Ever since I was a little girl, my mother and father emphasized the importance of giving back.
I’ve always admired how, even when we didn’t have much, they taught us to tithe and give 10% of our allowance to the church. Not only that, but they also encouraged us to give an offering beyond our tithe to those in need.
That one important lesson has stayed with me throughout my life. And it’s why here at NICABM, one of our long-standing goals is to continue that core value by giving back.
In 2021, we gave away $720,000 to organizations doing important work locally, in the US, and across the globe.
I’m sharing this in hopes that it’ll inspire others. Here’s a look at where the money went:
The World – $405,100
Save the Children – $50,000
Providing health services and cash transfers for buying food to those in Afghanistan
Village Impact – $50,000
Building an all-girls high school in Kenya
International Rescue Committee – $50,000
$10,000 designated to resettle Afghan refugees
The Citizens Foundation – $35,000
Building gender-equal schools in Pakistan
UN World Food Programme – $30,000
Providing food to those in Afghanistan
Partners In Health – $30,000
Doctors Without Borders – $30,000
$10,000 designated to provide medical care in Afghanistan
Innovations for Poverty Action – $20,000
Running randomized controlled trials to evaluate interventions to reduce poverty
Evidence Action – $20,000
Scaling evidence-based and cost-effective programs to reduce the burden of poverty
Camfed – $15,000
Paying school fees for girls in impoverished areas
CouldYou? Cup – $15,000
Providing menstrual cups for girls in Mozambique so they can go to school during their periods
Hebrew Immigration and Refugee Service (HIAS) – $10,000
Resettling Afghan refugees
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIAS) – $10,000
Resettling Afghan refugees
Amnesty International – $10,000
Direct Relief – $10,000
American Near East Refugee Aid – $6,000
Human Rights Watch – $5,000
World Wildlife Foundation – $5,000
Friends of Ecole Agape – $3,000
Supporting the only free girls’ school in Haiti
Balule Wildlife Trust – $1,000
Anti-poaching in South Africa
Caring Bridge – $100
The United States – $111,300
UpTogether – $10,000
Cash transfers to low-income families from marginalized communities
The Bowery Mission – $10,000
GiveDirectly – $10,000
Cash transfers to low-income Americans and disaster relief
OXFAM America – $10,000
OneGoal – $10,000
Supporting low-income high school and college students in earning their degrees
Girls Who Code – $10,000
Closing the gender gap in tech jobs
National Coalition for the Homeless – $10,000
RIP Medical Debt – $5,000
Buying medical debt from collections agencies and forgiving it
Salvation Army– $5,000
GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders)– $5,000
Human Rights Campaign – $5,000
PBS Foundation – $5,000
Insight Meditation Community of Washington, DC – $2,000
Barre Center for Buddhist Studies – $2,000
Sierra Club -$2,000
Provincetown Art Association and Museum – $2,000
Green America – $1,000
Mass Eye and Ear Foundation – $1,000
NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Health)– $1,000
Taylor University – $1,000
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention – $1,000
Michigan State University – $1,000
Alzheimers Association – $1,000
ASPCA – $1,000
Wikimedia Foundation (Wikipedia) – $300
Local – $203,600
UCONN Foundation – $77,875
$55,000 designated to starting a human rights film festival in eastern Connecticut.
$20,875 designated to sponsorhip of Jorgenson Digital Stage presentations for the 2021/2022 season.
Windham Area Interfaith Ministry – $20,000
Covenant Soup Kitchen – $15,000
IRIS of CT (Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services) – $15,000
Resettling Afghan refugees in Connecticut
Holy Family Home & Shelter – $10,000
Windham No Freeze Shelter – $10,000
Community Foundation – Windham Women and Girls Fund – $5,000
Joshua’s Trust – $10,000
Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network – $5,000
Access Community Action Agency – $6,000
Center for Medicare Advocacy – $5,000
New England Public Radio – $5,000
Quiet Corner Refugee Resettlement (via WAIM) – $5,000
Resettling Afghan refugees in the greater Willimantic area
Benton Art Museum – $3,000
Mansfield Downtown Partnership – $2,000
Mansfield Holiday Fund – $1,500
Booth & Dimock Memorial Library – $500
Our Companions (Animal Shelter) – $500
Total (World, USA, Local): $720,000
Now this is the most we’ve ever given away in a single year, and next year we hope to donate even more.
But for now, I’d like to hear from you. What inspires you to give? I’m always eager to hear how you give back to your community, whether that’s with time, money, or resources. So please, leave a comment below to share the important work you do.
Such good work. This is the power of life. Making a difference . For good.
Keep on keeping on.
I support financially organizations that work toward caring for all of God’s creation …. the environment, animals, education for all people. I currently volunteer with church programs that serve the underprivileged. I am motivated by Christ’s words and his direction to Love One Another. Loving One Another – for me includes all of creation .. for if we care for our home, we are also caring for all … we can’t live without clean air and water nor can we afford to lose any living entity to extinction – all life has a purpose. We are interconnected.
How wonderful to see the care you offer both in free instruction and to other organizations
Thank you for all you have given to me and to others both individuals and corporately
thank you for this list! really helped me w/ my own giving.
Thank you so much for your high quality programming at affordable prices, as well your amazingly generous donations!
Thanks for sharing the organizations that you are contributing to & being so generous. Would like to think that none of the donations are going toward CRT, etc. God bless.
I give because we are all in this together, all connected in that great Web called humanity, all daughters and sons of the One, created by the One on the earth given by that One.
An impressive record, Ruth and good to see precise details.
I do take a similar view, in a smaller way. Never worked out if it is a tithe! A good old fashioned measure.
We share a common aspiration to design our website to be of use to others – not just as a money-maker.
Berners Lee did the same, and I hope he is not regretting his creativity in designing the WWW without taking out a patent!
Robin Trewartha, UK psychologist
Animal care is how I make my living so I give to projects that share animal care and educating on the values. This year the commitment went above 10% as i felt the charities were also hard hit by pandemic. I gave to Animal defenders international who are helping end the use/abusé of wild animals in circuses Rehoming innatural habitat where possible and telling the animals stories so this ends. Lions do not belong in cages as entertainment. I support WSPA similarly and our local wildlife rescue. I’ve rehomed 2 cats and dogs from rescues who will become visitors to those with dementia in time when restrictions ease. I support alternative to animals in research to create better science in research and reduce animal suffering. I buy gifts from these chariotions, recycling ink cartridges with proceeds to dogs trust, buying veg and bakery throug a local non profit who teach earth care and give start up experience. I employ the neurodiverse who have more difficulty finding work they can be comfortable in. It’s up to us to make the better world we desire
Happy Christmas to you all
Hilary
This is such a helpful warm learning place to use, develop and enhance our professional skills. I am overwhelmingly so grateful for your incredible effort to make dreams come true and bring changes into so many lives. Wishing Nicabm & staffs a happy and healthy 2022.
It’s in giving that we receive. And this has been my experience since I learned the joy of giving. May you and we continue and increase doing the good works that we began.
I agree that getting back makes a world of difference to how we feel about the quality of our lives. I volunteer for two not for profits and I also have several charities including animal welfare and environmental because I want to see the world made a better place
Loving work foundation is the very best charity I know of ==no overhead and gives to orphans in Vietnam by Thich Nhat Hanh’s followers.
Dr Pat Webbink.
Thank you Ruth and all at NICABM for all the gift of your programmes. You set an example to us all. I have gained so much from the continued learning.
This Christmas I am focusing on creating wonderful‘ happy memories’ for my friend and family.
Looking forward to gaining more knowledge through NICABM in 2022
thank you for sharing.
I am inspired to give more to charitable organizations
This is the first time seeing this kind of information. It’s really great to know of the philanthropic donations that are being made…
Thank you from humanity.
Praise God – good work – keep it up
I love the courses I have taken with all the great experts you have. It has helped me a lot in My work.
I have a great admiration por you for all the contribution you make for the World.
Thank you for all your kindness and generosity to myself and other therapists around the world! Thank you for your generosity to all these very worthy organizations ! I’ve donated to some that are on your list and also to other organizations. I don’t think there has ever been a more important time to show others we care about them! Thank you for all you’ve done to help bring more peace into the world!
With love and gratitude,
Mary Bright, LCSW
Bless you for giving back to the world community. NICABM gives a lot through its free programs and by supporting organizations that help people in need. Thank you for what you do.
Thank you for your generosity in giving to charitable causes!
I’d like to recommend you add Southern Poverty Law Center as an organization for future giving. The monitor hate groups and provide legal assistance to those experiencing racial discrimination. Through the legal system, they have bankrupted several chapters of the Ku Klux Klan
Best wishes,
Roberta Rinaldi, LCSW
Thank you for putting the money to support such important causes. This is quite wonderful to know, I had not realized NICABM did this. It just adds to my respect and appreciation for your wonderful organization.
I am overwhelmed by the enormous generosity demonstrated here. In addition,
I was so impressed by the thoughtful selection of organizations being supported. Ruth is truly a person who walks the talk. A big thank you to Ruth and her staff
I have helped run a charity shop for 40 years. We donate to small charities
Most of my mental health work now voluntary as many people now do not have the means to pay x
I love what you have brought to the world, the many online programs have contributed to my own work in community, mediation, mentoring, and teaching communication skills. Thank you.
Awesome, good for you!
Thank you for sharing and I’m so pleased to hear of NICABM’s values of giving. I’m always inspired by the resilience of the most vulnerable in the world and believe fervently in social justice and our individual and community obligation to give to those less fortunate than ourselves. Each year I donate to the Special Children’s’ Christmas Party, a day in which hundreds of children with disabilities and special needs are given a fun packed day focused on joy and giving. I also do volunteer work with disabled people, and as an advocate for those for whom adoption and permanent care have had lifetime impacts. I’m lucky enough to be in a good job that affords me the time (and pay) to allow me to give back and hope that it helps to build a kinder and less self-interested society.
Very inspiring to see your annual report. Such a truth that we’re blessed to be a blessing ~ a free flowing vessel rather than a container.
The only time specifically mentioned in the Bible in which God invites people to test Him is in the area of tithes and offerings. Malachi 3:10
God will continue to be faithful to you Ruth & team as you continue to honour this principle.
Every blessing for Christmas & all that 2022 holds.
Jane Ingham ~ Tweed Heads , Australia
We know generosity is a core element in well-being. After my daughter’s suicide by poly-substance overdose in 2009, I returned to work as a family nurse practitioner within a week of her funeral. Giving to my patients was tremendously healing. Eventually I created a program to provide health care to Tibetan Buddhists who live in the Middle Himalaya field to mouth in the roadless Tsum Valley. I did the fundraising for meds and supplies, advertised for and vetted the clinicians, and hired the trekking guide. I found an American Nepali 5013C to be my sponsor. I brought health care teams that provided primary care, public health education, dental, and eye care for four years until the pandemic. All the funds went to paying for sustainable medication treatments and women’s health-related supplies. I paid for my own way for the flights, trek, and the website. Zero overhead.
I’ve written a memoir about deaths of despair as seen through the lens of my daughter’s life and death in order to help others — especially those who have lost loved ones and friends to overdose, suicide, and alcohol toxicity. I am convinced I have benefitted biologically, psychologically, and spiritually from my endeavors to put something positive into the world.
Rachel Frazin APRN, BC, Family practice St. Paul, MN
It is unspeakable and difficult to find comfort in words. I am sending you my prayers for peace and love. May this new year bring you health and hope. Anita
Having lost a son myself, I know something of your pain and how you have turned that into a healing endeavour is inspiring! Thank you. As NICBM shows in it’s generosity and compassion, so have you given back to humanity in your grief and living legacy of your beloved daughter. God Bless you all!
What a lovely gesture from the psychotherapy community. You do do much good work in extending the knowledge of all of us.
Thankyou
Thank you for sharing your commitment and the list of organizations NICABM donated to. I appreciate your commitment to tithing plus. One of the phrases I like is “blessed to be a blessing”. As I have gotten older/retired, I have much more gratitude for the blessings that I have experienced. It motivates me to go beyond that tithe also.
Thanks for showing others how to be good ‘corporate’ partners and people.
I really loved your post. In these times it is hard to find places where giving means giving, and not to the board who run the programs. I felt that way last year when I gave to UC Berkley Greater Good Science Center. As a therapist I have used them for resources many times. However, the impact they make in the world was what moved me to give. It was my pleasure to contribute to such an institution.
Thanks for sharing Ruth. Like you, my tithe comes out first from my pension. I am a voluntary counsellor working with couples, children, adults and individuals. I also sponsor 4 children in different places on behalf of Compassion, Child Impact International, Reach International. I also support a community hub in my area. It is a joy to give especially in this holiday season because the need is great.
I’m always moved reading things like this, you’re giving and sharing a lot & that makes you a wonderful woman in my eyes, glad to be a little part in your giving back by joining some courses. Keep on the good work, Merry Christmas to you and your NICABM colleagues.
Thank you so much for all you do. This is inspiring. I help to support a small community of people in South Africa who have a community centre and Toy Library.
Through your wonderful teachings, and I offer coaching and financial support through grassroots fundraising, I try and support their teachers and caregivers.
It is a struggling community full of violent crime, gender based violence, abuse and corruption and they face many challenges and poverty. The children, women and elderly suffer the most as in so many places. The teachers are incredibly motivated to do what they can to help educate young minds. I try and reach out with mental health support and practices of calm, meditation and rest to help the carers stay well and able to cope.
I am very inspired by all you do and your commitment to the mental health and wellbeing of others. Thank you.
May all beings be happy and well. Warm regards, Leigh
I am most impressed by what you have done for so many groups and organizations around the world. Well done!
Yes to be clear to give
And not only take and insist on that is a great goal for me
And I am a grinch grumpy person who has had extra ordinary difficulties with parting with things possessions territory hoarding disorderly
Inspiration as I have the resources to give and this is good as a template and as I said above inspirations
I am not a therapist however receive and require mental health services and psychotherapy etc
Any courses on ‘letting go’ my therapist talks about it all the time and keeping things simple .. is a great obstacle to other and that progress 🙂
So far, just seeing this …..
I am so inspired looking through choices
..
That’s a start – and as far as I’ve got – so far
Fantastic
Thank you so much for sharing this! I am really moved by this gesture of giving to those in need, both locally and internationally. A truly global deed, we are not isolated from eachother! It makes sense in purchasing your programs, knowing that some of the proceeds are shared in this way.
I am impressed with your work in teaching and inspiring, and I am touched and thrilled by your generosity to those in need. Thank you, Ruth and NICABM!
Thanks, Ruth, for sharing this info. It gladdens my heart to see how purchases I make from NICABM also benefits others. I’m on a limited income as a retiree. However, instead of giving material gifts to others, I give a gift to non-profit organizations that help others in their honor. Even those of us who have less have way more than many others. Thanks for the good news and thanks for the many fine programs offered though NICABM. what I can’t afford, I benefit from the free offering.
Marie Seckar
Thank you for all you do in teaching us therapists how to heal the broken hearted , to proclaim good news to the poord, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.
Leslie in Ireland
For the first time I am learning how to give to myself and in doing so I have automatically given to others. I have given myself 20 plus classes of yours (NICABM) I knew you donated a lot of that money I used to purchase those classes to others. Each time I purchased one of your classes I knew you were helping me and others. For me what you offer is a psychological surgery that is unbeatable anywhere else on this planet. You really offer everything within your classes for us to learn what we did not learn or know or understand before Now. I don’t want bandaids, I want true healing as many others do. Thank you for making these classes possible to all human beings. You truly are an inspiration of Grace Beauty and Love Ruth. Happy Holiday💜
Dear Ruth, I am moved and inspired to read your post. I find it encouraging to learn about others’ giving practices. Yes, I also enjoy tithing to different causes… and, at the same time, sometimes it can feel overwhelming to end up on too many lists of organizations seeking donations! It can be hard to say “no”, and part of me wishes I could contribute to all of the wonderful projects out there. Thus, I am grateful for your post, as it helps me remember that we are each only responsible for doing our part… I am celebrating all of the wonderful organizations that NICABM is giving to, and appreciate feeling connected to a wider web of giving!
Thank you, to give is to receive. And also te really see the other, to connect and accept. May we all feel that we belong, and may we all give and receive.
Great work. I give to other in the form of money and time to an organization that feeds people living on the street in Santiago Chile”s capital.
In fact I wonder how could we let you know about it and maybe next year receive your support!
Nelson_valderrama@hotmail.com
Dear Ruth, I am so happy to have a tiny part if anything, in this ‘sharing with love and hope’ process as I have purchased two of your trainings from which I have learned so much. I am sending you huge thanks for giving and sharing so generously to all.
I have been taught the same in my family, in Turkey. Today as a retired educator and counsellor I donate to animal shelters, I donate for disadvantaged children and I donate for women, for their rights and welfare. I also give lovingly my time to parents, students, women who want changes in their lives. So happy to be alive and to be able to continue doing this at age 69. Thank you. Wishing all a very happy holiday season🍀🧚🏼♀️🎉🌱🌿🎄💐🤍
To raise awareness of the evolved practice of mindful psychology is a gift. Being present with clients, listening with a non judgemental love that serves to teach people how to be present in the Now .
A gift of letting people glimpse who they really are beyond the problematic conditioned mind(ego).
Merry Christmas NICABM.