawsuits when they feel people are breaking the Constitution. Normally I think that's too expensive and that my dollar doesn't go far, but this year I feel that the courts have been our only working check (as in checks-and-balances). And I'm really feeling it for refugees, so I'm also leaning toward the International Refugee Assistance Project. But then my own personal biggest fear is losing net neutrality--who even knows what all kinds of repercussions that could have, so I'm also thinking about Electronic Frontier Foundation
Catch-All
One group I like fits into many categories: low-cost health care helps the impoverished, (voluntary) birth control helps the planet, and they're also advocating for women's rights. They even provided water filters to Detroit residents.
* Planned Parenthood
Exercise update
Saturday - I did what I refer to as my pilates video. It's called "Pick Your Level Weight-Loss Pilates." It actually has all kinds of exercises, not just pilates. (As you might guess, many of the exercises have three levels you can choose from.) It gets me panting, uses muscles, has stretching, and has sometimes-hilarious activities requiring good balance.
Sunday - I just walked. Though I did do some bicep curls at the grocery store with my basket. I've been shying away from exercising on days when Robin doesn't have to work. That's silly.
Monday - I did a Silver Sneakers class at the gym (part aerobic, part strength training). After this class, I've started also doing the lat pull-down machine because I would like to be able to do pull-ups someday. In the evening, I went walking with R and Indigo Rose.
Video link of the day - Act Your Age But Exercise Like a Kid - I failed to find a review I wrote of "Pick Your Level Weight-Loss Pilates," but I did find this hilarious video again. Watch a grown man in a suit hop around with an inflated toy and try jumping through a hula hoop with it.
Quote of the day - "The Trump presidency is basically a marathon. It's painful. It's pointless, and the majority of you didn't even agree to run it; you were just signed up by your dumbest friend." But "the stakes are too high for any of us to stop." - John Oliver, (The Trump Presidency: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, ~19:20, 11/12/17) - Sorry, I know a lot of not-dumb people were even more afraid of the other candidates than of him and/or felt that that he was extreme but in a direction they wanted to go and thought Congress would keep things reasonable. However we voted or even if we didn't vote, do keep writing your reps about your opinions. I think they should be doing unbiased surveys to find out, but instead they see who writes or calls them.
Environment
* Rainforest Foundation - I like this one slightly more than the Nature Conservancy and Conservation International because I've heard it's more effective. I don't really know. I love the way they all pick some environmentally important land and protect it.
Poverty
I'm deciding between a few different ones.
* Accion International and FINCA International - Old favorites - microlenders, they lend money to poor people, mostly for businesses; when they repay it, it gets lent again. Also, borrowers get to be in support groups. Interest rates tend to be high, though. And I've heard that sometimes the loans are for things like doctor bills, so that makes it feel more like exploitative payday loans.
* Give Directly - Solves the interest problem make making grants rather than loans. I may switch to this.
* Engineers Without Borders - they dig wells and build schools and stuff
* Against Malaria Foundation - Rated #1 by GiveWell as the most effective/efficient way to help with poverty. I think I prefer to focus on food and water rather than a specific disease, though.
Pain/Abuse/Torture
I've experimented with crisis centers and pain research institutes but I think this year I'll just pick the one classic to free up money for civil rights.
* Amnesty International
Rights
John Oliver and the bloggers at Grumpy Rumblings have provided me with many great ideas, but I want to drastically narrow down the list. In alphabetical order:
* American Civil Liberties Union (advocates for the rights of many groups)
* Center for Reproductive Rights (women's health)
* Council on American-Islamic Relations
* Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) (protect digital privacy and free expression)
* International Refugee Assistance Project
* It Gets Better (LGBT youth)
* NAACP Legal Defense Fund (blacks)
* Trevor Project (lgbtq youth)
* Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund
* New York Times, Washington Post, Pro Publica (journalists/truth)
* RAINN (helping survivors and preventing sexual violence: 68% helping survivors, 27% educating the public, 5% improving public policy)
* Southern Poverty Law Center (many)
* Union of Concerned Scientists (truth, facts, effectiveness)
Currently I'm leaning toward the Southern Poverty Law Center, which I've been getting a fair amount of news about over the past year. They bring lawsuits when they feel people are breaking the Constitution. Normally I think that's too expensive and that my dollar doesn't go far, but this year I feel that the courts have been our only working check (as in checks-and-balances). And I'm really feeling it for refugees, so I'm also leaning toward the International Refugee Assistance Project. But then my own personal biggest fear is losing net neutrality--who even knows what all kinds of repercussions that could have, so I'm also thinking about Electronic Frontier Foundation
Catch-All
One group I like fits into many categories: low-cost health care helps the impoverished, (voluntary) birth control helps the planet, and they're also advocating for women's rights. They even provided water filters to Detroit residents.
* Planned Parenthood
Exercise update
Saturday - I did what I refer to as my pilates video. It's called "Pick Your Level Weight-Loss Pilates." It actually has all kinds of exercises, not just pilates. (As you might guess, many of the exercises have three levels you can choose from.) It gets me panting, uses muscles, has stretching, and has sometimes-hilarious activities requiring good balance.
Sunday - I just walked. Though I did do some bicep curls at the grocery store with my basket. I've been shying away from exercising on days when Robin doesn't have to work. That's silly.
Monday - I did a Silver Sneakers class at the gym (part aerobic, part strength training). After this class, I've started also doing the lat pull-down machine because I would like to be able to do pull-ups someday. In the evening, I went walking with R and Indigo Rose.
Video link of the day - Act Your Age But Exercise Like a Kid - I failed to find a review I wrote of "Pick Your Level Weight-Loss Pilates," but I did find this hilarious video again. Watch a grown man in a suit hop around with an inflated toy and try jumping through a hula hoop with it.
Quote of the day - "The Trump presidency is basically a marathon. It's painful. It's pointless, and the majority of you didn't even agree to run it; you were just signed up by your dumbest friend." But "the stakes are too high for any of us to stop." - John Oliver, (The Trump Presidency: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, ~19:20, 11/12/17) - Sorry, I know a lot of not-dumb people were even more afraid of the other candidates than of him and/or felt that that he was extreme but in a direction they wanted to go and thought Congress would keep things reasonable. However we voted or even if we didn't vote, do keep writing your reps about your opinions. I think they should be doing unbiased surveys to find out, but instead they see who writes or calls them.