Charity work & volunteering have always been a part of my life. In middle school, I was the assistant activities director (volunteer position) at a retirement home for Alzheimer’s patients. In college, I ran several charity events for RAINN (For a long time, I was listed in their Corporate Partners) and later served multiple roles in the Save Fry Street organization in Denton, TX. Giving has always been a part of my life, which is partly why I went into education.

My wife and I have given annually to a number of charities for almost twenty years, but in 2014 when I first wrote this post, I wanted to do something a little different. We decided to donate to a different charity every month—even if it was only a small donation, it allowed us to give to more places that are near & dear to our hearts. Here were the twelve charities we picked that year: PBS, Worldbuilders aka Geeks Doing Good, The Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Kids Need to Read, Planned Parenthood, ACLU, Equality Now, RAINN, Tesla Science Center, The Red Cross, and our local food bank.

Since 2014, several of the folks who created some of these charities have been exposed as being problematic and RAINN in particular decided to erase queer people from their website, so I can no longer recommend folks donate to some of these charities.

In 2025, with the way fascism is marching across our country, I would strongly recommend that if you’re looking for places to donate, you consider the following:

• your local food bank
• Planned Parenthood
• ACLU

Also, buy local. Support local and small businesses.