Charity Works: Directory of Nonprofits. Help Me, Help You, Help Us

By Danita Brisson

Late last year I announced the compilation of a Directory of  Nonprofits and invited qualifying groups to register. My goals were many: to help you, our readers, find charitable organizations with whom you might want to volunteer, donate or share your expertise, to let you know about community needs and what good works are happening in support of them, and to help nonprofits sustain their activities and their beneficiaries. The tasks of identifying, verifying and compiling this data continue at a snail’s pace; fitting since almost half the nominees are in the animal welfare category; mainly cats and dogs though, no snails. Apparently there are over 100 nonprofits operating in San Miguel, so the 52 listed here represent a glass half full. That glass includes water conservation groups like Caminos de Agua, and environmentalists like Charco del Ingenio, but even the latter’s contact information is incomplete. Please help me fill the glass with a resource that is beneficial to us all. I need group names, contact names, email and website addresses, phone numbers and a brief description of what each group does. If you provide the name and email or phone number, I’ll track down the rest. However, telling me that someone in your dance troupe “offers free classes for youths and calls it something like ‘Gen Z Is For Zumba’ ” is not enough.

I invented that group as an example, but understand that due diligence is practiced in vetting all applicants for authenticity. You won’t find organizations whose practices don’t align with their stated mandates, or who don’t serve the interests of our community. For example, there are some professional organizations and sports clubs with A.C. status whose mandates only serve their closed memberships. Good for them, but not for us.

Groups listed in green below have been verified. That the others haven’t is not a reflection of their legitimacy, but rather of my capacity to gather comprehensive data in a timely manner. The work continues. I expect to have the Directory on our website by September. If you can contribute data or earmark outdated entries, please do. Help me help you, and together we’ll help our entire community, because as Coretta Scott King said, “The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate acts of its members.” And we are great community.

To provide or receive more information, please contact me at danita9038@gmail.com