Giving back

I have an internship this summer. I’m donating a portion of everything I make each week to a different charity — here’s why.

A product of circumstance

I believe that a person’s success is defined primarily by the environment they grew up in, rather than personal qualities like intelligence and persistence. Personality traits might have an impact, but they’re definitely not the primary factor.

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Update: A 30-year study from Johns Hopkins reinforces the idea that, even in the United States, there’s little upward mobility. The family and neighborhood you happen to be born into is the biggest factor in determining success.

Hopkins researchers undertook a massive study. They followed nearly 800 kids in Baltimore — from first grade until their late-20s.

They found that a child’s fate is in many ways fixed at birth — determined by family strength and the parents’ financial status.

The kids who got a better start — because their parents were married and working — ended up better off. Most of the poor kids from single-parent families stayed poor.

And from another article about the same project:

Just 33 of 314 had left the low-income socioeconomic status of their parents for the middle class by age 28.

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Growing up, there were a lot of things I didn’t have to worry about. I didn’t have to raise a younger sibling. I never took on a summer job for financial reasons. I am very fortunate to have parents who were there to support me, and didn’t have to work nights or weekends. I had a lot of free time (which I usually spent on the computer).

I’m now in a situation where I can afford to give money, in addition to time, to groups that are leveling the playing field. If you’re in a similar situation, here are some great organizations you should consider giving back to:

• Alameda County Food Bank. It’s hard to focus on homework when you’re hungry.
• Alameda County Library Foundation. Libraries provide access to books, and more importantly, access to the Internet and a quiet place to study.
• The Exploratorium. They teach little kids to be curious.
• Girls Who Code. To steal a line from Apple, “inclusion inspires innovation.”
• National Center for Women & Information Technology.
• App Camp For Girls.
• Project Gutenberg. Free access to out-of-copyright books.

And some other nonprofits I think are important:

• The Internet Archive. There is a wealth of information on the Internet, but it disappears all the time.
• EFF. One of the most important things they do is preventing people in positions of authority from using new technology as an excuse to curb rights.
• ACLU. Unique in that they’re looking out for everyone’s rights.