Giving Tuesday

good for others, good for you

I’m going to keep this relatively brief, but today is Giving Tuesday and a great chance to step up and and stretch (strengthen?) your charitable muscles.

One thing that surprised me in my research this year was how giving seems to open doors to other forms of community engagement - people who donate are more likely to volunteer, vote, and join local groups. One study found that giving to a charity increases a person’s likelihood of joining one or more community groups by nearly 10 percentage points. Put differently, generosity has a way of building momentum, creating stronger communities along the way.

There are more than 1.7 million nonprofit organizations across the United States, 88 percent of which have budgets less than $500,000. In other words, most really do rely on individual contributions to keep the lights on and hire staff. And as we've seen in recent political campaigns, small dollar donations really can add up quite quickly.

I’m participating today in a Substack collective giving challenge with GiveDirectly, a nonprofit that gives unconditional cash transfers to people living in extreme poverty. While there’s a lot of uncertainty in the world, the impact of these cash transfers is not one of them. We know they work, both in terms of reducing poverty and reducing infant and child mortality. (USAID recently endorsed cash transfers as very cost-effective.)

If you want to join me and readers of eleven other newsletters, I invite you to use this link and GiveDirectly will double your donation. The families in these two villages live on $1-$2 per day. My $100 contribution just became $200, and yours can too.

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I’m sure you’re getting flooded with emails today but if you’ve made it this far, it’s a good day to also consider supporting news organizations and local nonprofits.

A few DC-based groups I’ve been supporting this year:
Washington City Paper
51st News
Everyone Home DC
Healthy Babies Project
Story of Our Schools

There are so many organizations and worthy causes, and I know sometimes it can feel overwhelming to choose among them, such that it’s easier to make no choice at all. But I'd just pick a few things, and you can always mix it up in the future. If there are any organizations you love and want to let more people know about, please do drop the group(s) in the comments.

Thanks so much and happy holidays,

Rachel