Three Non-Profits I Heart: Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, Wikipedia and the Newark Boys & Girls Club

This time of year I always make a few last-minute donations to places I've meant to give to all year but of course haven't gotten it together to put my money where my, er, heart is.

Last year I did a Comment for a Cause post on this blog, pledging to donate a dollar per comment left - ending up on the hook for a mind-boggling $35. Yep, that post went totally viral.*

So this year, I'll skip the commenting requirement and just mail a check make an online donation to these organizations I heart:

Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood - This organization is behind a lot of amazing campaigns like ones that keep advertising (often via Scholastic) out of school curriculum. They also provide education and viable alternatives to parents and educators who want to reduce, or even eliminate, marketing from kids' lives. They don't accept any corporate funding, so they rely on individual donations.

Wikipedia - Yes, I will admit it - I was swayed by the personal appeals at the top of the pages. But I didn't donate to Wikipedia because I am such a gigantic Wikipedia user. I donated to Wikipedia because I think it's truly inspiring that this behemoth of a site has chosen not to have advertising on the site. As someone who tries to monetize my own teeny-tiny online mouse hole any way I can, I greatly respect someone who isn't plastering ads and who-knows-what all over their site, and my user-experience. And if I can help Wikipedia keep going via their model of user-supported donations, sure I'll be in on that.

Newark Boys and Girls Club - This last one is because I believe in supporting local organizations, and Newark is just up the road from my neighborhood. And no, it doesn't hurt that I'm a huge fan of Mayor Booker. The Boys and Girls Club runs an incredible array of life-changing youth programs that promote education, life skills, the arts and much more. And, they're active in social media - which I think more organizations should be. So, I'm giving them a donation for that reason, too.


With one day left to make a difference in 2011, I'd love to hear which organizations do you heart?

*Despite the monetary failure of last year's Comment for a Cause, it was not a total bust. Through the comments I "met" some great people like Michelle Simon who blogs at Appetite for Profit and tweets at @Appetite4Profit; Lisa Sunbury who blogs at Regarding Baby and tweets at @RegardingBaby and Erin who blogs at Marketing, Media and Childhood and tweets at @mktgchildhood. So it was totally worth it for those connections alone.