Helping Out those Great Non-Profits

I’m not sure if you’ve ever taken a look at a recent satellite photo of the Brazilian rainforest, but it’s a little depressing. The last thing that I want to do is make light of an issue or demean its complexity, but it really makes you want to step back and take a look at what we’re doing and how you and I spend our money. While there are a lot of great gifts out there for ourselves and others that are material in nature, I think it’s important for us to look at other types of gifts that server more of a common good. What I’m referring to here is making a gift to a conservation organization in the form of dollars, and there are a few good reasons you should consider it as well.

First, it’s always important to be willing to put your money where your mouth is. These organizations need money for everything from organizational costs to covering costs incurred on the ground doing actual conservation initiatives. Without support through donations, these people simply cannot afford to keep doing the work that they do. In this sense, the good reason for supporting them is that it will actually support something that you believe in. That’s a good enough reason for me to support the Nature Conservancy in their Billion Trees campaign in the Brazilian rainforest.

Something else that you should keep in mind is that all of the money you donate to non-profits or charities can be deducted from your taxes. This means that you can not only do a good deed for someone that needs it, but you can also win out at the end of the year. This is a great little push to get people to donate that may not otherwise do so.

The fact is that we live in a world that seems to exist on a perpetual growth paradigm. This is at odds with the foundational reality of our planet, which is simply that its resources are finite. You simply cannot have infinite growth on a finite planet, especially if you’re not doing anything to replenish the resources you take away. Take a moment to donate to a cause that you care about, and do your part to help the world out a bit.

jareds | My Bio & Articles

Jared Skye is an environmental scientist and author of sustainability and self-sufficiency themed media.