Charities and donations.

After the election in 2015, I knew that life was going to get much harder for vulnerable people in the UK. I do not have much time or energy for campaigning or protesting so I have been gradually increasing the amount of money I give to charities to fight on my behalf or to support vulnerable people.

I am pretty well paid and we have a reasonably high disposable income. It is not my intent to boast about this or to shame people who are struggling financially but just to encourage people who can spare a little to consider setting up regular donations.

I used the same method that is recommended to start saving money - I set up a standing order to transfer a certain amount of money to a dedicated savings account. Once that money is transferred, I don't think of it as 'my' money any more. I transfer slightly more than I need for the regular donations so I can make one-off donations if I want to as well.

I donate money from my main account or via a credit card and at the end of the month, I transfer back the actual amount I've donated.

Over time, I have expanded the list of charities I support. I am aiming for a spread of charities that reflect my concerns and I have a preference for small charities with a specific focus where a small regular income has a big effect.

Bi Community News /Biphoria (http://bicommunitynews.co.uk/, http://www.biphoria.org.uk/)
Bisexual Index (http://www.bisexualindex.org.uk/)
Bis of Colour History Project (https://www.gofundme.com/bochistory?ssid=941574628&pos=1)
National Ugly Mugs who provide safety advice and advocacy for sex workers (https://uknswp.org/um/)
Abortion Support Network who provide advice, information and financial support for people from Ireland, N Ireland, Isle of Man etc who need to come to the UK to access abortion services (https://www.asn.org.uk/)
Galop who provide many services including domestic violence support services for LGBT people (http://www.galop.org.uk/)
Refuge who provide domestic violence support services for women and children (http://www.refuge.org.uk/)
Coram Voice who provide support and advocacy for young people in care and care leavers (http://www.coramvoice.org.uk/)
Mermaids who provide support and advocacy for trans kids (http://www.mermaidsuk.org.uk/)
Trussell Trust who run food banks (https://www.trusselltrust.org/)
DPAC who organise and protest against the funding and welfare cuts which are disproportionately affecting disabled people. (http://dpac.uk.net/)

I also have a Patreon account which is mostly LGBT people, People of Colour and activists.

A few years ago, I donated money to Kiva for a year, who lend the money via microfinance to people around the world who have difficulty getting loans from banks because of poverty/access problems etc. I am a little more dubious about the benefits of microfinance these days but I continue to relend the money as the borrowers repay it.