Done! 🙂 This was a fun one to tick off, actually. I didn’t necessarily donate a lot to each one, but that wasn’t really the point of the exercise, more that I wanted to be mindful of opportunities to donate to charity and try and spread the love a bit further! I don’t know how to write this without sounding a bit preachy so let me preface with an excellent quote from the wonderful Amy Poehler:
Which essentially means: I’m happy that worked for you, but I don’t want to do it. We’re not all the same and what I do isn’t necessarily something that I think all people should do. You do you, kids. End of disclaimer!
I’m a fortunate, privileged person, something I am becoming more aware of. I have a roof over my head, I can pay my bills and most months I have money left over at the end to do what I want with. I live in a country with running water, electricity and free healthcare, I can vote without fear and I have a great deal of autonomy when it comes to my life. I am so privileged, in fact, that I am able to forget my privileges often. They’re not things I have to think about – because I have them.
The world is a funny old place and the more I read and hear about the rest of it the more I realise that I should be doing more to help, for the simple reason that I’m in a position to. Part of this realisation has come from the books I’ve been reading lately. Currently it’s Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay and recently it was Amy Poehler’s Yes Please – both food for thought type books. I’d recommend them! 🙂
So. I feel like giving to charity is a happy way for me to be able to share my fortune with others who are struggling or who don’t have the same privileges that I do. I added this goal to my 31 for 31 this year and you know what? It made me feel good, so I’m going to carry on doing it. So that’s nice too.
31 Charities
- Above & Beyond
- Bluestone Foundation
- Oxfam
- Plan UK
- Tenovus
- Woodgreen
- Wateraid
- Cancer Research UK
- Trinity Hospice
- Royal Marsden Hospital
- Kidney Cancer UK
- Child’s i
- Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity
- Sense
- Unicef
- Ferguson Municipal Public Library District
- Age UK
- NSPCC
- Kiva
- Wikipedia
- Marie Curie via Swimathon
- Comic Relief
- The Big Issue
- Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital
- RSPB
- The Research Institute for the Care of Older People
- IKEA Woodland Trust
- National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society
- Macmillan
- Save the Children
- Huggard Centre
Things I learnt:
- If you let me donate via Paypal on your website I’m 100% more likely to do it. I never seem to have my debit card near me and it was an extra step of faff to donate that way.
- Places like eBay, IKEA, Bluestone and TK Maxx asked if I wanted to donate to charities while I made my purchases – this was a great way for me donate that took zero time and effort. More of this please.
- People tend to fundraise for the same big charities. Great news for them, but I did also try to seek out some of the smaller ones that might not be getting as much attention.
- If a friend specifically asks me to donate, I probably will. Take note, chums 😉