Caitlin Maffei, a white woman living in Atlantic County, has never been as vocal about her belief that Black lives matter than she is now.
“I didn’t want to make anybody uncomfortable back then, but I think now was the time to not care if you make somebody uncomfortable or not,” said Maffei. “It means life or death for some people.”
For Maffei, fighting systemic racism has meant going out to several protests in the wake of George Floyd’s killing by police in Minneapolis, and learning, as well as teaching others, about racism.
And despite being furloughed from her customer service job, Maffei is backing her beliefs with her wallet. She’s currently signed up to give modest monthly contributions to Black Lives Matter, the NAACP and the American Civil Liberties Union.
“Even $5 or $10 a month, even that little amount still makes some sort of a difference to the organization,” Maffei said.
It seems she’s not the only one who’s giving. Though it’s too soon to have concrete data regarding donations, many organizations that work in the realm of racial justice have reported an increase in financial contributions.
The Minnesota Freedom Fund, one of the more extraordinary examples, has received $31 million in donations over the past several weeks. That’s compared to the $150,000 the bail fund had when it filed its 2018 taxes.
The impulse to give has made a significant impact in the Philadelphia region, too.
The Philadelphia Bail Fund received $2.4 million since protests broke out, according to an update from the organization at the beginning of the month.
Meanwhile, Philadelphia Lawyers for Social Equity, which helps people with expunging their criminal records and obtaining pardons, has seen a similar boost, though on a smaller scale.
Ryan Allen Hancock, co-founder and board chair of the organization, said it typically receives about $100,000 a year from individual donors. This year, donors filled its coffers with $75,000 in the weeks after protests began.
Still, there are a lot of groups and causes to choose from, and how people like Maffei choose to donate varies almost as much as the reasons why they give. Here are some things to consider when making a contribution.