Trump's Election Has Led to Massive Wave of Donations to Progressive Groups

Many Americans are turning their despair over Trump's win into action, supporting a range of organizations that fight for equality and civil rights. (Photo: Fibonacci Blue/flickr/cc)

Trump's Election Has Led to Massive Wave of Donations to Progressive Groups

'Instead of giving gifts, people are making donations to causes they believe in'

If there is any upside to the U.S. presidential election, it could be that progressive causes around the country are reporting an "unprecedented" surge in donations, the Guardianwrote on Sunday.

In the wake of the election that vindicated Donald Trump's racist, sexist, and xenophobic campaign, many Americans are turning their despair into action, supporting a range of organizations that fight for equality and civil rights.

Planned Parenthood, which has quickly become a target of the newly emboldened Republican party, has received more than 300,000 donations since November 8, which is 40 times higher than its normal rate, the Guardian's Joanna Walters reports.

About 82,000 of those were given on behalf of notoriously anti-choice Vice President-elect Mike Pence.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) got such a high influx of contributions that its donation page crashed, Walters wrote. Since the election, the group has raised more than $23 million.

Walters highlighted the newly created charity referral website DonateBigly.com--a satirical reference to Trump's signature adverb--which helps users find a cause that counters not just the presidential ticket, but the entire incoming cabinet.

For Attorney General nominee Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), who was once deemed too racist to serve as a federal judge, the website recommends donating to the NAACP.

For Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), the website gives options from a long list of categories that the House Speaker is known to oppose--healthcare, immigration and refugee rights, and racial equality, among others. The selection for healthcare, for example, directs donors to Families USA and the National Health Law Program.

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The listing for former Breitbart news editor Stephen Bannon, Trump's chief strategist, also comes along with a catalog of causes, from First Amendment rights to racism and bigotry.

The website, launched by two women lawyers in New York, says it does not take a cut of the donations.

And the windfall has not just benefited large organizations. The Nashville-based groups Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) and Conexion Americas also reported an "unprecedented" uptick in financial support and volunteer work.

The Immigration Legal Advocacy Project (ILAP) in Maine, where Trump has drawn criticism for scapegoating the state's sizable Somali population, reported a 200 percent increase in donations.

"We're small and we serve the whole of Maine. The people we serve are fearful, asking us, 'Is the new government able to do what the candidate said they would do ... mass deportations?'" Loretta Prescott, ILAP's development director, told Walters.

The holiday season "is always our big time of year, but this year it's huge," Prescott said. "Instead of giving gifts, people are making donations to causes they believe in."

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