The second annual Crisis Palace feel good guide to year end giving

This week I have been thinking a lot about philanthropy because as the year winds to a close we are doing some 2021 planning for Inside Philanthropy, the site where I am currently an editor. I’ve been writing for the outlet for several years now in different capacities, which is probably how many of you ended up at this newsletter. Climate change philanthropy was a bigger focus when this started out, since I would usually write about stories I was reporting and writing.

It’s still part of the newsletter for sure, but I have noticed this year that I’ve been kind of drifting more toward social movements and different theories of change related to climate and intersecting issues. Part of that is a function of writing fewer articles about philanthropy myself, and part of it is just evolving interests.

I do think of it all as being on the same sort of continuum, which is roughly about the things we are building and rebuilding during an era of crisis. That includes the different forms of power being channeled into creating that change, one of which is funding. I feel like for a lot of people, philanthropy is kind of a puzzling topic, they might think of this group of rich free market technocrats. And that is certainly part of it, but it’s also a really varied sector, and one that demands attention for a handful of reasons that I’ve been mulling over going into the new year:

Important work contributing to the public good needs funding and it often doesn’t get it from public sources (reproductive rights, health, and justice are key examples). Some of this is a failure of government, but some of it is just a huge range of needs. I first came to this topic as a fundraiser, and there’s an important, basic service of explaining who is funding what and how to pay for different work.
Donors and foundations are movable. Philanthropies represent pools of money and power that, in my experience, do respond to criticism, advice, and cultural shifts. Sometimes.
Philanthropy is not a monolith, but it does have pervasive structural problems. Just like business and government, it’s a sector containing multitudes. But it skews heavily in favor of the wealthy, a form of institutionalized plutocracy, under current rules, at least. There’s a need for sector-wide criticism.
Actors within philanthropy need to be held accountable. This is sort of changing as more journalists take note, but most of the media out there covering the sector is funded by, you guessed it, philanthropy! (IP is independent and subscriber-funded.)

I will say it is a challenging topic to write about. It’s an important, under-scrutinized area with potential to serve a unique function in society, but it’s also this product of concentrated wealth and an immoral economic system, which it often reinforces. (You can read my best attempt at a grand unifying theory of this problem here).

I didn’t mean this to be a plug for my day job, but I’m thinking through these issues this week and how to balance them in our coverage, and by extension how they fit into my own writing, so there’s a few thoughts.

This is also a big time of year, within a very big year, for I guess lowercase philanthropy, the basic act of giving money to something you care about. Aside from a way to meet immediate needs, I also see giving money to things as a direct way to bridge individual and collective action—one of the biggest challenges in climate action.

I recently came across an article that Mary Annaïse Heglar wrote for Wired back in April, titled “We Can’t Tackle Climate Change Without You,” in which she sums the impossible task of answering, “But what can I do?”

They know it’s about more than recycling, “buying green,” and turning the lights off when they leave the room. They’ve gotten the memo that we need structural change in addition to individual change. They’ve processed past the shock. They’re ready to get to work. Why, they demand to know, can’t I give a simple answer to such a simple question?

Her simplest answer (but read the whole thing) is “Do what you’re good at. And do your best.” That’s because everyone has some part to play, and what you do has to be sustainable and appropriate to your life and work.

I totally agree with that sentiment, but one thing she notes that I would emphasize is that a big part of what each individual can do is joining in with what other people are doing. Or getting other people to join in with what you’re doing.

A huge change we are undergoing as we transition from whatever we were before to what we’re going to be next—as a result of the pandemic, climate change, mass extinction, the failures of capitalism—is the understanding that the individual is the collective. One step toward advancing that change is to find your people. And one step toward that is finding a group that aligns with your values and giving them money or time if you have it, even a small amount.

So with that long prelude here are some of my recommendations this year for donating, based on our own household’s activity and other groups I’ve come across that I think are great. A lot of overlap with last year, but some are new.

Also I know a lot of people are giving to their local food pantries and service providers, which 100% need more donations and volunteers, but you don’t need me to tell you that, go forth.

My usual broad advice is:

Avoid the Big Greens: I don’t think your average person concerned about climate change should be giving their $100 or whatever to EDF or The Nature Conservancy. They really don’t need your money and individual engagement also means less for their model.

Don’t Worry About Getting Scammed: This is a predominant narrative in media coverage of donating money, and I just can’t stand it. Don’t stress about stuff like “overhead.” Don’t make recipients perform for you. When you give money, you accept risk and put faith in others, so trust that they know how to best use resources.

Give Locally: Individual giving is best when you form a connection with the work being done. That’s one reason giving locally is important, but also bottom up solutions tend to be more durable and equitable than top-down solutions. Giving locally may feel small, but local change builds up to something profound it’s a fractal thing.

OK now here is a list of groups:

Climate Justice Alliance: This network of organizations is awesome, working to make the green new deal more equitable, among many other things. You can donate directly to the network, or look at its list of members and find one near you. I’m a longtime supporter of ACE here in Boston, but GreenRoots is also great.

Sunrise Movement: Sunrise is an important part of an increasingly powerful and intersectional climate justice coalition. Sunrise, which grew out of youth and campus activism, definitely has a hot hand right now and some superstar leadership. They also have many active local hubs you can get involved with.

Indigenous Environmental Network: This network was in the spotlight around Standing Rock, but has been around for over 30 years now. They are a powerful voice within that same EJ coalition, fighting for just transition, opposing oil infrastructure, training organizers and more.

Native Renewables: I’ve been interested in local and decentralized clean energy projects that don’t rely on the utility grid or sell energy back to the grid, and this is a Native-led project that is really cool, setting up thousands of homes on the Navajo and Hopi reservations with PV solar.

Corporate Accountability: I’m biased because Jamie worked here for years and we have a lot of friends there, but they have a badass climate campaign that includes getting industry out of climate negotiations and making polluters pay for solutions.

Other good options like Extinction Rebellion, Climate Emergency Fund, 350.org, and awesome place-based groups like PUSH Buffalo in NY, APEN and CEJA in California, Sonora Environmental Research Institute in Tucson, Gulf Coast Center for Law and Policy and Rise St. James in Louisiana.

Other:

I wanted to add a few non-explicitly climate focused groups this year, because it is getting harder to draw a line between organizations working in the climate arena from other justice groups working in health, labor, racial justice, housing, and more, all building power for structural change.

Movement for Black Lives and the Working Families Party: These are the main groups I volunteered with during the election and their joint project with a handful of other groups, The Frontline, is doing super impressive work in movement building right now, electoral and otherwise.

LUCHA: An Arizona group I also connected with during the election. They came about in response to the “show me your papers” law in Arizona and continue to organize around multiple issues and elections.

Movement Training Groups: Indigenous Peoples Power Project (IP3), The Ruckus Society, Movement Generation

Support political candidates who prioritize climate action.

Oppose political candidates who obstruct or ignore climate action.

I endorse

Last weekend I watched David Byrne’s American Utopia, because I listen to this funny Talking Heads podcast (that used to be an REM podcast that used to be a U2 podcast and for about five minutes was a Red Hot Chili Peppers podcast until the hosts realized mid-episode that neither of them really liked the Red Hot Chili Peppers that much) and they devoted an episode to this movie version of Byrne’s Broadway show.

HBO Shares 'David Byrne's American Utopia' Concert Film Teaser & Release Date

I loved this movie so much, and whatever I say to describe it won’t quite capture it but it’s this live performance of Talking Heads and David Byrne songs, with the entire band remotely wired and fully choreographed throughout. There’s also this storytelling component about human connection, and Spike Lee directs the movie version and adds this whole other dimension.

I’m not even a huge Talking Heads fan and from what I’ve heard Byrne has always been kind of a jerk and you may also have some problems with Talking Heads’ whole white nerds do afrobeat thing. But in his old age, Byrne has clearly been trying to make good, and it really shines through in this show. In that sense, on top of being just a joyous viewing experience, it also feels redemptive.

Watching

Look I know that was technically already a watching entry but I have another one so sue me. I have been watching a lot of animation lately and tearing through Aggretsuko, about a Sanrio (Hello Kitty) character, a red panda who works in a boring office job in Tokyo and she is very sweet but then occasionally expresses her internal rage by singing death metal karaoke. Here is a fun article about it from back when it first came out.

Comics

I’m back into Usagi Yojimbo, inspired by watching The Mandalorian. Reading Book 4 now, which randomly has a foreword by Jodorowsky. I just love Stan Sakai check out these anthropomorphic cat ninjas.

Listening

I don’t really like Christmas sorry to all you Christmasheads out there, and I especially do not like Christmas music, outside of the actual day of the holiday. But one of my favorite bands Calexico put out a holiday album called Seasonal Shift and I love it. This has become kind of a feel good newsletter issue and this is definitely a feel good album. There’s even a song that is somewhat about climate change: Wondering what I’ve been holding onto that’s been causing the ice to give way… Here’s one of the more holiday-ish songs:

OK there you go, some donation recommendations for the end of the year. If there are others I should know about, let me know! Did I mention paying for climate journalism? Do that too. Now get out that debit card or just let your browser auto populate your card number which is probably super irresponsible but I do it all the fucking time sometimes at like 2 a.m.

And you know what, these groups align with my own values and goals for this world, and because you read this newsletter, you maybe agree to some extent.

But if you want to get involved in climate action from a different perspective—whether that’s your religious faith, your love of hunting, fishing, or other outdoor activities, bird watching, enthusiasm for science and technology, finance and investment, pretty much whatever—there are people out there to connect with. I will help you find them. Email me. Find your people. Like the bee girl in the Blind Melon video.

Tate