Giving
My BIG, BEAUTIFUL Adventure in Boycotting
The Goal: To Spend Joyfully and with Purpose
By Chalmer Thompson
December 31, 2025
Boycotting, spending ethically, and voluntary giving, are all closely linked.
At the end of 2025, several organizations reach out to donors, often targeting those who have given in the past. I’ve always been a strong advocate of financially supporting organizations and political candidates. I embrace the practice of giving because, for one, I know firsthand how necessary these resources are, particularly for grassroots organizing, and, two, I want to play a part in supporting meaningful, organized work whose values are aligned with my own.
However, not unlike my journey in boycotting, I decided to give more thought to financial giving this year. More than in past years, I received an enormous number of solicitations in 2025, likely because I gave more than usual and because someone shared my contact information with others. It took me nearly 4 hours to unsubscribe from or block several of these organizations, but the volume is still humongous. I receive about 15-20 of these requests daily through email, snail mail, phone calls (which I no longer answer), and from an array of political candidates, human rights, gun safety, and environmental organizations, charities, you name it. I don’t want to block all of them out entirely, but clearly, I had to do something.
For this aspect of my boycotting journey, I first had to admit that I tend to yield to fundraising attempts in public places. I have felt unduly pressured to “cough up the dough” when a plate is passed around. In retrospect, I recognize that I don’t want to appear stingy or selfish when others are around. Ironically, this inner criticism occurs so often, despite my tendency to give quite generously throughout most of my professional life. (And you guessed it, I’m the person who, more often than not, rounds up to the next dollar value at the register.) This retrospection has led me to resist giving money in public, except on rare occasions. I also no longer round up to the nearest dollar when I make purchases.
So part of my journey has been to break free of the desire to become “like” someone for the sake of appearance. This is in-my-head stuff! The pressure is psychological because no one is forcing me to give. Supporting renegade politicians and organizations ought to be pleasurable!
Giving is something we do from the heart that has practical implications. Many of us have limited budgets, so no matter how deserving our targets are, most of us can’t afford to give to everyone. The primary way I manage my giving is by setting a spending limit.
And rather than spend more time blocking and unsubscribing from the different agencies, I delete the emails and recycle the letters with abandon, without feeling guilty.
The Other Side of Giving: Contributing Time
Incoming IABPsi president Dr. Denise Hayes shared with IABPsi members during our December 2025 Kwanzaa celebration that she began volunteering at one of Indianapolis’ most valuable community resources, the Kheprw Institute. Dr. Hayes also shared that, in the relatively short time she’s been with the Kheprw Institute, she’s enriched her learning considerably.
The Kheprw Institute’s motto, “Community Empowerment through Self-Mastery,” reflects the thrust of their work. The Institute’s founders, staff, and volunteers promote community building by emphasizing relationship development, as evidenced in all its programs. Kheprw offers multiple programs that center on four tenets: Empowerment, Education, Economy, and Environment.
Please take the time to read the website thoroughly. It’s chock-full of excellent poetry, original music, and inspiring videos that include descriptions of Kheprw’s various programs and personal narratives.
We will present more on Kheprw Institute developments in the coming year.
One of My Favorite Charities: The Mutual Aid Sudan Coalition
Giving occurs year-round, which is why I have automatic withdrawals set up for a few donations, like the Wheeler Mission and Charity: Water. Regarding the latter organization, I like their 100% Model Statement:
When charity: water began, we made a bold promise: 100% of public donations would go directly to fund sustainable clean water projects. We’d even pay back credit card fees, meaning if a donor gave $100 with a credit card and we got only $97, we’d make up the $3 and send the full $100 to provide clean water for people in need. Since we treat the clean water projects and operations sides of our business differently - separate purposes, separate fundraising goals, and separate bank accounts- we can guarantee that every public dollar donated helps bring clean water to people in need. And so far, more than 1 million people from 100+ countries have given in this way.
Private donors support the organization’s operations. Pretty clever, right?
But I want to showcase the Mutual Aid Sudan Coalition. I read about the Emergency Response Rooms or ERRs several months ago from one of my several non-mainstream sources. I’m always concerned about what portion of financial donations reaches the intended victims of a crisis, and I was assured that this organization was the right choice. Sudanese people run these ERRs and respond quickly to the specific community’s needs. MASC ensures that $.95 of every $1.00 goes directly to the ERRs.
Please share your favorite charities with me, along with websites, descriptions, and why they are essential to you. I will include them in future posts.
More Boycotting Lessons
What a December! Here are some new lessons I learned this month:
I tend to be a last-minute gift shopper, but knowing that Amazon was no longer an option, and that it takes time to shop ethically, I found myself tackling this task much earlier than usual. My actual shopping list was tiny, consisting of a journal and a set of pens, a poinsietta plant, a decorative placard, and an NPR sweatshirt.
My main gifts were the poetry I wrote for my kids, which I combined with the usual monetary gifts. I wrote cards to accompany the gift checks that included my own ideas for how they might enjoy spending the money, based on what I know about them, like my son’s relatively recent discovery of bossa nova music and the possibility of attending a live concert of one of his favorite artists. Of course, I made it clear that I had no expectations about how each of them would spend their money.
I’m eager to express my affection to my children and guests with the food they and I love most. One way I managed to spend less was by having my kids take turns making dinner, including going out to buy the necessary ingredients. We also did this turn-taking when it came to restaurants. My oldest daughter treated all of us to the ballet in Chicago.
More notably, we made it clear to each other that these experiences were part of our gift exchange. My kids seem to prefer spending these rare time-offs doing special things together rather than buying and giving each other specific items.
May your New Year be a bounty of joy!
