With #GivingTuesday just around the corner, we thought we’d round up the local Chapel Hill and Carrboro non-profits that we recommend donating to this year. All of these organizations were recommended by BlogBloggers. (If you know of an organization that’s not on our list that fits into one of these categories that you’d like to add, email [email protected]!)
This post details how you can:
Support refugees and migrant community members
Support high-quality local journalism
Support Chatham Organizing for Racial Equity (in Chatham County)
Support Orange County Rape Crisis Center
Help water bill assistance
Help housing partners
Support abortion care
Provide healthy food
Support Triangle disability and autism services
Support parks and recreation
Support literacy organizations
Help rescued animals
Support the South Orange Rescue Squad
Support the Chapel Hill Historical Society
Support the arts
Support refugee and migrant community members
Refugee Community Partnership (donate)
Based in Carrboro, RCP is a grassroots organization working with refugee and migrant communities across central North Carolina. They support refugee communities, improve language access, and reconstitute relationships of charity to relationships of mutual aid and social justice.
El Centro Hispano (donate)
The longest standing and largest Latino led organization in North Carolina. El Centro Hispano serves Orange county with offices at 201 W Weaver Street in Carrboro. With a mission to strengthen the community, build bridges, and advocate for equity and inclusion, El Centro Hispano offers programs and services in the areas of economic development, education, community & civic participation, community health, and community support.
Support high-quality local journalism
The Daily Tar Heel (donate)
Big basketball wins. Protests. Campus tragedies. Through it all, the DTH has been there. Your tax-deductible donation will support student stipends, equipment and training, and general operations to keep the DTH fulfilling its mission to build the future of news.
Support Chatham Organizing for Racial Equity
CORE is a community-governed organization working to build stronger communities and a culture of equity through their three program areas of education, community organizing, and restoration.
Support the Orange County Rape Crisis Center
Orange County Rape Crisis Center (donate)
OCRCC is one of Chapel Hill’s oldest non-profits at over 50 years old. The center serves all residents of Orange County including students at UNC. The center provides services include:
- a 24-hour hotline
- Support groups
- Advocacy including accompaniment to the hospital for sexual assault kit retrieval and court dates,
- Free trauma focused therapy and referrals for other mental health services
- Direct relief for basic needs and financial crisis
- Community education events
- The SafeTouch and Start Strong programs that reach every child in the Chapel Hill/Carrboro public schools
- Trainings and workshops around the topic of sexual assault prevention for professional and community groups
Help our community’s water bill assistance program
OWASA’s Care to Share Program (donate through IFC)
Your gift to Care to Share, our community’s water bill assistance program, helps to make sure that no one in our community will have to go without water – or scrimp on medications or food to pay their water bill. (TBBer Melody Kramer serves on the OWASA board.)
Provide permanently affordable housing opportunities in Carrboro and Chapel Hill
CASA (donate)
CASA provides access to stable, affordable housing for people who are homeless or at risk by developing and managing rental communities.
Community Empowerment Fund (donate)
The Community Empowerment Fund is working to end the racial wealth gap by supporting over 3,000 Members, annually, in reaching their employment, housing, and finance goals. Their approach combines person-centered support with advocacy and financial services that pursue equity. CEF’s work is grounded in recognition of the detrimental impacts of systemic racism on Black and Brown members of our communities and they value the leadership of people with lived experiences with homelessness and poverty.
Community Home Trust (donate)
CHT is a non-profit organization in Chapel Hill that provides permanently affordable housing to individuals making less than 60 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI). CHT currently owns 320 homes across Chapel Hill, and 50% of homeowners work in the public sector in Chapel Hill. (Some of our favorite teachers live in CHT houses.)
DHIC (donate)
DHIC provides homebuyer support and develops rental communities for families and individuals with limited incomes. We understand that a home is a catalyst for opportunity, independence, and resilience.
EmPOWERment, Inc. (donate)
EMPOWERment. Inc. manages 58 affordable rental properties and 6 privately-owned homes in Orange County. All tenants earn 30-60% of the Area Median Income and EMPOWERment provides housing counseling, financial literacy training, and utility fund assistance as needed. EmPOWERment also owns and operates the Midway Business Center, Orange County’s first small business incubator. The Midway Business Center develops small businesses by providing them a professional space, resources, and networking opportunities for their businesses.
Habitat for Humanity (donate)
Habitat for Humanity of Orange County builds strength, stability, and self-reliance through shelter.
Inter-Faith Council for Social Service (donate)
A community that meets everyone’s basic needs, including dignified and affordable housing, an abundance of healthy food, and meaningful social connection.
Marian Cheek Jackson Center (donate)
The Jackson Center is a hub of creative action dedicated to preserving the future of historically Black neighborhoods in Chapel Hill and Carrboro, NC. Located in the heart of the Northside community, Center staff work in collaboration with Northside neighbors and friends to respect and to serve histories that, even as they are told, make new history out of Emancipation, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, civil rights struggle, and desegregation. Today Northside, Pine Knolls and Tin Top are among the most racially, ethnically, and economically diverse neighborhoods in the region.
The Promise of Home Program assists our elderly neighbors in Northside & Pine Knolls stay safe and rooted in our communities by providing quality home rehabilitation by local contractors and committed community organizations. We partner with Habitat for Humanity, Rebuilding Together, Self-Help, and a host of community volunteers to ensure homes of great pride are able to stay safe, affordable, accessible, and beautiful.
Hope NC (donate)
HOPE’s objective is to address the critical need for housing options for people with disabilities by creating safe, affordable, inclusive communities where people of all abilities and ages experience a sense of belonging.
Hope Renovations (donate)
Hope Renovation empowers women to pursue living-wage jobs in the construction trades via our hands-on training program, while our construction program provides repairs and renovations that enable older adults to stay in their homes as they age.
Orange County Partnership to End Homelessness (donate)
The Orange County Partnership to End Homelessness (OCPEH) is a coalition of service providers, local governments, and community members who work together to coordinate funding and bring best practices to the work of ending homelessness in Orange County.
Partnerships in Aging: (donate)
The Partnerships in Aging Program (PiAP) is an interdisciplinary, campus-wide program at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. In collaboration with community organizations and institutions, we nurture dialogue about the personal and societal meaning of having a long life and advance civic engagement as a way to bring about a new kind of aging. PiAP provides expertise and resources to UNC faculty, students, and community partners seeking to reframe the aging experience, together.
Pee Wee Homes (donate)
We are a group of community members who have come together to be a part of answering this glaring call for deeply affordable housing in our community. Homes that individuals with fixed income like Pee Wee can afford; homes that allow elderly homeless individuals to age in place; homes that a single person earning minimum wage can afford; and, importantly, homes that support independence within the context of community.
Support abortion care for all those who seek it in our state
Carolina Abortion Fund (donate)
Donations help keep CAF’s helpline open as a resource for people who need help paying for their abortion care.
Pro Choice North Carolina (donate)
Pro Choice North Carolina serves on the front lines fighting for reproductive freedom for all North Carolinians. They will have a matching donor on #GivingTuesday – so your gift will be doubled.
Provide healthy food to people in Carrboro and Chapel Hill
PORCH (donate)
PORCH is a small, grassroots hunger relief organization that makes a big impact! Every month, our Neighborhood Coordinators collect food and cash donations, and then our volunteers sort fresh and non-perishable food before distributing it to local families, pantries, and schools.
TABLE (donate)
TABLE delivers healthy food and nutrition education to children in Orange County, North Carolina. They envision a community where all children have equitable access to nutritious food and knowledge in order to experience optimal health, well-being, and dignity.
Toy Chest (instructions for donating unopened, unexpired food items or grocery gift cards.)
The Toy Chest is open to all families with children below 200% of poverty in Orange County. These parents and grandparents make difficult decisions every day about how to keep the children in their care clothed and fed. During the holidays, children spend more time at home and other programs like free or reduced school lunches are unavailable.
Meals on Wheels Orange County NC (donate)
Meals on Wheels Orange County NC (MOWOCNC) is a volunteer-driven, community funded organization that delivers a hot, balanced meal along with a daily check-in every Monday-Friday to older adults, homebound adults, adults with disabilities, and those convalescing who do not have access to, or the ability to prepare, a healthy meal.
Support Triangle disability and autism services
(You can support Extraordinary Ventures by donating, by purchasing Extraordinary Gifts soaps and candles, using our Extraordinary Laundry Service, and by booking event space in our Blue Hill Event Center.)
Extraordinary Ventures is a Chapel Hill nonprofit with the mission of creating and nurturing self-sustaining small businesses with the philosophy that all people are employable. Our focus is on creating job opportunities for adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities such as Autism.
B3 Coffee (donate)
B3 is a nonprofit that provides social and vocational opportunities for people of all abilities. Using the way coffee brings people together, we aim to facilitate community between people with and without disabilities and ultimately advance disability justice, allyship, and inclusion.
Support parks and recreation
Friends of Chapel Hill Parks, Recreation, and Greenways (donate)
Through donations, fundraisers and collaborative efforts with individuals and business owners like you, the Friends raise funds to improve the quality of life for all who work, live and play in Chapel Hill.
Support Orange Literacy and the Chapel Hill Public Library
Friends of the Chapel Hill Public Library (donate)
All donations to Friends of Chapel Hill Public Library are used by the Library to benefit our community.
Orange Literacy (donate)
Orange Literacy is an independent, community-based, volunteer-driven organization dedicated to making literacy available to all. They provide free, individualized literacy instruction to adults who would like to improve their reading, writing, basic math or English language skills.
Support rescued animals
Piedmont Farm Animal Refuge (donate)
Piedmont Farm Animal Refuge provides lifelong care to rescued farm animals, educates people about the realities of animal agriculture, and promotes veganism by offering knowledge, support, and community.
Independent Animal Rescue (donate)
Support the South Orange Rescue Squad
An all-volunteer squad offering EMS, technical rescue and CPR training services for the community.
Support the Chapel Hill Historical Society
The Chapel Hill Historical Society was founded in 1966 to “research and document the history of Chapel Hill and the surrounding communities, to encourage and assist in the study of local history, and to provide public programs and publications related to the heritage and traditions of the area.” Through its “Community Treasures” program, the Chapel Hill Historical Society has recognized individuals whose important contributions have made the Chapel Hill/Carrboro community a more exciting, progressive, and enlightened area in which to live and work. Relying entirely on memberships and donations and without support from town governments, the historical society has created exhibits on Chapel Hill/Carrboro history at both the Orange County Historical Museum and the Seymour Center which focus on the struggle for civil rights and racial justice. The historical society’s offices are located in the Midway Business Center in Chapel Hill as a tenant of Empowerment, Inc.
Support the arts
ArtsCenter (donate)
The ArtsCenter exists in order to educate and inspire artistic creativity and to enrich the lives of people of all ages. The vision of The ArtsCenter is to create an educational environment that provides opportunities, inspirations, and tools to people of all ages and skill levels to participate in the arts.
SisterVoices (donate)
Sisters’ Voices is a choral community of girls, within which each is known and supported while being challenged to grow as a musician and as a person.