Was sharing my charitable donation strategy with Matt Cutts earlier this week and he seemed particularly amused by one dimension. As someone lucky enough to have a great job during these past few years of economic turmoil I try to be generous in my philanthropy. There are three catalysts:
1. Ongoing support to organizations I care about (such as donorschoose.org, charity:water, taproot foundation)
2. Support my friends in their causes. You know, the charity bike ride, 10k, etc. I always respond to these requests with a small donation.
Pretty standard I assume. But it was my third pathway that Matt suggested I discuss:
3. I give as a counter to wrongness encountered. Basically if I’m reading a newspaper article or hear about an event that just pisses me off, I figure out how to give money to try and counter. Like if Taliban militants commit an act of violence against a female students, I will find a way to give money to an organization building schools in Asia. Or if the North Carolina government passes anti-gay legislation, I’ll support the local chapter of the ACLU. Does it change the world? Probably not. Does it make me feel better than if I just read the story and did nothing? Yeah it does.
Actually though it’s a bit of a pain in the ass sometimes to find a charity that matches against the issue. Can someone build a Chrome extension which for a given URL supplies links to charitable organizations (or politicians) who are pro or con? Either that, or how about some of these news website put a “donate” button in their social sharing which can highlight organizations we can support.
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