A Convenient List of Lady-Friendly Charities

Are you generous? Rich? Both?! Boy, do I have something to show you!

If you like to give away money over the holiday season (or if you’re one of those enviably affluent people who needs to give money away at the end of every year in order to minimize their tax burden), Nicholas Kristof‘s NYT column outlines several small charities that could use your support, many of which are woman-friendly.

A few examples:

Panzi Hospital (panzifoundation.org) treats victims of sexual violence in eastern Congo, rape capital of the world. It’s run by Dr. Denis Mukwege, who should be a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize. A $10 donation pays for transport to the hospital for a rape survivor; $100 pays for counseling and literacy and skill training for a survivor for a month.

Edna Hospital (ednahospital.org) is a dazzling maternity hospital in Somaliland, an area with one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world. Edna Adan Ismail, a Somali nurse- midwife who rose in the ranks of the World Health Organization and also served as Somaliland’s foreign minister, founded the hospital with her life’s savings and supports it with her United Nations pension. A $50 gift pays for a woman to get four prenatal visits, a hospital delivery, and one postnatal visit. Or $150 pays for a lifesaving C-section for a woman in obstructed labor.

¶The Somaly Mam Foundation fights sex slavery in Cambodia and around the world (somaly.org). It is run by Somaly Mam, who was sold into Cambodian brothels as a young girl before escaping years later. For $50, you can buy a lovely silk scarf made by a trafficking survivor; $25 buys a necklace made by a survivor.

If any of these interest you, please don’t hesitate to click and give. If they don’t interest you, I hope your heart grows a few sizes before you take all of my Roast Beast to the tip top of Mt. Crumpet to dump it.