What charities and nonprofits do really good work?
Who do you give to in order to make the world a better place?
Tell me about who you give to and why.
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I have two monthly donations right now, I’m a bit boring.
Planned Parenthood
The trans legal defense fund
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I currently do 4 monthly donations- the food bank where we used to live and the food bank where we live now, the animal shelter where we used to live, and the rainforest foundation that gives drones and legal assistance to tribes in the Amazon to help them self monitor their lands against illegal deforestation. I try to do a combo of local giving and big picture giving. Not sure what I’ll do for one off donations in other people’s names for Christmas yet.
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Trans Lifeline
I’ve had to call a mental health hotline before and I believe in them as a basic lifesaving tool that everyone should have access to
The WasteShed
A creative reuse center in Chicago. Anyone can shop there but they do great work specifically to make sure public school teachers can afford art supplies for their classrooms
Greater Chicago Food Depository
I don’t think I need to explain this one lol
Midwest Access Coalition
Funding and accommodations for people who need to travel within the Midwest to get an abortion
Gonna add a legal defense fund, thanks for the rec Oro
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My monthly donations:
Local: food bank and Native American youth center
National (US): Bail fund
International: Doctors Without Borders
Past one-off donations include to local theatres, GoFundMes, ACLU, NAACP, EFF, public radio as need/impulses arrive. I do not donate to political campaigns.
I’d encourage you to look at local small organizations doing good work. At least in the US, the bigger orgs tend to suck up a lot of the available funding and attention so your money goes farther on the local level.
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Khan Academy
Wikipedia (Wikimedia)
My state’s National Public Radio (US) affiliate
Material items get donated to Goodwill, and sometimes Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore
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Big donations are food bank, international rescue committee, ACLU.
Small regular donations to Planned Parenthood incl political arm, local NPR, PBS (more like a subscription to Call the Midwife 
), and Wikipedia.
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Food bank
Planned Parenthood
ACLU
Southern Poverty Law Center
Save the Redwoods
Local land trust
Local animal shelter
Doctors Without Borders
Lambda Legal
UNHCR for Refugees
Fistula Foundation
Plus spot donations to Partners in Health, Amnesty International, World Central Kitchen, and for natural disasters
Environment, health, and civil rights are clearly my jam. I go for a mix of local and international, and tend to focus on orgs that do fairly direct action (including legal advocacy).
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This is a comprehensive list of everywhere I’ve donated since Trump’s first presidency - I kinda rotate through but don’t do monthly donations for one particular charity.
Environmental causes, because living on a beautiful and non-destroyed planet is cool. Trying to go for a mix of large-scale, policy-oriented groups and local orgs:
Natural Resources Defense Fund
Environmental Defense Fund
The Nature Conservancy
Sierra Club
Two local sustainable/native plants nurseries near me that do great work (Harlequin’s Gardens and High Plains Environmental Center)
People and Pollinators Action Network
Human rights-related:
International Rescue Committee
Planned Parenthood
Human Rights Campaign
ACLU
Southern Poverty Law Center
Doctors Without Borders
Native American Rights Fund
First Nations Development Institute
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Ohhh adding in abortion funds
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My recurring donations are to the local abortion fund, and a set of joint local orgs, one of which focuses on immediate assistance and long term support to homeless people, focusing on older, queer, and black people, the other which provides free gender affirming services to trans people.
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I give to St. Jude’s, because no one should get cancer, especially not babies. I give to my university, because I got hella scholarships and I want to pay that back. I also give to my local animal shelter, and local homeless shelter, because people and animals need love a kindness.
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I’ve cut down the list some, but the regular national/international orgs:
ACLU
SPLC
Planned Parenthood
MSF/Doctors Without Borders
World Central Kitchen (technically not a regular donation but where disaster relief funds route through, and given the past couple years it might as well count as regular)
Regular local orgs:
Poverty/homelessness/education support collective (there are several orgs but they work in concert so I just rotate through them)
Animal rescue
Orgs that generally get one-off donations at some point through the year:
Wikimedia
NPR
PBS
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
Local sexual abuse advocacy center
Local women’s health center (includes funds that don’t need to be searchable)
Local library
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oooh @kenner’s post reminded me I forgot a few that I donated to after Hurricane Helene:
Direct Relief
Craft Emergency Relief Fund
World Central Kitchen
Habitat for Humanity
Also a local shelter/resources hub for women, children, and nonbinary folks, and another local org for refugees
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I donate to monthly to Planned Parenthood, Florida Access Network (which funds abortion clinics other than PP), as well as the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which is about digital privacy and security - incidentally their front page post right now is about security and privacy for people seeking an abortion.
Intermittently - local food bank, a local organization that helps prevent homelessness (on the premise that it’s much cheaper to keep someone housed than to get someone rehoused), National Alliance on Mental Illness, and The Trevor Project.
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Palestinian children’s relief fund has been my main giving this year outside of local orgs
I also consistently give to trans lifeline
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I’ve been contributing to e-sim funds for Palestine. most of what I do though is raising & giving money directly to trans folks.
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Mutual aid groups in the US will be doing a lot of online donation drives on Giving Tuesday (12/3). It’s easier than ever to find one near you, or doing the type of work that’s dear to you.
I particularly recommend Mutual AId Disaster Relief who distributes cash directly to people impacted by natural disasters. They’re still providing a lot of support to those affected by Helene.
And I’ll also plug my neighborhood’s Free Store. We distribute personal hygiene products and home cleaning supplies to neighbors who wouldn’t get them otherwise.
EDIT: I kinda misunderstood OP’s question, sorry! I need to go to bed. 
I have several recurring, small donations to a few mutual aid groups (including the two I linked above).
I also give monthly to truthout.org, which is one of my favorite independent news sites for US national news.
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I love this thread for ideas! We don’t automate donations but I give regularly to the infant food bank (not just food- I do money and in kind). I also regularly do in kind to the 2 local muslim food banks - because they have no bullshit about receiving aid and financially to a “secular” one in old area that is similar in the no bullshit.
G regularly gives financially for people in his hometown to give directly.
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Jumpstart - because it’s our company’s charity. It does do a lot for kids and encouraging girls in sports
United way- because the Y does an annual campaign
ALS research - for my mom
Terry Fox - annual walk/run for cancer, sentimental and a good cause
This coming month I will be donating pajamas for a charity drive the gym is doing for kids of all ages, and donate cash to a food drive that the Zumba instructor is running.
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