Back in 2012, I intended to start an annual post during “giving season” about where I was donating as a way to a) encourage donations to those places and b) to make myself accountable for donating each year. While I have been donating each year, posting about it hasn’t been done anywhere near annually.
Figuring out how much to donate is tricky, and I mostly go with my gut. I tend to be more generous with money than with time, which maybe isn’t great. I’ve also had the strange problem over the past two years that some of my donation checks have never been cashed, causing me to drop some charities. As a percentage of pre-tax income, I’ve done a bit better this year, maybe around 4%. My list of targeted charities continues to expand as well:
- ADA Initiative
- Atlantic White Shark Conservancy
- American Museum of Natural History
- Barack Obama Foundation
- Boot Campaign
- Cheyenne Mountain Zoo
- Colorado State University-Pueblo Foundation
- Denver Art Museum
- Denver Museum of Nature & Science
- Doe Fund
- Electronic Frontier Foundation
- Emma Clark Library
- Feminist Frequency
- Leatherback Trust
- Long Island Aquarium
- Long Island Cares
- McClelland Children’s Foundation
- My college
- My high school alumni foundation
- My local fire department
- National Public Radio
- Nature and Raptor Center of Pueblo
- Outreach International
- Pacific Whale Foundation
- Pueblo Community College Foundation
- Pueblo Library Foundation
- Pueblo Zoological Society
- Pro Publica
- Rocky Mountain Public Broadcasting Network
- RPG Creators Relief Fund
- Sangre de Cristo Art Center
- Stony Brook Children’s Hospital
- Suffolk County Police Athletic League
- Timber Wolf Information Network
- Volunteers of America
- The Wild Animal Sanctuary
- WOLF Sanctuary
- Water.org
- Wikimedia Foundation
- WikiTribune