If I had to characterize the themes of my year-end giving, it would be the following:

  • Civil Liberties Organizations (EFF, ACLU)
  • Third world development (Kiva, OLPC)
  • Independent culture & entertainment (NPR, Real Art Ways)

It helps having these themes because it helps me think of other places where I can give time or money. For example, the One Laptop Per Child Project (OLPC) is new this year. It combines my love of technology with a good program that is doing some good out in the world. If you aren’t familiar with OLPC, here’s how they describe their mission:

It’s not a laptop project. It’s an education project.

In 2002, MIT Professor Nicholas Negroponte experienced first-hand how connected laptops transformed the lives of children and their families in a remote Cambodian village. A seed was planted: If every child in the world had access to a computer, what potential could be unlocked? What problems could be solved? These questions eventually led to the foundation of One Laptop per Child, and the creation of the XO laptop.

If you’re still looking for ideas, OLPC is doing a great program this year to encourage giving, their Give One, Get One program. Basically, donate $400 which will send one laptop to a child in Afghanistan, Cambodia, Haiti, Mongolia, or Rwanda and send you one laptop for a child (or hacker) in your life. On top of that, T-Mobile is offering free T-Mobile HotSpot access for one year to anyone who gives through the Give One, Get One program. It’s like donating to a charity but with benefits to you, too.

Heidi and I debated this for a while (normally donating $400 would give two laptops out rather than one), and ultimately the T-Mobile HotSpot access swung me toward this program rather than just simply giving $400.

A little consumerism, yes, but I really do want to support the program. Next year, we’ll go for the simply giving option.

If OLPC isn’t for you, make your own themes and donate what you can to those programs. Even small donations can make a big difference when they’re aggregated together.