It's not just the thought that counts

Every year as December rolls around, a good chunk of my work pivots to that philanthropic panacea - Year-End Giving.  This year, however,
nonprofits like the one I work for are struggling as individual donors
curtail their charitable giving while demand for services rises.  In
addition, private foundations that fund many vital organizations have
taken major hits to their endowments, making grants fewer and far
between.

This is all to say that while I spend not a few hours thinking about
how to increase year-end giving at my job, I'm not very good at doling
it out myself.  I get the direct mail, the emails and the youtube
videos, evaluate them like a good communications professional and
promptly ignore them, figuring that I do my part by working for a
nonprofit organization myself.

This year, it's not just the thought that counts.

So, here are the organizations I'm giving to this year.  Mind you,
these are not large gifts -  but I'd encourage everyone to think about
giving to these (and other) worthy organizations this year, even as it
feels like you are stretching more and more.  Please feel free to add
your own list in the comments.

Media:

Minnpost.com

Minnpost has become an invaluable resource for me - an island of
good journalism in a sea of… well, you get the idea.  I particularly
valued Eric Black's pieces on what's been going on in the Attorney General's office, David Brauer's Daily Glean, and general election and recount coverage.

The Uptake

Thanks to The Uptake, citizen journalism is showing that it can
break big stories, and, perhaps more importantly, play a critical role
in documenting and shedding the light of transparency on the fabric of
civic life.  See:  RNC, Senate debate, and recount coverage.

Good Magazine

This is a twofer - Support a great publication that thinks outside
the magazine box, telling stories about how to make our world a better
place with data, visualization, video and more - but also 100% of your
subscription goes to nonprofits.  In addition, you can choose how much you want to pay for your subscription.

Social Justice:

Admission Possible

Admission Possible is one of those nonprofit organizations, like the
one I work for, that believes that tax status is no excuse for
timidity, and that you have to be as aggressive and entrepreneurial as
the for-profit world if you really want to make change on a large
scale.  Founded in 2000, AP works in Twin Cities high schools to help
low-income students gain admission to college.  Their success rate is
incredible - 99% of students they work with get into college - and 80%
of students admitted are still working towards their degree or have
graduated.  In addition, they get all this done by supporting the
spirit of service that President-elect Obama extolled in his election
night speech - sending over 50 Americorps members as coaches into the
schools.

Southern Poverty Law Center

After starting in 1971 as a small civil rights firm, SPLC now is on
the forefront of tracking, documenting, and fighting white supremacists
and other hate groups.  Through this work, they've taken an
increasingly critical role as the immigration rights debate heated up
in the last couple of years.  For me, I'm particularly fond of their Teaching Tolerance program, which provides resources to educators on anti-bias curricula.

Mikva Challenge

There are many "civic engagement" programs for young people, but I
think Mikva Challenge gets it right.  They've worked with over 10,000
low-income Chicago youth since 2000 building skills and experiences in
democracy focusing on all three key elements of change: youth policy
making, electoral participation, and activism.  They consider
themselves a leadership pipeline, inspiring young leaders into lives of
public service and civic participation.  See them in action with this video
from the 2008 New Hampshire primaries, where Mikva Challenge brought 60
students to be active on behalf of their candidate of choice.

Photo by the_moog