Support ME/CFS Research on Giving Tuesday!

Today is Giving Tuesday, a day devoted to giving back, after the commercial excesses of Black Friday & Cyber Monday. Every little bit counts, even if it's only $5. If you, like me, spent way too much shopping online for the holidays yesterday or you just want to give year-round, you can even set up a recurring donation. That's what I did several years ago with OMF (see below) so that $5 is automatically donated from me each month - I don't have to think about it or do anything else, and my donation adds up to $60 a year! It only takes a few minutes to either donate or set up recurring donations.

Here are some wonderful places to donate to support ME/CFS research and patient support & advocacy - all are doing wonderful work and the first three are the top ME/CFS research organizations in the world, funding or conducting the bulk of the scientific research today:

• Open Medicine Foundation - Triple Tuesday 2018 - today is the final day of this generous gift - for every $1 you donate, an anonymous donor is tripling your gift! That means if you give $10, your donation triples to $30! They also have another special matching donation today only through Facebook, where Facebook has pledged to match the first $7 million in donations today ONLY (and they still have a ways to go). It's a great opportunity to make your money go farther!
• Solve ME/CFS Initiative - another chance to TRIPLE your donation! Through November 30, any amount you donate to Solve ME/CFS (starting at just $3) will be tripled through a matching donation from an anonymous donor! (note the triple matching gift isn't mentioned on the donation form itself, but I received an e-mail that explained it). You can read about their latest research breakthroughs here.
• Simmaron Research - donate through their website and you can read all about their research results and programs here.
• #MEAction - this organization is focused on patient advocacy rather than on research, but they are doing some great work! They also have a donor who will match up to $25,000 in donations on their website (and they have separate donation buttons for US and UK) or today only, Facebook is matching donations when you donate there.
• ME Association - A UK-based organization that is focused on patient support and advocacy. Here's more about the organization and what they do - click the donate text to set up a one-time or recurring donation.
• Emerge - the primary ME/CFS association in Australia that provides research and patient support and advocacy. You can donate on their website at the link.

And remember - especially this time of year - to make your shopping work for you with automatic donations to your favorite ME/CFS charity every time you shop!  

Goodshop or iGive have almost every online store covered between them - I always stop at iGive first before doing any online shopping. And right now, iGive will donate an extra $3 for every new member that signs up or downloads their iGive button using that link above (sign-up is free and super-quick).

Amazon is not a part of either program listed above but has its own charitable donation program: AmazonSmile. Just sign up and choose your charity (most of those listed above are options).

With so many painless ways to give, we can all help to move ME/CFS research forward and support patients!