Friends

I usually stay silent and anonymous (if possible) about my donations. I wanted to change that to encourage others to donate as well. It is not that these organizations need my endorsement. I am a nobody and some of these organizations are super-huge. I am hoping there is a chance that you might be encouraged to give as well. The organizations I gave to:

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). I am a big fan of the ACLU and I am inspired by their commitment to civil liberties guaranteed by the United States Constitution. Safeguarding your rights doesn't come easy and thanks to the ACLU for fighting for our rights. ACLU lost its single largest funding source, David Gelbaum. Mr. Gelbaum has given the ACLU $ 94 million in the past five years ($ 300 million to other organizations). He has run into some personal financial issues and the ACLU is looking for support everywhere they can to bridge this funding gap. The ACLU needs your help. Please help them out, if you can. Cool fact: Because of my donation, I became a card-carrying member of the ACLU.

Vibha Every year, a large part of my small charitable giving goes to Vibha. Vibha's vision is to "ensure that every underprivileged child attains his or her right to education, health and opportunity." I am a volunteer with this organization. We'd really appreciate your help. Vibha supports some fantastic grass roots level projects. I will mention one here. Sikshana is an organization that has the potential to revive the quality of the primary school system in Karnataka. They reach over 25,000 children from 216 primary schools (there are close to 50000 public primary schools in Karnataka). Sikshana's methodology is scalable and at some point the government will hopefully adopt their approach. Please donate generously to Vibha to support projects like Sikshana.

People's Union for Civil Liberties. The PUCL is India's equivalent of the ACLU. They are not as organized as the ACLU. They do fight for the same cause, which is especially harder in India, where civil liberties are not well-protected by the Constitution or the courts.

National Federation of the Blind (NFB) The NFB supports education, research and technology programs offered to the blind.

Wikipedia. If you are reading this, you have an internet connection, and you likely know of Wikipedia. It is a non-profit and relies on donations to keep it running. I am sure you don't want to see it go away.

I have to post this video for my readers to enjoy. It is an interview of Philippe Petit on the Colbert Report. You'll see that Philippe Petit is *high*. Always. It is also one of the few occasions when Colbert shows raw emotion (Jane Fonda's interview was another occasion).

Here you go people...