This article is part of Times Opinion’s 2025 Giving Guide.
So much of my thinking and writing over the last decade has focused on how to make community ecosystems and nature’s ecosystems more resilient, productive and adaptive in an age of accelerating change. So, it’s not surprising that the nonprofits I’m most drawn to — and want to recommend this holiday season — are focused on building community and capacity in two places I care deeply about: Minnesota, where I grew up, and the Middle East, where I was a reporter for many years.
Regarding the Middle East, I have a particular aversion to those calling for “disinvestment” as a way to punish one side or the other. I much prefer advocating for “investment” in institutions promoting Israeli-Palestinian community and skill-building for young people — to keep alive the possibility of two healthy states, living side by side, where members of each society can thrive.
With that in mind, these are the organizations that my wife and I have donated to and hope you will consider donating to during the holidays.
The Abraham Initiatives. This has nothing to do with the Abraham Accords diplomatic agreement. The Abraham Initiatives is a Jewish-Israeli and Palestinian-Israeli organization “that advances social inclusion and equal rights for Israel’s Palestinian citizens by influencing public policy, shaping public opinion and demonstrating practical models for a shared society.” Its leaders are Jewish Israelis and Palestinian Israelis. At a time, when the Gaza war has so strained relations between Jews and Palestinian Arabs, the Abraham Initiatives is a beacon in the darkness.
EcoPeace Middle East. Mother Nature doesn’t actually know where the border is between Gaza, Israel, the West Bank and Jordan. For her it is a single ecosystem. That is how EcoPeace Middle East also thinks of the region. This organization, made up of Jordanian, Palestinian and Israeli environmentalists, has been working for years on projects like a “Green Blue Deal” — a plan in which capital from the Gulf States and investors would provide financing to Jordan to build a large-capacity solar plant in its vast desert to produce clean energy that Israel would tap to expand its coastal desalination plants. Israel would then pump that desalinated water into the Sea of Galilee, from where it would flow into and revive the Jordan River. That would allow the river to once again be a flourishing regional water carrier that nourishes Palestinian, Jordanian and Israeli farmers.
Northside Achievement Zone. I was born in the Northside of Minneapolis in 1953, about five miles from where George Floyd was killed. Today, its 13 neighborhoods, with a population of some 66,000 residents, are experiencing some of the greatest racial inequities in the city, which is the largest and most populous in Minnesota. Northside is also home to the largest Black population, and has the highest percentage of families with children, in Minneapolis. As Northside gets healthier, all of Minneapolis gets healthier, which is why I am a fan of the Northside Achievement Zone.
Founded in 2008 and led today by my friend Sondra Samuels, NAZ, as it’s known, uses a two-generation approach to provide Northside families resources to address a wide range of needs, including early childhood education, academics, physical and mental health, parenting skills, financial skills and housing — so both youngsters and parents can realize their full potential.
This article is part of Times Opinion’s Giving Guide 2025. If you are interested in any organization mentioned in the guide, please go directly to its website. Neither the authors nor The Times will be able to address queries about the groups or facilitate donations.
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