Giving Back (Donating) (Patreon)

Alright, going to make this a somewhat short post. I've been incredibly lucky - and honoured - to have received a tremendous amount of support from you - the readers - over the last few years. 

Really, everything that has happened is because of you guys. Without the readers, there's no more publishing, no more excursions ot conventions, no more ramen and dim sum.

Okay, probably still ramen and dim sum.

Anyway, all of that is a way of saying I'm very grateful for all the support I've received. And the more support - the stabler I've found myself financially - the more I've shifted to on-going donations.

I won't talk much about the things we do for donating. We tried a public call for donations/etc in the early part of this year and that didn't get much traction which is fine, and timing might have been bad. So, I'm just going to do a more general discussion.

However, I figured I'd talk about donations and donating right now for a few reasons. 

- this year has been incredibly hard for a lot of people. Inflation is higher than what the majority of us have ever experienced. It isn't going away anytime soon, while wages are sticky. 

Food banks in Canada have seen a 15% increase in usage, their highest point - even higher than in the pandemic.

- a LOT of organisations are doing matching grants right now. That is, if you donate a certain amount, a certain amount will be matched by the company / individual / etc. 

Some places that I know are doing it:

- For example, Reddit via r/Ontario is doing a $20k matching donation for Food Banks 

- Eva's Initiative for Homeless Youth is matching up to $400k!  

- Earthjustice is doing a $3:1 matching donation 

And those are just the last few e-mails / messages I've noted. I'm sure with even a little digging, you could find a cause that is doing matching donations, which means whatever money you put in will be doubled by an organisation/individual.

- Obviously, regular donations are in some ways much better. Some places to consider donating to on a regular basis, include:

- Wikipedia and;

- Kiva - which is a microloan organisation (similar to what Lana set-up in SA)

Even if you don't have money, donating time, extra goods or heck, blood (heh, after XMas there are often drops in donations so something to consider!) can help. And if you don't have that, maybe just check in on your friends, eh?

Either way, the time right now before the end of the year when people are matching donations is a good time to make a greater impact.