If you’re looking to avoid buying physical gifts this holiday season but still want to show your loved ones that you’re thinking about them, donating to a mutual aid fund in their honor is an absolutely fantastic gift. So many people need support more than ever this year, and in my opinion a personalized card with a little note letting your mom / wife / sibling / BFF / great uncle / whoever know that you made a donation in their honor to an organization that contributes to making things materially better for folks in your community is a perfect gift. Seriously — it won’t get lost in the mail, you can gift it from a distance, you can take care of it at the very last minute and it still won’t be late, you can make a recurring donation so it’s the gift that keeps giving, it says fuck you to capitalism… should I go on?
Team Autostraddle got together to let you know about some of our personal favorite mutual aid funds if you need inspiration about who to give your money to this holigay season (whether it’s for a gift or simply because you have a large disposable income and want to share your resources!). We tended to stick to organizations that are local to us because it’s often easiest to see which groups are making the strongest impact on your actual community when they’re run by people in your actual community! I’d love to hear in the comments about the local organizations in your area that you like to support.
