Postlight’s Big Well-Intentioned List of Not-For-Profit Organizations That Are Trying to Make a…
Postlight’s Big Well-Intentioned List of Not-For-Profit Organizations That Are Trying to Make a Difference in Our Highly Confusing and Rapidly-Changing World
This morning we did a quick census of the office, wrote a few lines of Python to turn a Google Spreadsheet into some HTML, and came up with this list of the 33 charities we like to support. It’s a good year to give something away.
Ali Forney Center The Ali Forney Center, based in New York City, is the largest LGBT community center helping LGBT homeless youth in the United States. The AFC both manages and develops transitional housing for its clients. — Toy Vano
Be the Match Help match marrow donors with patients in need. — Kevin Barrett
Bowery Mission An essential NYC homeless shelter. — Janet Kim
Doctors Without Borders Does all sorts of things. Like it literally pulls people who could die out of the ocean and gives them basic medical care. It’s a well-run global charity that simply takes care of humans who cannot care for themselves. — Paul Ford
Planned Parenthood Planned Parenthood delivers vital reproductive health care, sex education, and information to millions of women, men, and young people worldwide. — Adam Pash
Restore Takes in foreign-national survivors of sex trafficking, provides education and counseling (there is a safe house in NYC). — Janet Kim
Street Sense Fight homelessness through giving those who need it a platform — Kevin Barrett
Environmental Defense
National Resource Defense Council Uses legal precedents and science to protect the planet’s wildlife and and wild places. — Lara Warman
Educational and Economic Development
Black Girls CODE Working “to increase the number of women of color in the digital space by empowering girls of color ages 7 to 17 to become innovators in STEM fields, leaders in their communities, and builders of their own futures through exposure to computer science and technology.” — Gina Trapani
Change For Kids We’re big fans of this charity and donate time and tech help as well as money. They partner with under-resourced NYC public elementary schools and help them build out programs that will directly, provably help the kids in those schools succeed. — Paul Ford, Rich Ziade
Defy Ventures An entrepreneurship, employment, and character development training program for currently and formerly incarcerated men, women, and youth. — Cody Cowan
DonorsChoose Directly support teachers in need supplies for their underserved classrooms on projects you choose — Gina Trapani
Engineers Without Borders Build infrastructure and bring clean drinking water to Usalama community. — Janet Kim
Getting Out and Staying Out: GOSO Empowers young men to avoid involvement in the criminal justice system by reshaping their futures through educational achievement, meaningful employment, and financial independence. — Ariel Shapell
Give Directly Straight up gives money to folks. — Drew Bell, Janet Kim
Growing Home Urban agriculture and job training in South Side Chicago. — Shawn Kelly
My Brother’s Keeper National umbrella for state-based orgs focused on mentoring young men of color. The DC equivalent is http://www.emocdc.org. These kids are amazing. — Kevin Barrett
Nomi Network Gives women training and economic opportunities to prevent human trafficking — Janet Kim
Pencils of Promise Pencils of Promise, also known as PoP for short, is a non-profit organization that builds schools and increases educational opportunities in the developing world. — Toy Vano
She Should Run They’re better at everything, they should be governing — Kevin Barrett, Toy Vano
Arts, Media, and Culture
The Internet Archive This site puts me to bed most nights and is there when I wake up. Its immense value increases every minute. — Paul Ford
PEN America Support the arts, put artists in schools. — Kevin Barrett, Toy Vano
ACLU Foundation The ACLU is not a charity, but the ACLU Foundation is. Donations to the ACLU Foundation support the work of the ACLU but can’t be used for legislative initiatives. — Adam Pash
Marshall Project Non-partisan, non-profit news organization that seeks to create and sustain a sense of national urgency about the U.S. criminal justice system. — Ari Shappell
ProPublica Non-profit investigative journalism — Shawn Kelly, Adam Pash, Toy Vano
Support for Veterans
Fisher House Fisher House Foundation is best known for a network of comfort homes where military and veterans’ families can stay at no cost while a loved one is receiving treatment. — Nic Young
Team Rubicon This organization brings vets together to serve as first responders after disasters. Good for the world and taps into a very specific set of skills that vets possess. — Paul Ford
Vets Who Code Vets can get left behind when they come home. This org helps vets who are transitioning out of the military get the skills they need in the modern work force. (I’m an advisor to this org and really impressed with what they’re putting together.) — Paul Ford
