I have a few core beliefs that drive our giving philosophy:
While I’m always happy to hear about an organization you think I should support, keep in mind that I take a very different approach to giving than most donors. I do a lot of research, plan out the charities I want to support in advance, and write all my checks once per year.
If you want to get started giving, I would love to chat. I highly recommend setting up a Vanguard Donor Advised Fund if you have any stocks. It can magnify your ability to give by significant margins.
I don’t love phone calls, video chats, or overwhelming my time with meetings — I always prefer well-written emails. I apologize in advance: I don’t reply to all of them. Constantly following up is not a strategy that endears me.
These are the non-profits we regularly support, as well as a little context for why we like them. They’re not all perfect, but I do believe they’re trying their best.
Strong Towns
Strong Towns builds an actionable framework for making our towns more resilient and prosperous. Do you like downtowns? Bikes? Tree-lined streets? Outdoor dining? Small, locally owned shops? You’ll probably like Strong Towns.
Tahoe Coalition for the Homeless
Tahoe can be an especially difficult place for the unhoused, and The Coalition is the first organization there to help those experiencing homelessness in South Lake Tahoe.
Vista Rise (Live Violence Free)
LVF provides support for some of the most vulnerable in Tahoe — people impacted by domestic abuse, sexual assault, and child abuse.
Friends of Ski Run
Shortly after I decided to make South Lake my forever home, I met Chris McNamara and Corey Rich who have been masterminds of the Friends of Ski Run — enacting tactical urbanism on Ski Run Blvd in South Lake. They’ve been able to carve out special zoning exemptions to allow brewfests, community dinners, and most recently opened a community-built park.
Boys & Girls Club Lake Tahoe
Our local chapter of the Boys & Girls Club provides all kinds of extra-curricular support for our local kids. They get to explore robotics, art, lake science, and most importantly — build community with the families that live here.
Tahoe Bike Coalition
The Tahoe Bike Coalition works to improve biking inside our cities around Tahoe. They advocate for bike friendly traffic design, offer bike valet at events, and help people fix their bikes through their bike kitchens. I’ve said it many times, and I’ll say it again: biking by default is the best way to get around Tahoe during the summer.
Clean Tahoe Program
Clean Tahoe provides a fairly simple service: they make sure trash ends up at the dump (and not in our forests and neighborhoods). We live in a magnificently beautiful place, and Clean Tahoe helps maintain that.
Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care
LTWC is our local wildlife care facility. They take in injured and at-risk wildlife, rehabilitate them, and release them back to the environment.
The BEAR League
Almost every time I meet someone from out of town, they ask me: do you ever see bears? It’s kind of a funny question, because of course we all do. Almost every day. Bears are a part of life in the Sierra. Unfortunately, humans aren’t always the best at co-existing with bears, and that’s what The BEAR League works to improve.
Food Bank of El Dorado County
I don’t think anyone should go hungry. I’ve never suffered from real food insecurity, but let’s just say I’m familiar with government cheese. The EDC Food Bank provides food for many who live in and around Tahoe.
Great Northern Services
Same as above, but for Siskiyou County (you know, actual Northern California).
Tahoe Fund
The Tahoe Fund is sort of an umbrella organization for supporting projects around Tahoe. They bring in large donors and political allies to magnify our giving effects around the lake.
GiveWell
GiveWell is at the heart of the Effective Altruism movement in philanthropy, an evidence-based approach to pick effective charities around the world. I’m very far from an expert in poverty or global health, so I’m thankful GiveWell exists to maximize my impact without becoming an expert.
GiveDirectly
GiveDirectly has a simple and bold view on how to combat poverty: give people money. That’s it. You give them money, they pass it along to people living in poverty. Unsurprisingly, it’s incredibly effective.
Wikipedia
Imperfect as the organization may be, I can think of few websites as valuable as Wikipedia.
Internet Archive
Most people know of the Internet Archive as the people who make the Wayback Machine, but did you know they also have a free digital lending library, vintage software archive, and a whole host of live music shows?
SOS Outreach
SOS Outreach works to get kids out on the slopes who wouldn’t otherwise be able to. They provide lift tickets, gear, and mentorship to a lot of kids here in South Lake that would not be able to get out on the slopes otherwise.
Gateway Mountain Center
Similar to SOS, Gateway works to get kids out in the Sierra — hiking, climbing, and all kinds of activities to learn more about this beautiful place we live in.
Tahoe Area Mountain Bike Association (TAMBA)
Have you ever heard of Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride or Flume Trail? TAMBA is behind all of the incredible mountain biking trails we have around the lake. More than that — TAMBA does an excellent job bringing people together through their events and trail stewardship.
Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship
SBTS was crucial in helping TAMBA become the organization it is today. Their support in learning how to navigate relationships with land managers to actually build trail cannot be overstated. And of course, they build trail too. Their connected communities vision is one of the most ambitious trail-focused projects I’ve ever seen. As someone with a soft spot for California mountain towns, I look forward to seeing it to fruition.
Mt. Shasta Trail Association
The Mt. Shasta Trail Association is responsible for many multi-use trails around the region (including the incredible Gateway mountain bike system), as well as the highly anticipated Mossbrae Falls Trail.
Tahoe Rim Trail Association
The Tahoe Rim Trail is a 165 mile long multi-use trail that forms a loop around Lake Tahoe. The TRTA are the people that make this trail possible.
Pacific Crest Trail Association
The PCT is one of the most famous trails in the world. It runs through my favorite places — the High Sierra. The PCTA ensures that this treasure will always be accessible to all.
Sierra Avalanche Center
Know before you go is the mantra of backcountry winter excursions, and my local avalanche center is the first place I turn to for knowledge.
American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education (AIARE)
AIARE creates the model for avalanche education we use here in the United States.
Tahoe Backcountry Alliance
TBA focuses on preserving and improving access to our public lands, primarily for winter sports (backcountry skiing, snowshoeing, etc). They’re filling in the blanks between your house and a trailhead, so you can get out there and get after it.
The League to Save Lake Tahoe (Keep Tahoe Blue)
If you’ve ever seen a Keep Tahoe Blue sticker, these are the people behind it. The League is a scientist-led organization dedicated to preserving the clarity of Lake Tahoe.
Chile Lagos Limpios
CLL is a sister organization to The League. Chile is facing a lot of the same challenges that Tahoe faces — climate change, industry, and increased development are threatening the clarity and health of their lakes. The hope is that we can learn from each other — trading science, tools, successes, and failures. Tahoe has spent over $2 billion to save our lake, and we still see yearly impacts from mistakes like Tahoe Keys. Hopefully we can help Chile learn from our mistakes – and make better decisions as more and more people move to this incredible part of their country.
Protect Our Winters
POW is a climate-change focused organization, built around the concept of The Outdoor State — unifying all of us who consider the outdoors our playground.
The Ocean Cleanup
Every decade or so, The Great Pacific Garbage Patch hits the news — a floating gyre of plastic about twice the size of Texas floating in the ocean. The Ocean Cleanup builds technology to harvest plastic from this patch, as well as innovating systems along rivers to prevent new plastic from getting there in the first place.
Carbon 180
Carbon180 is dedicated to educating the public and policymakers on the best, most viable solutions for carbon removal. They are an incredible resource in everything climate — and the first place I’d direct anyone looking for how to help.
Project Drawdown
Do you ever wish we had a big list of things to do in order to combat climate change? That’s exactly what Project Drawdown is. I have a feeling this is going to be valuable in the future.
Clean Air Task Force
The CATF is laser focused on creating a zero-emissions, high-energy world. I can get behind that.
Cool Earth Action
Cool Earth works with rainforest communities to stop deforestation, helping them build financial resilience so they are under less pressure to cut their forest under a crisis. Far more effective than planting trees — saving our existing rainforests is critical to slow the advance of climate change.
Trees for the Future
TREES works with farmers around the world to implement their Forest Garden Approach to combat deforestation from agriculture. Their system uses trees to grow fruits and vegetables while adding nutrients back into the soil — a win for carbon sequestration and agricultural productivity.
Sugar Pine Foundation
Specializing in planting disease-resistant Sugar Pines (the world’s largest pines) and White Pines around the Tahoe region.