Almost twenty years ago, Maria and I sat together at a booth by the window eating fried chicken and french fries and looking out at the central plaza in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala.
We talked and laughed, and used flimsy paper napkins to try to catch the greasy remnants of our feast.
Maria and I had met many months earlier in that same plaza, where I would frequently set up my easel to paint on the weekends and she would bring her handwoven scarves to sell. She travelled by bus from her rural village every day and walked with scarves piled high on her head around the city. We often took breaks to sit together and chat about art, and people, and our day.
Our friendship had grown but now I was moving, and the fried chicken was our goodbye lunch.
In all our months together, I’d never seen Maria spend money on anything, carefully bringing all the profits from her sales back to her family. But when the waitress came over Maria quickly whipped out a thick wad of well-worn bills from her bosom and paid the bill, smiling at me as she did. Despite the decades that have past, this act of generosity has stayed with me.
Generosity and giving are on my mind this week, and especially thinking about how to give well. A friend of mine, Courtney Martin, wrote a great article for the New York Times on 7 Standards for Your End of Year Donations. In it she highlights that those who give the most are the ones who have the least. When I sat with this fact, memories like the story above came quickly to mind.
Many world religions agree that 10% or your income is a good number to give away and Courtney explains that sharing with others where you plan to give can encourage more giving and multiply the impact of the donation.
So in the spirit of creating greater impact, below is a list of the organizations that I have donated to this year. They are organizations that inspire me, address things that keep me up at night worrying, and bring beauty to the world.
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Jen’s 2019 donation list.
Movement Generation inspires and engages in transformative action towards the liberation and restoration of land, labor, and culture. We are rooted in vibrant social movements led by low-income communities and communities of color committed to a Just Transition away from profit and pollution and towards healthy, resilient and life-affirming local economies.
Thousand Currents funds grassroots groups led by women, youth, and Indigenous Peoples in the Global South. While women, youth, and Indigenous Peoples contribute least to large-scale, global problems like climate change, inequality, poverty, and broken food systems, they often are the most impacted by them. However, with enough support and resources, everyday people are shaping proven and powerful local solutions to our shared and urgent global challenges.
The 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.
Girls For A Change (GFAC) has a mission of empowering young women by inviting them to design, lead, fund and implement social change projects that tackle issues girls face in their own neighborhoods.
The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence is a 501(c)(3) organization and public health think tank that identifies and implements evidence-based policy solutions and programs to reduce gun violence in all its forms.
Mural Arts is the nation’s largest public art program, dedicated to the belief that art ignites change. For over 30 years, Mural Arts has united artists and communities through a collaborative process, rooted in the traditions of mural-making, to create art that transforms public spaces and individual lives.
Families Belong Together includes nearly 250 organizations representing Americans from all backgrounds who have joined together to fight family separation and promote dignity, unity, and compassion for all children and families. Families Belong Together continues its work 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.
Raices Texas– promotes justice by providing free and low-cost legal services to underserved immigrant children, families, and refugees. With legal services, social programs, bond assistance, and an advocacy team focused on changing the narrative around immigration in this country, RAICES is operating on the national front lines of the fight for immigration rights.
Earth Justice wields the power of law and the strength of partnership to protect people’s health, to preserve magnificent places and wildlife, to advance clean energy, and to combat climate change.
ACLU realizing the promise of the Bill of Rights for all and expanding the reach of its guarantees. Beyond one person, party, or side — the ACLU dares to create a more perfect union.