Giving Tuesday 2017

I very rarely talk about non-musical things here on my music blog, but I'm making the rare exception this time.

November 28, 2017 is Giving Tuesday.

Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday are all about shopping for gifts to give others (or even, secretly, oneself) that make you and someone your care about feel good for awhile.

Giving Tuesday, though, is about giving something to others that can make you feel good for a long time. This is an opportunity to support charities that are helping people in the US (where I live) or wherever in the world you live.

Because of the intense recent focus on sexual harassment and assault across the political, entertainment, and business landscapes, I thought this would be a good time to commend to you two organizations dedicated to fighting sexual abuse and helping survivors.

The first is the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network. RAINN provides a national toll-free, 24/7 hotline for survivors. They also have a chat capability for survivors who go to their website. In addition to survivor support, RAINN is active in public education, policy advocacy and consulting. Survivors have been contacting the group in record numbers in the wake of #MeToo so they can use the support.

RAINN has a solid 3-star rating from Charity Navigator.

The second organization is Darkness to Light. D2L is devoted to reducing child sexual abuse, with a long term goal of ending it entirely. They have trained over 1.4 million people to spot the signs of child sexual abuse and offer various training programs to help adults be responsible stewards of children in their care. They also provide helpful information on their site that can help you right now to become a better protector of kids.

D2L is not rated by Charity Navigator because they now get most of their revenue from providing program services. (Hence they're more of a service organization than a charity.) However, they have been awarded a gold seal of transparency by GuideStar, and continue to rely on contributions to sustain and grow their noble efforts.

I hope you will consider making a donation to either RAINN or D2L on Giving Tuesday.