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. 

Health, Safety, Housing, Hunger

Action Against Hunger
Fight the causes and effects of global hunger. — Cody Cowan

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

BARCC
Boston Area Rape Crisis Center — Janet Kim

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

International Rescue Committee
Support and house refugees. — Kevin Barrett

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

Wikimedia Foundation
Increase world knowledge. — Kevin Barrett

Civil Liberties

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

Committee To Protect Journalists
Defends the right of journalists to report the news without fear of reprisal. — Cody Cowan

Electronic Frontier Foundation
Protecting digital rights — Lara Warman

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.)