Today is #GivingTuesday, a global day of giving that follows Black Friday and Cyber Monday and kicks off the the charitable season, when many focus on holiday and end-of-year giving. We asked Rumpus editors to share causes that are important to them. If you are able, we hope you’ll consider making a donation to one of the important organizations listed below. And if you aren’t able to make a financial donation, consider donating your time to an organization in your own community.
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826 National: 826 National serves as an international proof point for writing as a tool for young people to ignite and channel their creativity, explore identity, advocate for themselves and their community, and achieve academic and professional success. Currently, the 826 Network is in eight US cities and serves nearly 34,000 under-resourced students ages six to eighteen each year. Each chapter has an imaginative storefront that reimagines tutoring as anything but traditional; provides a gateway for meeting families, teachers, and volunteers; and connects students with community members.
American Stroke Association: The American Stroke Association is a division of the American Heart Association. The ASA amplifies the AHA’s efforts to educate people about stroke prevention and treatment. Heart disease is the number one killer worldwide, and stroke ranks second globally. Even when those conditions don’t result in death, they cause disability and diminish quality of life. The AHA has grown into the nation’s oldest and largest voluntary organization dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke.
EMILY’s List: Seeking to put pro-choice Democratic women into office who can make significant contributions to education, health care, voting rights, and economic equality, EMILY’s List has systematically defined a strategic approach to winning elections that drive progressive change. They recruit the strongest candidates, support campaigns that can win, study the electorate, and turn out the vote.
Equality Now: Equality Now has been using the law to protect and promote the human rights of women and girls around the world since 1992. Equality Now advocates locally, nationally, and internationally to advance legal equality and justice for girls, and to end sex trafficking, sexual violence, and harmful practices including female genital mutilation (FGM) and “child marriage.” In partnership with grassroots groups, Equality Now raises international visibility of individual cases of abuse, mobilizes public support through its global membership, and wields strategic political pressure to ensure that governments enact or enforce laws and policies that uphold the rights of women and girls.
Girls Write Now: Girls Write Now mentors underserved high school girls from throughout New York City’s five boroughs—over 90% high need and 95% girls of color—who must rise above the race and income-based inequalities of the city’s public school system and the nation’s workforce. Through one-to-one mentoring with professional women writers and media makers, writing and technology workshops, and leadership, college prep, and professional development opportunities, we inspire women to share their craft and empower girls to find their voices and tell their stories.
Miriam’s House: Miriam’s House was born from the Promises Foundation’s vision to create a home where families can reunite, find safety, and build peace. The process of recovery is a long one requiring resources across a diverse cross sector of agencies and services. Miriam’s House helps women get the support they need to stay sober, become good parents, and develop in to productive members of society.
National Domestic Workers Alliance: The National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA) is the nation’s leading voice for dignity and fairness for the millions of domestic workers in the United States, most of whom are women. Founded in 2007, NDWA works for the respect, recognition, and inclusion in labor protections for domestic workers. The national alliance is powered by over sixty affiliate organizations—plus robust local chapters in Atlanta, Durham, and New York—of over twenty thousand nannies, housekeepers, and caregivers for the elderly in thirty-six cities and seventeen states.
North Shore Animal League: A leader in the no-kill movement, North Shore Animal League America is committed to saving and rehabilitating the lives of homeless animals and educating the public about the joys and responsibilities of rescue. Founded in 1944, they’re the world’s largest, most comprehensive no-kill rescue and adoption organization. They are headquartered in Port Washington, NY with two thousand shelter partners across the country and around the globe.
Organization for Autism Research: The Organization for Autism Research, better known as OAR, is an organization founded and led by parents and grandparents of children with autism, who serve as the Board of Directors providing leadership, life experience, and heart. The OAR also has a Scientific Council, made up of sixteen remarkable and dedicated autism professionals. OAR strives to use science to address the social, educational, and treatment concerns of self-advocates, parents, autism professionals, and caregivers.
RAICES: With offices in Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio, RAICES is a frontline organization in the roiling debate about immigration and immigrants in the world. As an organization that combines expertise developed from the daily practice of immigration law with a deep commitment to advocacy, RAICES is unique among immigration organizations. Its advocacy and commitment to change are driven by the clients and families it serves every day as its attorneys and legal assistants provide legal advocacy and representation in an immigration system that breaks apart families and leaves millions without pathways to legal status.
RAINN: RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) is the nation’s largest anti-sexual violence organization. RAINN created and operates the National Sexual Assault Hotline (800-656-HOPE, online.rainn.org, y rainn.org/es) in partnership with more than a thousand local sexual assault service providers across the country and operates the DoD Safe Helpline for the Department of Defense. RAINN also carries out programs to prevent sexual violence, help survivors, and ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice.
Women on Web: Women on Web is a digital community of women who have had abortions, medical doctors, researchers, and individuals and organizations that support abortion rights. An international collective, Women on Web answers thousands of emails every day in many languages from women around the world. The multi-language help desk is supervised by medical doctors.
The W.O.W. Project: The W.O.W Project is a community-based initiative that reinvents, preserves, and encourages Chinatown’s creative culture and history through arts, culture and activism. Located inside Wing On Wo & Co., the oldest continually run family business in New York’s Chinatown, The W.O.W Project was established by fifth-generation store owner, Mei Lum, to bring concerns of a rapidly changing Chinatown into a resident-led space for intergenerational dialogue and action. Since its inception in 2016, The W.O.W. Project has held numerous panel discussions about the role of art and social change, an annual storefront artist-in-residency program, film screenings showcasing Asian American women filmmakers, and several Chinatown storytelling open mic nights. Its core mission is to create space for conversations to happen across language barriers and generational gaps to actively shape the future of Chinatown.
