tim: Tim wearing a flannel shirt, against a brick wall (pic#5424584)Tim Chevalier ([personal profile] tim) wrote,
@ 2013-01-16 06:18 pm UTC
Entry tags:dear lazywebs
So, a friend who knew Aaron Swartz (actually, it kind of seems like all my friends knew Aaron Swartz, except me) posed a question to me: to what non-profit organizations should she encourage people to donate to in his memory? I wasn't all that familiar with Swartz's work until after his death, unfortunately, but from what I've seen he seemed to have a pretty good understanding of the privileges that allowed him to have the influence that he had in his short life.

Since so many people are hounded to death by the US "justice" system and are sent to jail for no good reason -- nerds just don't tend to care since most of them are poor and are people of color -- my friend and I were both thinking that donating to groups working to change that would be appropriate. I was thinking of the TGI Justice Project first and foremost, since they focus on trans women of color in the prison system. Off the top of my head, I also thought of supporting groups working on legalizing drugs and on legalizing sex work and advocacy for sex workers. I'm less knowledgeable about what groups are most effective (and most representative of the people who need representation most) in those areas. Do you have suggestions, Internets? Post them here!


(7 comments) - (Post a new comment)
(Flat) (Top-level comments only)

tim: Tim wearing a flannel shirt, against a brick wall (pic#5424584)


[personal profile] tim
2013-01-17 03:02 am UTC (link)
Suggestion received from Facebook: the ACLU-WA's Drug Policy Project, http://aclu-wa.org/issues/drug-policy

(Reply to this


ivy: Two strands of ivy against a red wall (Ivy)


[personal profile] ivy
2013-01-17 10:02 pm UTC (link)
I would pretty much think Demand Progress would be the frontrunner -- that was his project, and they are running a campaign specifically about that. They do take donations, but they're not a 501.3c. If they want tax-deductible donations, though, yeah, that's harder. I don't have suggestions in the areas you ask about, due to the same lack of knowledge. But if I hear of one, I'll pass it on.

(Reply to this


tim: Tim wearing a flannel shirt, against a brick wall (pic#5424584)


[personal profile] tim
2013-01-18 07:24 pm UTC (link)
Another suggestion from Facebook: the Drug Policy Alliance (which I had thought of already, but it's nice to have a second opinion!)

(Reply to this


tim: Tim wearing a flannel shirt, against a brick wall (pic#5424584)


[personal profile] tim
2013-01-18 07:28 pm UTC (link)
Also from Facebook: Sex Worker Open University - "The best sex workers rights organisation that they should know about is sex worker open university as it links to all the other good ones too and is run by sex workers themselves. The website is really, really rubbish but the work that is done isn't"

(Reply to this


pastwatcher: (cedar, guoxiabai)


[personal profile] pastwatcher
2013-01-19 07:55 am UTC (link)
Can I just suggest TGIJP again? (also can I share this post)?

(Reply to this)  (Thread


tim: Tim wearing a flannel shirt, against a brick wall (pic#5424584)


[personal profile] tim
2013-01-19 06:57 pm UTC (link)
Yes, please share it!

(Reply to this)  (Thread from start)  (Parent


novalis: (hunting, prayer, thanks)


[personal profile] novalis
2013-01-19 10:30 pm UTC (link)
Aaron himself would have donated his money to GiveWell.

(Reply to this



(7 comments) - (Post a new comment)
(Flat) (Top-level comments only)