5 Non-Profit Organizations We Love
There’s this powerful photo that has made its rounds across social media and beyond, and it’s one that gets us every time. You might know it:
It’s an image that stays with you for two main reasons:
It’s sad because the message, unfortunately, is true.
It’s encouraging because it shows that, regardless of age or background, people do have the power to be seen and make their voices heard.
Times are scary right now. Marginalized communities are living in fear. Education systems and the arts are under attack. Safe spaces are being compromised or disappearing altogether. Life-saving medical care has been revoked.
In Good News: There Are Many Non-Profit Organizations Fighting the Good Fight
Today, as we celebrate (the freedom to) love – your partner, your family, your art, your passion – we would like to show our appreciation to five non-profit organizations that are doing the honorable work of:
Offering community to those who have been ostracized by an increasingly hostile government
Supporting those in need with love and respect and restoring a sense of dignity
Providing a safety net where there is currently none
Spearheading initiatives to foster environmental responsibility
Fighting against censorship
Please join us in showing these organizations some love today by donating, following them on their social media platforms and/or giving them a shoutout on yours!
The Trevor Project
Everyone deserves to live and love and to be loved and supported by their communities. In today’s political climate, our LGBTQ+ youth are particularly affected and in need of nurturing.
With access to lifesaving care for transgender youth under increasing threat, and the rejection of their identities in the US, organizations like The Trevor Project have become all the more important.
The leading crisis intervention and suicide prevention organization for LGBTQ+ youth is here to remind folk: “you deserve a welcoming, loving world” – and its volunteers are here to support you day or night.
The Trevor Project trains volunteers to be counsellors who can be reached via telephone or chat 24/7 during crisis situations or when feeling overwhelmed with feelings of confusion, depression or isolation.
Their website offers resources, including international research focused on LGBTQ+ mental health, and a wealth of information for ally’s looking to learn how to best support their friends and family members.
Collective Calling
According to The United Nations, around 1.6 billion people worldwide are experiencing homelessness and/or are living in very poor housing conditions. Unfortunately, these numbers are increasing with each year.
The situation in Spain – where part of the Sustainable Digital branch resides – has seen a huge rise in homelessness often due to a lack of housing security, mental health issues and a critical gap in support services.
This gap is one that Collective Calling aims to fill with the country’s first mobile shower unit for the homeless community. Travelling to different locations, it offers clean and comfortable facilities, restoring dignity and faith in a brighter tomorrow.
Collective Calling’s support reaches beyond their mobile shower unit, and extends to providing access to food and clothing, and assistance in applying for housing and social services.
We first became aware of their work during the COVID pandemic, when founders Paul and Gemma Carr made it their mission to reach out to those particularly affected by the lockdown.
Painted Bins
Art has a way of inspiring thought and emotion and beautifying things that may not be otherwise. Such as composting bins. With its messaging, it also has the power to inspire change – and that’s exactly what Painted Bins set out to do.
Painted Bins have been designed to make disposing food scraps easy, fun and educational. The bins – which have been installed in public spaces and parks in and around the San Francisco Bay area – feature the art of local school children and their views on how composting can save the earth.
The bins are all equipped with QR codes, which allow people to learn more about the dangers of food scraps ending up on landfills and emitting greenhouse gases.
Founded by Kathy Huber, the non-profit organization aims to build environmental stewards by offering the Painted Bins program to local schools as part of an important curriculum: taking care of the earth.
Sustainable Digital very much enjoyed working on this project and seeing it come to life!
Unite Against Book Bans
What would this world be if we didn’t have access to diverse voices in literature, art, and film? A sad, boring and ignorant place and we, for one, have no interest in a world like that.
Books, especially, allow us to escape into different worlds, teach us about different realities and experiences, educate us about other ways and belief systems – and we want to know them all!
With the removal of reading materials from schools and libraries across America having reached record highs, we are looking at a bleak reality of ongoing censorship – one the majority of US citizens do not agree with.
Unite Against Book Bans advocates for the freedom and the right to read and partners with more than 200 organizations to defeat government attempts at censoring reading material, through:
Access to the Action Toolkit
Advice and guidance for community advocates
Book résumés to help librarians, parents and teachers combat misinformation
Targeted Messaging and Calls to Action
Join this cause to ensure our libraries and schools stay stocked with colorful books and diverse voices so we can foster a future of open hearts, open minds and open books.
MusiCares
Did you catch Chappell Roan’s acceptance speech at the Grammy Award ceremony? In it, she addressed the “most powerful people in music” and demanded that “labels and the industry profiting millions of dollars off of artists would offer a livable wage and healthcare.”
For emerging artists, financial security is practically unattainable – even once they have been signed to renowned labels. MusiCares recognizes this reality and has programs, services and wellness initiatives in place to support music people in times of need.
The LA Wildlife fires was a shocking example of unimaginable scenarios that saw many musicians losing everything – their homes, their work, their equipment – with no insurance to cover material and/or health related costs.
MusiCares launched a Disaster Relief fund that includes $1,500 in financial assistance and a $500 grocery card for immediate necessities and evacuation costs, along with assistance with medical needs, damaged equipment and rental assistance.
It’s a Good Time to Give Back
This Valentine’s Day, we’d like to encourage you to think about love in all its forms. What will you do to set a romantic or fun tone for your special date today? Play a special song? Attend a long-awaited gig?
Music is a love language. The melodies and lyrics you return to time and again were crafted, with a lot of love and attention. For those affected by the LA fires, that attention is now turned on healing, rebuilding, finding their voice again. Help them, if you can.
What allows us to even indulge in days like Valentine’s? Our privilege – to live on and walk this earth daily. Let’s treat it accordingly. Let’s forgo the plastic chocolate wrappers and plant trees with our loved ones instead.
Lastly, remember, reiterate, and roar it from the rooftops: Love knows no boundaries. LOVE IS LOVE IS LOVE and we need to celebrate and protect its freedom to exist in whichever way it wants to.
Let’s give back to the organizations that support our values and turn our backs on those who don’t.
Are you thinking of new ways to push honorable values based on principles of peace, love and respect? Get in touch – we’re happy to help in any way we can!
