Are you already done with your holiday shopping? If not, how about a gift that supports a great organization? Or what about that person who’s impossible to shop for? Give a donation in her name and your gift won’t be returned — in fact, it’ll be greatly appreciated. Below are my five suggestions for 2009.
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
EFF is the leading civil liberties group defending your rights in the digital world, such as free speech, innovation, privacy and fair use. What does this mean? Let’s talk digital books. Companies are using copyright law and DRM to restrict what you do with your digital book once you buy it. Okay, there are lots of problems with that in general but, again, let’s talk specifics: what if you’re disabled and would like to convert your digital book to a different format because the text format isn’t accessible to you? If you do, you’re breaking the law. Is that right? Donate and get a cool t-shirt.
Mozilla
I use the Mozilla browser Firefox every day, along with its plethora of add-ons — Web Developer Toolbar, Woot Watcher, ColorZilla, just to name a few — that make my work and personal life easier. But Mozilla isn’t just Firefox, it’s an open source software project, which means its code is readily available to developers, which means they can innovate like crazy. It’s about time you pick up a shirt or some swag and support them.
Creative Commons
Creative Commons provides a modern version of copyright law that makes it easier for people to share their own work and build on the work of others. For example, I’ve been doing a bit of video editing lately and have needed background music. I don’t have any budget for this, so I’ve been using music covered by the Creative Commons license that allows you to use the artistic property as long as you provide attribution — in my case, list the musician in the credits. This is legal, ethical, provides me with a service and provides the artist with some visibility. A win-win all the way around.
Women for Women International
If you don’t know about this organization, you should. Women for Women runs one-year programs where women who’ve survived war in countries such as Afghanistan and Rwanda are initially given financial support to stabilize their lives, then are taught rights awareness, leadership skills, and vocational and technical skills. This process allows each individual to transform from victim into active citizen. What can you do? Give a gift that gives back — starting at $15, you can give okra seeds; for more you can give a sewing machine or a wheel barrow or teach a woman to read. I must admit I’m very biased toward Women for Women because I’ve been involved with them for several years now as a sponsor. I believe in their mission because it allows women to empower themselves, and hopefully empower others.
Donate Your Old Computer
Did you upgrade this year? Why not give away your old tech — it’s a nice cash-free way to give and saves you the trouble of properly recycling your computer. Here are simple instructions on finding a charity in your area. Just remember to wipe your hard drive before the computer goes out the door. Even if the organization tells you they’ll take care of it, do it yourself using a free download like as Eraser or Active@ Kill Disk. Now you’ll have that warm, fuzzy feeling that comes with giving instead of the stress of watching the bid amount not increase on eBay.
Happy Holidays!
