Thanks to everyone who has submitted non-profit organizations important to them. Hopefully we can continue to grow this list, recommended by and for poker players, of organizations that are making a difference and that deserve our support. Please recommend an organization to be highlighted on this blog.
In the US and most other countries, December 31st is the deadline for a charitable donation to count as a write-off for the current year’s taxes. What this means is that you don’t pay taxes on the money that you donate, essentially enabling you to invest in a cause that is important to you with a substantial overlay provided by your government. As a poker player, you love overlay, right?
I know that this a tough time for everyone. There is uncertainty about the future of online poker in the US, economies around the world are still in bad shape, and nobody is making as much as he would prefer. It is essential to keep your problems and challenges in perspective, though. Hopefully you have not lost your home to an earthquake, gone without food or essential medical care, or been trafficked as a human sex slave in the past year. The bad beats that we experience at the tables are nothing compared to the beats that life has handed out to the world’s least fortunate people. Please consider sharing your good fortune with those who truly need your help.
Donating to non-profit organizations is also a way for you to invest in the things that are important to you, in your community and in the world. This could include something as small as supporting a local symphony or museum, if you enjoy the arts, or something as large as investing in solutions to global climate change. Unlike teachers or doctors, we as poker players do not directly influence the world around us through our professional lives. Investing the money that we earn in causes that are important to us is the best means we have for making a difference.
With that said, here is a list of organizations recommended by readers of this blog. Please consider supporting one of these organizations or using them as inspiration to find a cause that’s important to you:
Center for Neighborhood Technology
Girls Education and Mentoring Services (GEMS)
GEMS works with young girls who have experienced commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) and domestic trafficking to help them exit the commercial sex industry and reclaim their lives. Through a small staff and residential facility in the Bronx, New York, the organization performs outreach to identify victims of commercial sex exploitation and provides them with safe housing, counseling, and mentorship. Another main focus of the organization is advocacy work to end the commercial sexual exploitation of children, which is a relatively unknown and yet widespread problem in the United States. Through projects like the HBO documentary Very Young Girls as well as appearances in front of legislative bodies to address legal absurdities like prosecuting 12-year-old kidnapped girls as prostitutes, GEMS and founder Rachel Lloyd are working to help us understand that there is no such thing as a willing child prostitute–there are only girls who have been robbed of their childhoods and exploited.
Beyond what is summarized below, I’d mention that GEMS is a relatively small, flat, local organization. Money they receive goes fairly directly to providing shelter and opportunities to survivors of exploitation as well as supporting the education and advocacy work GEMS survivors do (speaking to legislative bodies, training police forces, etc.) Rachel Lloyd, herself a survivor CSE and GEMS’ founder and guiding force, is an inspiration to both survivors of sexual exploitation and others looking to understand it and try to help. She is a persuasive advocate and impressively moving speaker who is raising the profile of this issue nationally, and, again, money to GEMS will directly support her efforts. Finally, I’ve worked with GEMS personally, and a family friend is a member of their board
GEMS may be found at http://www.gems-girls.org/
Support for International Change
Support for International Change (SIC) is a small but high-performing organization fighting HIV in Tanzania. They work with rural villages to increase access to HIV education, testing, and care services. SIC also empowers young Tanzanians to be leaders in development, putting them at the forefront of their programs. This holiday your donation goes even farther as there is a dollar-for-dollar match on all donations made between now and January 1, 2011. Find out more at http://sichange.org/what-we-do/
SIC is a registered 501(c)3 charity in the US. Annual reports and audits located here: http://sichange.org/resources/reports/
Project Thirty
I want to share with you something called Project Thirty: $30 for 30 Days, which is the result of our Haiti nonprofit organization (We Hear Your
Voice.org <http://wehearyourvoice.com/home/>) and documentary.
I’m turning 30 this December and celebrating it by moving to Haiti for 30 days from December 14th – January 12th, with the 30th day falling
on the one-year anniversary of the devastating earthquake. During this time I will live at the tent city and orphanage we have been helping support since January. Run by our friend Ben Constant <http://vimeo.com/12468892>, the tent city camp is located at the National Soccer Stadium in downtown Port-au-Prince. Ben’s sister, Marie Jo Poux <http://vimeo.com/12469090>, founded Foyer Espoir Pour les Enfants, the orphanage in the Delmas district – which has become something of a second home for me recently.
This will be our 7th trip to Haiti this year, and we need your help to continue to ease the growing despair and hardship suffered by those we have grown to call friends, and some even family. Although it has been nearly 11 months since the earthquake, their conditions haven’t improved as not a cent of the $1.15 billion the U.S. promised for rebuilding has arrived (Associated Press <http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100928/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/cb_haiti_earthquake> and Senator Coburn <http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/OpEd-Contributor/Sen-Tom-Coburn-Facts-and-fiction-about-the-US-105372593.html>).
I want for nothing. I have all I need: a loving family, a healthy body, nutritious food, clean water, and a safe home. Life in Haiti is far
different: before the earthquake the average person earns less than $2/day and there were over 380,000 orphans; but in 30 seconds tragedy struck and conditions grew worse, leaving 1.2 million people displaced and virtually homeless. All the while, new threats of a cholera outbreak
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11622523> and Hurricane Tomas <http://newsfeed.time.com/2010/11/02/yet-another-blow-haiti-braces-for-possible-friday-hurricane/> cause great alarm.
As I celebrate turning 30 this year it is a time to count my blessings. In honor of my surviving 30 adventurous years, please consider donating $30 to our charity, We Hear Your Voice <http://wehearyourvoice.com/home/>. With your help, we can change lives. We can save lives.
Children’s Hospital
Next April, I’ll be running my second Boston Marathon in support of Children’s Hospital in Boston. I finished last years race in 4:05, and my goal is to finish in under four hours this year.
Although April 18th, 2011 seems a long time away – and this is a busy time of year for us all – I know that I have a lot of work ahead of me as I pick up my training and strive to reach my $4,000 fundraising goal, and I’m excited to get started as soon as possible. Please support this great cause, by sponsoring my run and making a donation to Children’s Hospital. I know many families who have been directly touched by the programs at Children’s, and I’m excited to support the great work they do.
More information about Children’s Hospital can be found on my Miles for Miracles donation page, located at: https://howtohelp.childrenshospital.org/bostonmarathon/pfp/?id=HA0038 – I would be so grateful for donations of any amount. Every little bit will help bring me closer to reaching my goal!
We all know that poker players get a bad rap in the media. This is an image that we need to change if we want to see favorable public policy in the future. Let’s show them how generous poker players can be!