Giving & Abundance
I think it’s safe to say that looking around at what’s happening in the world right now makes life feel pretty intense. When I notice this, say by reading the news or letting myself feel the grief of what’s unfolding ecologically and culturally, I keep coming back to: relationships and resilience. I’ve been on a deep dive reflecting on what forms of power and agency I do have. One of them is my capacity to support things I care about — & to use my relationships to encourage others to do the same.
Tuesday Dec 3rd is Giving Tuesday & I celebrate it as an annual invitation to reflect on the power of money, to notice the abundance I have in my life, and to intentionally choose to give money to causes I care about.
Brief Thoughts on Abundance
Abundance is an incredible feeling. Research proves that when we move from a place of abundance rather than scarcity we are healthier, more generous, and likely happier. So I highly encourage you to really sit with where you feel abundance or at least sufficiency in your life.
An intriguing and perhaps somewhat uncomfortable truth is that you are likely in the richest 90+% of people in the world (if you make $30K or more/year this is indeed the case even with the US’s cost of living). A hopefully more inspiring thing to notice is that we can use money to make awesome things happen by giving it to people well positioned to do so.
It’s worth considering, would you commit to giving away a certain amount of money or % of your income consistently? The practice of tithing to your church used to be a much more widely practiced norm and can be a way to actively cultivate a sense of abundance.
Solidarity & Energetic Alliance
No matter how much you have to donate, I can say from direct experience that it means a lot to receive donations from people as an expression of solidarity and support. By giving any amount of money to a cause you are making an explicit gesture — to yourself and that group — that you stand with them. It’s a beautiful gift and likely something we tend to underestimate the importance of.
For me, I like to think about expanding circles of care. How can I genuinely find ways in my life to practice care for widening circles of people, creatures, and cultures? For me, being part of a global alliance of impassioned cultural artists, educators, and activists has helped me develop a sense of connection to an incredible array of far away places. This offers a form of connectedness and grounded-ness I can’t put into words. It feels good to be in connection, to feel our entanglement, to be able to access empathy for the cohabitants I share this Earth-home with.
Who do you stand with?
When it comes to deciding which causes and specific groups to support I could share A WHOLE LOT. The summary after many years of wrestling with this would be to (1) don’t over-complexify the decision and (2) honor different impulses in you.
My impulses generally fall into a few categories:
- Rationality & Effectiveness — I desire to feel confident that my money is having an impact. (For this I like GiveWell’s Funds)
- Connection — I want to support initiatives I feel allegiance to and/or am connected to.
- Inspiration — I want to be actively supporting the world I desire to live in and celebrate those making that world more real. I think about the importance of hope and living into a story we believe in, what Joanna Macy calls the Great Turning.
- Healing & Direct Relief/Resistance Efforts — I honor the instinct I feel to offer support when others are experiencing extreme violence, disaster, pain, & oppression. I also want to support ongoing healing and reparations work.
I’m putting together an evolving resource of specific places you can give to that fall into each of these categories.
If you have suggestions, please share them. I’d also love to know if this writing had an impact (positive or negative) on you.
Let’s step into the power we hold by generating care for wider collectives.
With love ❤
