Happy Giving Tuesday: Here Are Our Favorite Charities to Donate to Today

Most weeks, we love to share the plant-based products that we are obsessed with, and we make sure to let you know about the best new plant-based launches that are worth buying. Since today is Giving Tuesday, launched by the 92nd Street Y in our hometown of New York City, 12 years ago, it seems like the perfect time to flip it and reverse it and let you know where we will be giving today, and in the weeks to come, as the world is in need of a helping hand more than ever.

Our charities are personal choices, and span from the environmental to the social, saving wilderness and public spaces and offering vegan meals to families in need of healthy food now, during a worldwide pandemic. We hope that you feel good (or great) when giving to causes you care about in your own lives and that you see this as a helpful idea generator for deciding where you want to lend your dollars today and your hands every day. Here's to giving, and to feeling so good.

The Wilderness Society has made it its mission to protect outdoor spaces and prevent private companies from developing land or drilling or otherwise ravaging the natural beauty of our dwindling wild places: Bears Ears National Monument, Tongass National Forest, and other threatened wild places need your help, TWS tells us. If you have always loved polar bears and other majestic creatures, now is the time to come to their aid.

The Wilderness Society is working hard to preserve the world's open spaces and defend the natural world against deregulation that would allow private interests to destroy the wilderness, across the continent and beyond. Today the Wilderness Society is matching 5 times your gift today. So $20 becomes $100 due to the generosity of their supporters. You don't have to give a lot to have a big, icy impact. Polar Bear hugs all around!

Donate here on The Wilderness Society website.

Freedge is an international organization that works to implement community fridges stocked with free food and produce in neighborhoods that typically have less access to healthy options in an effort to promote equal access across areas in the U.S., Canada, and South America.

Food insecurity is an important issue to me, and I believe it should be at the forefront of the vegan movement because although preaching to others that they should adopt a diet free of animal products is easy, due to socioeconomic circumstances that include a disproportionate amount of food deserts and food swamps in low-income and minority communities, a vegan or plant-based diet is not a realistic option for everyone.

Freedge also strives to educate community members about healthy options, which is equally important, because education is another barrier to developing a well-rounded diet. The work that Freedge is doing seeks to supply underserved neighborhoods with a ‘take what you need’ approach which not only fosters the development of healthier lifestyles but also deepens a sense of community. You can donate directly to Freedge, or visit the organization’s website to learn how to implement a community fridge in your neighborhood.

Donate here on the Freedge website.

Award-winning singer and longtime vegan Billie Eilish has helped spread the word about her mother's nonprofit, Support + Feed. Maggie Baird is the creator of the organization which supplies plant-based food to hospitals, shelters, and first responders across Los Angeles and New York City.

The initiative was created in Los Angeles on March 27th and in New York City in April due to the coronavirus hardships on vegan restaurants and frontline workers. The mother-daughter-duo actively promotes the nonprofit on social media and has served thousands of plant-based meals to people in need, with the help of volunteers and donations.

“Support + Feed provides plant-based meals prepared by local restaurants and businesses to people experiencing food insecurity in BIPOC and other communities, with several goals: nourish those in need, provide education, support the small business community, and positively impact the climate crisis.”

Donate here on the Support + Feed website.

The easiest and most effective ways to play a part in saving the ocean include reducing your waste such as cutting back on plastic, conserving water, and donating to charities that are taking huge steps in saving the ocean such as Ocean Conservancy.

Ocean Conservancy is a nonprofit organization that has been devoted to making the ocean a healthier environment for marine life and coastal communities since 1972. Overfishing, climate change, and pollution are just a few reasons that marine life and the ocean have been put at risk. Ocean Conservancy has developed different programs to combat climate change such as organizing the world's largest effort to remove trash from beaches, working with scientists, indigenous communities, and legislators to protect the Arctic, and restore the Gulf of Mexico from the damage it still faces from the BP oil disaster.

Ocean Conservancy takes action in both communities and in government relations pushing for funding and attention in at-risk areas. In honor of Giving Tuesday, Ocean Conservancy is pledging that every donation will be triple matched up to 100K by the board of directors and donors. You can donate to Ocean Conservancy here.