Sunday, November 13, 2016

In a time of great need, donate and subscribe. And make it public

A few days back I announced a donation of $1,000 to ProPublica. As I explained there, I'd just read Peter Singer's wonderful Ethics in the Real World, where he suggests we must be more outspoken about the donations we make. Not to boast about them, but to appeal to those who can afford doing the same, but still give very little —or nothing. There's evidence from the psychology literature showing that public announcements of donations increase donations.

A list of recent donations I've made is at the bottom of this post. I encourage you make yours public, too.

My list includes ongoing subscriptions to news publications that do investigative reporting or aggressive commentary, things that we'll desperately need during an administration that won't be constrained by any serious checks or balances; this isn't about partisanship, but about preparing ourselves to preserve democracy —and no, I don't think I'm being hyperbolic at all:

• One-time gift to ProPublica: $1,000
• One-time gift to the Against Malaria Foundation: $500
• Monthly gift to ACLU: $50
• Monthly gift to Planned Parenthood: $40
• (I'm still looking into other organizations to donate to, using Singer's website as guidance.)

 Magazines: The Weekly Standard, New Yorker, Mother Jones, The Atlantic, Rolling Stone
 Newspapers: The Miami Herald, The New York Times
 Online subscriptions: The Washington Post, The New Tropic, eldiario.es, The Wall Street Journal