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Austin, Tx is home to over 600 non-profits, cause-based business, and organizations that give back to our community. Here you can find a small list of a few of my recommended nonprofits in Austin- and though it was difficult to choose between so many impactful organizations, I have a deep connection to those listed here!
“Our dream is to see every child in the foster care system supported by a Love Box group and every youth supported by a Dare to Dream mentor. We serve just under 200 children in central Texas through our Love Box program. There are currently over 5,600 children in foster homes or substitute care services in central Texas alone. Our long-term vision is to open chapters in every major metropolitan city in the nation, so every single child in foster care in the United States will be supported and empowered to succeed.”
“The Amala Foundation unites youth from all walks of life and empowers them to grow as individuals and as leaders in service to humanity. Amala offers safe, supportive and inspiring experiences where youth from all backgrounds come together to learn and grow. From youth summits to camps to leadership training, Amala’s programs promote personal growth, clear communication, deep listening, compassion and an ethos of service.
Since 2001, the Amala Foundation has offered over 6,000 youth a unique blend of Social Emotional Learning (SEL) programs and cross-cultural connection aimed at providing the next generation of leaders with a model of inclusion, compassion, commitment and service to their communities.”
“LifeWorks is a fierce advocate for youth and families seeking their path to self-sufficiency. We are committed to innovative problem solving, shared accountability and a relentless focus on achieving real, sustainable and measurable results for the clients we serve.
Every year, LifeWorks provides a pathway to self-sufficiency for more than 4,000 youth and families, many of whom are facing life’s most difficult challenges, including homelessness, trauma, and abuse.”
“Rooster was started by a group of friends (that's us!) who wanted to see more sharing and human connections in the world. It is a place for neighbors to help, borrow, share, and get together with one another - all for free. Instead of money, we pay it forward.”
The more I learn about social responsibility, the more I want every dollar I spend to go towards a good cause. As the quote says, we “vote with our dollars,” and I’d like every vote to matter. When done right, one of the most enjoyable acts of giving back is charitable shopping! In 2016 Americans spent more than $380 Billion in online shopping alone (Business Insider). Imagine if even half of this amount went towards organizations that give back with their products, time, and profits.
“In 2006, American traveler Blake Mycoskie befriended children in a village in Argentina and found they had no shoes to protect their feet. Wanting to help, he created TOMS, a company that would match every pair of shoes purchased with a pair of new shoes given to a child in need. One for One.®
Realizing that One for One could serve other global needs, Blake launched TOMS Eyewear in 2011 to help restore sight to persons in need with every purchase of sunglasses and optical frames. In 2014, TOMS Roasting Co. launched with the mission to provide clean water to developing communities with the purchase of premium coffee.”
“Every week Sevenly (and its customers) teams up with a charity, helping raise funds and awareness for 7 full days. The campaign starts on Mondays at 10am PST with the release of limited edition products.Each purchase made gives $7 to the charity partner of the week. Whether you purchase a campaign specific shirt or something from our curated vendor selection, $7 goes directly to making a difference with the charity.”
“ONEHOPE is a social enterprise that integrates causes into products and services to make a social impact. ONEHOPE has quickly become one of the most recognizable cause brands due to the success of our cornerstone product, ONEHOPE Wine. Produced in partnership with Rob Mondavi, Jr., our award winning portfolio makes an impact with every bottle sold by donating HALF of the profits to partner causes. Today, ONEHOPE consists of the following products and experiences: ONEHOPE Wine, ONEHOPE Coffee & Tea, Hope at Home, andONEHOPE Weddings.www.Onehopecoffee.com”
“Buy The Change is a registered B Corp which means we are a for profit company with the goal of creating social change and benefit rather than a focus on profit. Our mission is to be a force of positive change for the talented, hardworking women around the world who produce our products and our customers who have become a part of the solution through their buying choices. “
“Noonday Collection’s mission is to create economic opportunity for the vulnerable. We partner with artisans in the developing world, empowering them to grow sustainable businesses. By creating a marketplace for their goods, we create dignified jobs at living wages. This allows our artisans to earn more in order to support their families. We also offer no interest loans and make advance payments on orders. This way we are able to shoulder the costs of materials and build a lasting relationship based on trust. We offer scholarship programs and emergency assistance. Noonday Collection also donates a portion of sales from adoption trunk shows to place orphans in forever families.”
"Our supporters are doing their HALF by UNITING together to make a lasting change in the lives of children around the globe. United we stand but divided we fall! Step 1- You purchase from Half United and proudly wear your fight against hunger! Step 2- The cost of 7 meals is built into every Half United product. For every Half United product you purchase, you are giving 7 meals to a child in need! Step 3- Every 3 months we equally divide the funds provided by our customers to our four charity partners in the USA, Cambodia, Fiji, and Haiti. To date, our supporters have provided over 500,000 meals for children in need!"
“For every bar purchased, Hand in Hand will donate a bar to save a life. All Hand in Hand soap is shipped using eco-friendly packaging, comes with a free carbon offset, and a portion of all proceeds is used to save 50 square feet of rainforest for every bar sold.”
“Bringing People Together. VolunteerMatch strengthens communities by making it easier for good people and good causes to connect. The organization offers a variety of online services to support a community of nonprofit, volunteer and business leaders committed to civic engagement. Our popular service welcomes millions of visitors a year and has become the preferred internet recruiting tool for more than 97,000 nonprofit organizations.”
“Our Mission: Idealist connects people, organizations, and resources to help build a world where all people can live free and dignified lives. Idealist is independent of any government, political ideology, or religious creed. Our work is guided by the common desire of our members and supporters to find practical solutions to social and environmental problems, in a spirit of generosity and mutual respect.”
“DoSomething.org makes the world suck less. The largest org for young people and social change, our 2.5 million members tackle campaigns that impact every cause, from poverty to violence to the environment to literally everything else. Any cause, anytime, anywhere. *Mic drop.”
GiveGab is the social network for volunteers. We’re dedicated to helping volunteers and nonprofit organizations find each other in their local communities. Our goal is to create a fun, online environment that encourages volunteer hours, donations, and social interactions. We want to make more, happy volunteers and increase volunteerism around the world. “
“We are an all volunteer, national, non-profit organization making and distributing homemade blankets to children born HIV+, drug-addicted, infected with AIDS or other chronic & terminal illnesses, those who are abused, in foster care or experiencing trauma of any kind. Our recipients are from 0-18.”
“Farlex, Inc., is partnering with the World Food Program’s school feeding program to help fight hunger and promote learning, and you can help! By playing, learning, and reading at The Free Dictionary, you can earn meals to be donated to hungry children. More learning means more meals. Registering is free.”
“Every year, severe acute malnutrition claims the lives of 2.6 million children. That’s one child every 12 seconds. But here’s the thing…it’s preventable. Children suffering from severe acute malnutrition have a low weight-for-height ratio and suffer from wasting (extreme thinness) or edema (swelling)—often resulting from illness and a lack of nutritious foods in their diet.
You’re Hungry. You buy our delicious bar. For every bar you buy, our non-profit partner makes a life-saving packet of food. We send that food to where its needed most. Boom. You help save a child’s life.”
“The Food Trust’s mission is to ensure that everyone has access to affordable, nutritious food and information to make healthy decisions. Working with neighborhoods, schools, grocers, farmers and policymakers, we’ve developed a comprehensive approach to improved food access that combines nutrition education and greater availability of affordable, healthy food.”
“Our Mission is to empower change by spreading the most fundamental need for happiness and prosperity- health.”
“VISION: Bring clean water to those in need – short and long term – saving lives and transforming communities.
MISSION: To provide life-giving clean water solutions and WASH programs to schools and villages in developing countries through innovative sustainable water solutions in partnership, to scale our impact globally.
The WATERisLIFE Straw is a small, portable filtration device that provides pure, clean drinking water whenever it is immersed into a water source (just like a normal straw). This Straw, however, saves lives on a daily basis by filtering out waterborne diseases – which accounts for over 6,500 deaths every day – 5,000 of those being children.”
"Recognizing" the critical need for clean water around the world and the lives this new filter could save and impact, the plan became obvious: to manufacture an affordable and effective point-of-use water filter to provide families in desperate need with all the safe clean water they need. Filter of Hope is passionate about raising awareness and helping solve the global water crisis. We are not a commercial enterprise, we are a nonprofit.” the critical need for clean water around the world and the lives this new filter could save and impact, the plan became obvious: to manufacture an affordable and effective point-of-use water filter to provide families in desperate need with all the safe clean water they need. Filter of Hope is passionate about raising awareness and helping solve the global water crisis. We are not a commercial enterprise, we are a nonprofit.”
“People Water is not a charity or a non-profit organization. We’re a for-profit, cause-based business, committed to alleviating the global water crisis.
We’re a double-bottom-line company. That means that we believe that success goes beyond just turning a profit. We feel we have a responsibility to make a positive impact on our world and community.”
“Our goal is simple: water for Everyone, Forever.
The road to permanent water coverage for Everyone Forever is challenging, but the outcomes are easy to root for—more children are in school, more individuals are employed, more families are healthy and thriving, and more communities are collaborating and growing. From there, the impact continues to ripple out on a national and global scale. If we invest more and work more now to create sustainable and replicable water and sanitation infrastructure, we can focus more on our futures…our forever.”
“WaterAid works in 27 of the world’s poorest countries helping communities to set up and manage practical and sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene projects. We also campaign locally and internationally to change policy and practice to ensure water and sanitation’s vital role in reducing poverty is recognized.”
http://www.Pencilsofpromise.org
“Pencils of Promise is now a global movement of passionate individuals, many of which are the most dynamic and impactful young leaders we have ever seen. They are committed to supporting a world with greater educational opportunity for all. Thousands have joined us, making contributions through acts both large and small. There are more than 57 million children without access to education, and we intend to change this.
We are proof that a generation empowered will empower the world. One child, one pencil at a time.”
“We’re the non-profit on a mission to eradicate illiteracy by delivering a library of e-books to people in low income countries. Here’s how we do it: We start early using e-readers in primary schools where if kids fall behind, they almost never catch up. Kids begin reading thousands of local stories together with great international books that we’ve curated into the largest most culturally relevant libraries of books.
Our method is the most effective and inexpensive way to eradicate illiteracy globally. As of recently, Worldreader has wirelessly distributed more than 944,300 African and international e-books to children in 9 sub-Saharan African countries. And the results are staggering: in less than 5 months children show significant improvements in fluency and comprehension and the gender gap closes.”
“At 10,000 Degrees we tackle the challenge of education and social justice in many ways. For children in elementary and middle schools, our College4Kids program plants the seed of higher education by touring a college campus — for some this is their first such visit. Our core program for high school students, the 10,000 Degrees Institute, and our Undergraduate Scholarships, provide the preparation and resources for low-income students to get to and through college.”
http://www.Lifeoutofthebox.com
“1. You purchase a handmade LOOTB bracelet by our artisans in either Nicaragua or Guatemala from our online store http://www.lootb.com. Each bracelet is one-of-a-kind because it has a unique number stamped on the LOOTB leather tag. 2. This bracelet gives a child in need school supplies. 3. You actually get to see & learn about the child that you gave school supplies to through your purchase by either looking up your number on our LOOTB Gives site or through the personal email we send you after you make your order. 4. The more bracelets you buy, the more children you give school supplies to.
We are both very connected to education and believe that it’s the best place to start in helping developing countries. It’s the root of where change can start–where kids can learn and develop their own skills to improve their country’s economy, help their families and go on to teach the next generation. Our goal is to give kids the tools they need to educate themselves, live their own Life Out of the Box and pursue their biggest dreams. So far we’ve given to thousands of children throughout Central America.”
“Education is one of the most effective ways to confront poverty. FEDU’s mission is to create a global connection between contributors like yourself and those with unequal access, providing them the means to claim an education. We have developed a simple platform to make this possible and fast. As a contributor you will create a new future for struggling individuals and families, AND know the education you’re providing is for life.”
“The ACCESS College Foundation is committed to the betterment of our students and to providing them with the tools necessary to be successful in their educational endeavors. Our goal is to ensure they are able to make informed decisions about postsecondary education and to provide academic, financial, and personal support while in college. ACCESS uses a collaboration of human and financial resources to help students realize their dream of becoming a college graduate”
http://www.Doctorswithoutborders.org
“We are Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). We help people worldwide where the need is greatest, delivering emergency medical aid to people affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters or exclusion from health care.”
http://www.Floatingdoctors.com
“The Floating Doctors Mission is to reduce the present and future burden of disease in the developing world, and to promote improvements in health care delivery worldwide.”
“Smile Train is an international children’s charity with a sustainable approach to a single, solvable problem: cleft lip and palate. Millions of children in developing countries with unrepaired clefts live in shame, but more importantly, have difficulty eating, breathing and speaking. Cleft repair surgery is simple, and the transformation is immediate. Our sustainable model provides training and funding to empower local doctors in 85+ developing countries to provide 100%-free cleft repair surgery in their communities.
We use the “teach a man to fish” model focusing on training local doctors to perform cleft repairs in their communities. Those doctors then go on to train other doctors creating a long-term, sustainable system.”
“GiveWell is a nonprofit dedicated to finding outstanding giving opportunities and publishing the full details of our analysis to help donors decide where to give.
Unlike charity evaluators that focus solely on financials, assessing administrative or fundraising costs, we conduct in-depth research aiming to determine how much good a given program accomplishes (in terms of lives saved, lives improved, etc.) per dollar spent. Rather than try to rate as many charities as possible, we focus on the few charities that stand out most (by our criteria) in order to find and confidently recommend the best giving opportunities possible.”
http://www.Charitynavigator.org
“Charity Navigator works to guide intelligent giving. By guiding intelligent giving, we aim to advance a more efficient and responsive philanthropic marketplace, in which givers and the charities they support work in tandem to overcome our nation’s and the world’s most persistent challenges.”
http://www.Centreforeffectivealtruism.org
“Effective altruism is a growing social movement founded on the desire to make the world as good a place as it can be, the use of evidence and reason to find out how to do so, and the audacity to actually try.
As the organisation that coined the term, the Centre for Effective Altruism is a growing coalition of projects that put these ideas into practice in different ways. The Centre is based at its offices in the University of Oxford.”
http://www.Effective-Altruism.com
“Effective altruism is a growing social movement based around the idea of using evidence and reason to work out how best to make the world a better place. The Effective Altruism Blog features posts by the leading figures in the EA movement.”
http://www.80000hours.org/blog
“80,000 Hours was founded in October 2011 to help people like you use the 80,000 hours you’ve got in your career to make a difference: we provide life-changing one-on-one career coaching to exceptional individuals, produce in-depth research on the careers that do the most to solve the world’s most pressing problems, and have a global community of like-minded world-changers.”
http://www.Thelifeyoucansave.org/Blog.aspx
“The Life You Can Save is a movement of people fighting extreme poverty. We hold that an ethical life involves using some of our wealth and resources to save and improve the lives of those less fortunate than us.For this reason, we spread knowledge of what all of us can do to reduce poverty and we encourage people to publicly pledge a percentage of their income to highly effective aid organizations.”
“GiveWell is a nonprofit dedicated to finding outstanding giving opportunities and publishing the full details of our analysis to help donors decide where to give.”
http://www.one.org/us/blog/
“ONE is a campaigning and advocacy organization of more than 3.5 million people taking action to end extreme poverty and preventable disease, particularly in Africa… because the facts show extreme poverty has already been cut in half and can be virtually eliminated by 2030, but only if we act with urgency now.”
