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I look at #GivingTuesday with two mindsets. One: I can share some of my income with the greater good. Two: Everyone wants my money.
Even though they’re two very different outlooks—one altruistic, the other cynical and both very reductive—I think them both equally true. In fact, I find it reassuring that I can hold both of these feelings without judgement or confusion. In a sense they represent who I am and how my brain works. I think it feels good to help others, but it doesn’t feel good to overextend myself out of guilt or pressure, which can be hard to avoid. Every organization you’ve ever given money to in the past is about to send you an email asking you to give more, your social media profiles will be plastered with messages urging you to donate to a plethora of new organizations and all of them will be worthy causes.
I honestly don’t know where I’m going to lend my support today, but I decided it would help me decide if I look at how I chose to donate money over the past year. And what I found was really illuminating: It all boiled down to mental health and wellbeing in one way or another. That doesn’t mean, however, that every charity I’ve supported this year deals with medicine, therapy or mental illness. Below is my 2017 charitable giving breakdown.
Public Radio
I am an avid listening of KPCC and KCRW. A world without these two radio stations isn’t one I want. Ever. I learn things I never knew I wanted to learn. I hear beautiful music. I laugh, I cry, and I feel enriched from the voices and sounds I get to experience through its different shows. And if that isn’t enough to automatically equate public radio with mental health, then consider the hours of soul crushing, life enervating traffic through which public radio has been my companion so that I don’t succumb to road rage.
Free Knowledge
I donated to Wikipedia and the County Public Library of Los Angeles. I’m a daily user and sometimes a contributor to Wikipedia and cannot underscore how valuable I find its content to my daily life to learn about anything that sparks my interest. When Wikipedia or the Internet doesn’t have information I need or a specific book, it’s going to be at the library. I haven’t made it to the library in a month (shame on me), but my local branch is an amazing resource not just to me, but also to my community. It gives me piece of mind to know it's open and thriving and that books and other media resources are being protected and enjoyed.
Mental Illness Awareness and Prevention
I gave to two organizations that touched my life in a deep and lasting way over the past year: EmotionsMatter and Didi Hirsh Mental Health Services. EmotionsMatter is an advocacy and resource center based on the East Coast for people with Borderline Personality Disorder and those impacted by it. From art shows to short films to published handbooks, I’ve found so much healing and inspiration from being part of this small, relatively new organization. One of the great rewards of contributing to a smaller organization is that I have the privilege of talking directly with the leadership at EmotionsMatter and feel so connected to their cause. Didi Hirsh Mental Health Services, on the other hand, is a larger nonprofit that many people have heard of recently since its members were on stage with Logic at the MTV movie awards. I joined one of their group therapy meetings this past year for those who have survived a loved one’s suicide and met so many incredible people through the group on the organization's fundraising 5K in September.
Animal Shelters
This year a beloved pet passed away and I also gained a new one; both of them came from animal shelters. I donated to the Pasadena Humane Society to honor the life of one and to the Santa Monica Animal Shelter where I adopted my next pup, so that the shelter system can continue to provide more care to local animals in need. I’m sitting on my bed with my laptop now and my dog is next to me, nuzzled up on a pillow where I can easily reach over and scratch his ear. I’m constantly astonished by the amount of love that washes over me when I think of all the memories I have of my pets over the years. They have known when I’ve needed their unconditional love. I wish I could give money to every shelter in the world when I look in the eyes of my dog, but I’ll have to settle for two shelters until I win the lottery.
To me, all of these donations are related. They are causes that matter very intimately to my life. Perhaps today I will reach outside of my own experience and donate to a cause that is international, to an organization that is curing diseases or one creating jobs in a small country. Regardless, I know that giving today is much more about who I am all the time and much less about where my money ends up.
Today isn't about judging oneself harshly about how much or how little I can afford. Today isn't about stress and confusion and guilt about what I can or cannot give. I think today is merely a reminder amidst the shopping frenzy not to loose sight of our own health and wellness, and that of others too.
