SarahGlassmeyer(dot)com in perpetual beta

My library reading room is filled with law students furiously studying for finals, so I guess that means it’s almost the Kwanzchrismukah gift giving season.  Instead of a traditional “gifts to give the geeks in your life” blog post, I thought I’d cobble together some library or legal or information related charities that you may want to support in lieu of giving a gift this holiday season.  Personally,  I’m not a big fan of the whole expected gift giving thing – either giving or receiving.   If I’m giving a gift, I like it to be because I saw or made something that I thought someone I cared about would like, NOT because a day on the calendar tells me so.

The exception for this is my niece and nephew who I am legally and morally required to spoil rotten.

As for receiving gifts, well, I have enough stuff.  For birthdays and holidays, I generally tell people to just give something to charity in my name.  However, that once resulted in my brother buying me a membership in the NRA.  So now I try to specify a list of acceptable charities.   The following appear on that list (in addition to many more), but these are the top five that people who read this site may be interested in.  All of the “abouts” come from the organization websites.  So, in alphabetical order….

826 National – 826 National is a nonprofit tutoring, writing, and publishing organization with locations in seven cities across the country. Our goal is to assist students ages six to eighteen with their writing skills, and to help teachers get their classes excited about writing. Our work is based on the understanding that great leaps in learning can happen with one-on-one attention, and that strong writing skills are fundamental to future success. (Homepage) (Store Page)

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund – The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund was officially incorporated as a non-profit charitable organization in January of 1990 from the money left over from donations raised to defend Friendly Frank’s arrest for selling “obscene comics” in Lansing, IL in 1986. Since then, the CBLDF has helped over a dozen comic book retailers and professionals fend off the censors, some successfully, some not. (Homepage) (Donation page)

The Electronic Frontier Foundation – Blending the expertise of lawyers, policy analysts, activists, and technologists, EFF achieves significant victories on behalf of consumers and the general public. EFF fights for freedom primarily in the courts, bringing and defending lawsuits even when that means taking on the US government or large corporations. By mobilizing more than 50,000 concerned citizens through our Action Center, EFF beats back bad legislation. In addition to advising policymakers, EFF educates the press and public. (Homepage) (Donation page)

The Legal Information Institute – The LII is used by literally hundreds of nonprofits and public service organizations – local, national, and international — whose leadership and legal staff can’t afford commercial legal information services. As budgets for government and nonprofits become more and more strained, we help provide the information they use to help others. (Homepage) (Donation page)

Public Resource . Org – Making government information more accessible (Homepage) (Donation page – contains link to paypal)

So, again, those are just five options for donations in lieu of tacky crap that no one is going to use or look at past the holidays and is eventually just going to fill a landfill and/or get washed into the ocean where it will kill a baby sea turtle.  Whew.  Excuse me, I have to sit down…I’m a little dizzy.  The air is awfully thin up here on  my soapbox.

But, anyhoo, there are also plenty of other options.  Just because more is always better when in comes to charities, two of my non-topical favorites are Heifer.org and my local human society (EDIT – humane society…although I do like humans too.  Just not as much as animals).  Do you have a favorite that you’d like to share? Drop me a comment.