Over at Popehat, in the spirit of the Christmas, Ken White has suggested three charities you could donate to this season. Although I have no problem with donating to any of them, I thought I’d offer a few suggestions of my own.

To start with, I’m a regular donor to the Reason Foundation. This is the parent organization of Reason magazine, which is the flagship libertarian outreach publication, spreading ideas about free markets and free minds. Donating to them could help nudge us toward a world that is vibrant, prosperous, and free.

(I’m pathetically trying to draw their attention to my tiny little libertarian blog, so if you donate, tell them Windypundit sent you. Or don’t. It’s up to you. I am a libertarian, after all.)

If you’d prefer a charity that helps people directly, one of the most effective is probably the Against Malaria Foundation. They are consistently near the top of GiveWell’s list of best charities, and they have one single, simple mission: Giving out mosquito nets by the tens of millions to people in malaria-plagued regions. The nets cost only $2 each and will protect a pair of sleeping people from malaria-spreading mosquitoes for three or four years. Statistically, it takes fewer than 1000 nets to prevent a fatal malaria infection, so if you make regular annual donations, there is a good chance you will save someone’s life. Donating to AMF (or one of the anti-parasitic worms charities) will put you in the fight against humanity’s deadliest enemies.

If you’re looking for something in the middle ground between the philosophical Reason Foundation and the direct efficiency of AMF, check out GiveDirectly. Their approach is to carefully identify extremely poor people…and then give them money. It won’t be a lot by American standards, maybe $500 to $1000, but with it they’ll be able to replace their home’s thatched roof with a lightweight steel one, or buy a farm animal they can raise and sell, or…whatever they want. The idea — a very libertarian idea — is that the recipients will know their specific needs better than any aid worker ever could, so we should just give them money and let them figure out how to spend it.

I also donate to the Sex Workers Outreach Project, which advocates for the rights of sex workers and provides street-level outreach that, unlike so many “rescue” operations, does not involve law enforcement. Instead, it supplies help that sex workers actually need.

Yet another place your donations can make a big difference is your local charitable bail fund. (Here in Chicagoland, that’s the Chicago Community Bond Fund.) Many poor people are stuck in jail because they’ve been charged with crimes and can’t put together enough money to post even a small bond. Charitable bail funds post bond to get them out of jail, allowing them to return to their families, friends, jobs, and communities. Studies show that people out on bail are better able go fight the charges, and get better deals if they plea bargain. So donate to your local bail fund and help someone get home for the holidays, and maybe stay home. As a bonus, after their case is over, the government releases the bail funds back to the charity, where they can be used to bail out someone else.

Finally, helping people doesn’t have to be a big operation. If the opportunity arises, one of the most effective forms of charity is helping someone directly. Find someone in your community who needs help, and help them. Depending on your resources, you can let them move in with you for a while, give them a job, or just quietly put an envelope of money in their mail box.

It’s all good.

Just a little local color:

Today I’m thankful so many stores have chosen to be open on Thanksgiving. I’ve always found those holidays where everything in the world is closed to be more than a little creepy.

Larger Image

Not everybody is happy about the new retailing plans for Thanksgiving. I got a link in the mail to this marginally coherent change.org petition asking Kohl’s department stores not to open on Thanksgiving, and Ellen Galinsky has an opinion piece in Time complaining that Macy’s will be open on Thanksgiving and linking to petitions about Target and others. At least Galinsky has the right approach:

You don’t have to sign a petition or go out and protest in front of stores. All you have to do is do something else on Thanksgiving Day other than opening your wallet.

Exactly. Stores are open on Thanksgiving day because people show up to shop on Thanksgiving day.

And really, I don’t understand what the fuss is all about. For police officers, firefighters, EMTs, and other emergency workers, today is a workday like any other. They never get the holiday off. Neither do hospital emergency department workers and nursing staff. Utility workers are still standing by to repair broken water pipes and fix electrical distribution equipment. Soldiers and prison guards still patrol the walls.

The caring institutions are still running: Nursing homes, assisted living facilities, group homes, and homeless shelters. Zoo workers still show up to care for the animals, as do workers at pet stores and animal hospitals.

The holidays are a big occasion for travel, so travel industry workers are having a busy day. Flight crews are still flying and airports are fully staffed. Bus drivers and train operators are doing their jobs, and the stations are bustling with activity. Cab drivers are still looking for fares. Hotels are still staffed and caring for travelers.

With so many people cooking big dinners, grocery stores are still open to provide last-minute items. Some of them also provide fully-cooked meals for people who don’t have the time, energy, or skills to prepare their own. Many restaurants and caterers are still operating for the same reason.

With all these people out and at work, gas stations are still open, as are all the 24/7 convenience marts, and even more restaurants are open to provide meals for everyone who’s working.

My wife works in the benefit enrollment industry, and this is the busiest time of year for her. Hundreds of thousands of people are enrolling for next year’s benefits, and deadlines are fast approaching. We’re technically on vacation this week, but she’s had to do some work every day. (As did I, when I worked in that industry.) She was answering emails on her phone this morning on the way to visit some friends for Thanksgiving, and while I was writing this, she had to borrow the laptop to handle a problem at work.

Given all these folks who already work on Thanksgiving, I really have trouble understanding why people are protesting because a few thousand retail employees have to work. My guess is that it has less to do with genuine concerns about employees’ family time and more to with the imagined demons of “rampant consumerism.” Because giving it a nasty name makes it seem like you’re worked up for reasons other than your personal distaste.

And what about all the people for whom spending Thanksgiving with family is only a myth? Those living alone and far from their family, or those who have no family? My wife’s parents died when she was young, and she had no other close relatives, so for years before we were married, the holidays were not a time for family for her. Until we got together, Thanksgiving was a good time for her to go to the movies (another business that stays open on holidays) since everything else was closed.

Since we don’t have children, and now that my parents have passed on, my wife and I are the only close family either of us has. Today some friends were kind enough to invite us over for Thanksgiving dinner with their wonderful family, for which we are thankful, but if it hadn’t been for them, we’d probably be going out for dinner and a movie. The way I see it, the two of us constitute a compact portable family, and anything we do on Thanksgiving is a family activity. And that includes stopping in at Best Buy on the way home to check out the sales on big-screen televisions.

Just had a gigantic Thanksgiving dinner at some friends’ house. Filled with turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and ice cream. Feeling sleepy…trying to stay awake by doing stuff on the computer…not going…to…make…it…

The last few years have been a bit difficult. Between my parents getting sick and dying, my consulting work drying up, and the ongoing recession, by this time last year things were looking precarious and about to get worse. But now my life is settling back into order and things are starting to look up again.

So on this Thanksgiving, I’m thankful for all my friends who stuck with me through a difficult time, and all the new friends I made along the way. You made a difficult time much, much easier.

Thank you.