2016 Tournament of Giving

Wikia, Inc. is proud to announce the first annual Wikia.org  community selection process for our annual corporate giving! Here’s how it works: We’re using the bracket tournament experience to have you, our community, choose to which US-based nonprofit we’ll donate a portion of our 2016 revenue. We’ve partnered with Bright Funds - a commercial fundraiser that lets you easily and effectively manage your charitable giving.

Below you’ll find a tournament of 64 nonprofits, curated especially for Wikia.org by our partner in giving, Bright Funds. You’ll choose which nonprofit you think we should donate to via this head-to-head tournament. The selected nonprofits are best in class for their category, and we invite you to read through this list and then vote for the nonprofits you find most compelling.

Tournament


 * Urban Institute: Policymakers and the public look to the Urban Institute for spin-free facts, objective analyses, and the insight needed to address the nation's social and economic policy challenges, expand opportunity, and secure the safety net. The Urban Institute builds knowledge and understanding of the nation's challenges and proposes practical solutions. Skirting ideology and conventional thinking, we diagnose critical social and economic problems and figure out which policies and programs work best, for whom, and how. Our open-minded, evidence-based research helps policymakers allocate tax dollars wisely, reach those most at risk, and put public choices into context.
 * Pathfinder International: Pathfinder International champions sexual and reproductive health and rights worldwide, mobilizing communities most in need to break through barriers and forge their own path to a healthier future. We envision a world where everyone has access to contraception, where there are zero new HIV infections, where no woman dies from preventable pregnancy-related complications, and where everyone leads a healthy sexual and reproductive life.
 * Technical Assistance Collaborative: Technical Assistance Collaborative, Inc. (TAC) is a national nonprofit organization that advances proven solutions to the housing and community support needs of vulnerable low income people with significant and long-term disabilities. Our goal is to effectuate sustainable public sector systems change through evidence-based and promising approaches in mental health, substance abuse, human services and affordable and permanent supportive housing. TAC's highly successful collaborative consulting model deploys interdisciplinary teams of national experts with a wealth of experience in finding real-world solutions to complex social and public policy challenges, such as homelessness, unnecessary institutionalization, serious mental illness, addiction, and poverty.
 * Human Services Council: Since 1991, we have helped bring together a diverse network of human services organizations to discuss ideas and take collective action on issues and concerns that impact the entire sector and those they serve. Through advocacy, information, collaboration, and technical assistance, member organizations and their leaders are supported by the whole human services community in addressing their concerns of public policy, economic trends, and the regulatory environment.
 * Neighborhood Partnerships: Founded in 1989, Neighborhood Partnerships is a statewide 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that works at the intersection of program delivery and policy change across a range of issue areas. We work collaboratively to catalyze and manage research-backed initiatives, systems, and policy changes that help Oregonians achieve housing stability and build financial security.
 * National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association: The National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association (NFPRHA), founded in 1971, is a nonprofit membership organization established to ensure access to voluntary, comprehensive, and culturally sensitive family planning and reproductive health care services and to support reproductive freedom for all.
 * Mission Asset Fund: MAF is located in San Francisco’s vibrant Mission District, a neighborhood known for its street festivals, colorful murals, and super burritos. It’s home to cooks, house cleaners, and small business owners who dream of someday sending their kids to college or owning a home. But without bank accounts or credit histories, everyday activities like paying bills or renting an apartment can be a daunting challenge.
 * The Partnership for Working Families: The Partnership for Working Families is a national network of leading regional advocacy organizations who support innovative solutions to our nation’s economic and environmental problems.
 * Jumpstart for Young Children: Jumpstart is a national early education organization that recruits and trains college students and community Corps members to serve preschool children in low-income neighborhoods. Our proven curriculum helps children develop the language and literacy skills they need to be ready for kindergarten, setting them on a path to close the achievement gap before it is too late.
 * New Leaders: Through our leadership programs, we develop talented educators into transformational school leaders who create a vision of success for all students and engage the whole staff and community in realizing this vision. Through our leadership services, we also collaborate with districts, charter management organizations and states to foster the conditions that enable highly effective school leaders to drive results for students.
 * Teaching Matters: Teaching Matters is dedicated to increasing teacher effectiveness, one of the most critical factors in student success. Our services transform how educators work together at urban public schools, helping the most effective teachers develop the skills they need to lead their peers and drive school-wide improvement. We also partner with school leadership to create a work environment that equips teachers to succeed in the classroom.
 * Kipp Foundation: Our schools are part of the free public school system and enrollment is open to all students. Our charter schools are given more academic and budgetary flexibility, and in exchange commit to deliver high-quality academic results for students. Every KIPP school has an authorizer—a school board, university, or state department of education—that makes sure it’s living up to its promises. KIPP schools don’t stand alone; they operate within regional networks. These KIPP regions provide many of the same services that a district would, including operations, data analysis, and alumni support (KIPP Through College). Each KIPP region is governed by a local Board of Directors and led by an Executive Director or Superintendent.
 * Safe Passage: Safe Passage touches the lives of thousands of people, providing opportunities and building futures through the power of education. In 2012, the Guatemalan Ministry of Education welcomed our proposal to operate an independent, accredited full-day school.
 * Building Educated Leaders for Life: All children need opportunities to learn in order to fulfill their potential in school and in life. We work to create high-quality learning opportunities for the children who need them most so that they, too, can develop the skills, interests, and determination to excel. Research shows that a lack of learning opportunities outside of school – and in particular, a lack of summer learning opportunities – causes up to 2/3 of the academic achievement gap between children from low-income communities and their higher-income peers.
 * Youth Speaks: Youth Speaks works to shift the perceptions of youth by combating illiteracy, alienation, and silence, creating a global movement of brave new voices bringing the noise from the margins to the core. Youth Speaks creates safe spaces that empower the next generation of leaders, self-defined artists, and visionary activists through written and oral literacies. We challenge youth to find, develop, publicly present, and apply their voices as creators of societal change.
 * Alliance for Excellent Education: The Alliance for Excellent Education is a Washington, DC–based national policy and advocacy organization dedicated to ensuring that all students, particularly those who are traditionally underserved, graduate from high school ready for success in college, work, and citizenship. The Alliance focuses on America’s six million most at-risk secondary school students—those in the lowest achievement quartile—who are most likely to leave school without a diploma or to graduate unprepared for a productive future.
 * Wildlife Conservation Network: WCN protects endangered species and preserves their natural habitats by supporting entrepreneurial conservationists who pursue innovative strategies for people and wildlife to co-exist and thrive.
 * African Wildlife Foundation: Africa is home to certain species that are facing extinction, including mountain gorillas and Grevy’s zebras. By putting safeguards in place like training rangers, using sniffer dogs, and empowering communities, we’re helping to ensure all of Africa’s wildlife survives. Critical to protecting Africa’s wildlife are the local people. Sharing the land, often alongside each other, can lead to struggles for resources and deforestation. If people and wildlife learn to live together—inside and outside of protected areas—the future for all will thrive.
 * Animal Protective Association’s Harmony House for Cats: In June 1970 a group of animal lovers founded Animal Protective Association. For seven years, APA cared for cats in foster homes and at veterinary hospitals until each cat or kitten could be adopted into a loving home. A generous bequest in 1977 enabled us to purchase a two-flat building on Wrightwood Avenue, with large airy rooms for the cats to play and explore, and separate rooms for admission and introduction of new cats to the current residents. The warmth of this homelike environment allowed adopters to get to know the cats’ personalities before choosing a new pet. They could find out which one is a cuddly lapcat, or who wants to chase and wrestle with a cat buddy.
 * Defenders of Wildlife: Founded in 1947, Defenders of Wildlife is a major national conservation organization focused solely on wildlife and habitat conservation and the safeguarding of biodiversity. We believe in the inherent value of wildlife and the natural world, and this singular focus defines our important niche in the environmental and conservation community and serves as the anchor for our organizational values.
 * National Wildlife Federation: As in nature, we have strength in numbers. National Wildlife Federation works closely with those who span the social and political spectrum, but who are connected by a common commitment to conservation. Our ability to meet the needs of wildlife is inextricably linked to the amazing individuals, groups, organizations and corporations we call our supporters. Together, we form a pack, leveraging our influence to safeguard America’s wildlife and wild places.
 * American Bird Conservancy: American Bird Conservancy was born in 1994, based on the need our founder, George Fenwick, saw for a fearless bird conservation group — one that wasn't afraid to take on difficult issues like free-roaming cats and pesticides.
 * WildAid, Inc: WildAid’s mission is to end the illegal wildlife trade in our lifetimes. We envision a world where people no longer buy wildlife products such as shark fin, elephant ivory and rhino horn. While most wildlife conservation groups focus on protecting animals from poaching, WildAid works to reduce global consumption of wildlife products by persuading consumers and strengthening enforcement.
 * World Wildlife Fund: The world’s leading conservation organization, WWF works in 100 countries and is supported by 1.2 million members in the United States and close to 5 million globally. WWF's unique way of working combines global reach with a foundation in science, involves action at every level from local to global, and ensures the delivery of innovative solutions that meet the needs of both people and nature.
 * Sierra Club Foundation: The Sierra Club Foundation promotes efforts to educate and empower people to protect and improve the natural and human environment.
 * Environmental Defense Fund: Environmental Defense Fund’s mission is to preserve the natural systems on which all life depends. Guided by science and economics, we find practical and lasting solutions to the most serious environmental problems.
 * The Trust for Public Land: The Trust for Public Land works to protect the places people care about and to create close-to-home parks—particularly in and near cities, where 80 percent of Americans live. Our goal is to ensure that every child has easy access to a safe place to play in nature. We also conserve working farms, ranches, and forests; lands of historical and cultural importance; rivers, streams, coasts, and watersheds; and other special places where people can experience nature close at hand.
 * Resources for the Future: Resources for the Future (RFF) is an independent, nonpartisan organization that conducts rigorous economic research and analysis to help leaders make better decisions and craft smarter policies about natural resources and the environment.
 * Amazon Conservation Association: The Amazon Conservation Association (ACA) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that is active in Peru and Bolivia. Our directors and staff are experienced ecologists and conservationists. We work to protect biodiversity by studying ecosystems and developing innovative conservation tools to protect land in the region while supporting the livelihoods of local communities.
 * WildEarth Guardians: WildEarth Guardians, formally Forest Guardians and Sinapu, was founded in 1989 to protect one of the last ancient forests in New Mexico, but has since transformed into one of the most powerful and effective advocates for greater environmental protection in the entire Southwest and Southern Rockies. We believe that the diversity of wildlife, plants and ecosystems, and our untrammeled wild spaces hold the key to the rehabilitation of an impoverished region whose economy and culture are inextricably tied to a healthy land.
 * Trees Water and People: Trees, Water & People (TWP) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that was founded in 1998 by Stuart Conway and Richard Fox. TWP is staffed by a group of dedicated conservationists who feel strongly about helping communities to better manage the natural resources upon which their long-term well-being depends.
 * Rainforest Trust: Rainforest Trust helps protect threatened tropical forests and endangered wildlife by partnering with local and community organizations in and around vulnerable areas. Through these highly effective partnerships, we can ensure sustainable results necessary for the long-term protection of tropical ecosystems and the wildlife they hold.
 * Americans for the Arts: Our mission is to serve, advance, and lead the network of organizations and individuals who cultivate, promote, sustain, and support the arts in America. Connecting your best ideas and leaders from the arts, communities, and business, together we can work to ensure that every American has access to the transformative power of the arts.
 * National Guild for Community Arts Education: The National Guild for Community Arts Education supports and advances lifelong learning opportunities in the arts. We foster the creation and development of community arts education organizations by providing research and information resources, professional development, networking opportunities, funding, and advocacy on behalf of the field.
 * World Arts West: World Arts West is a San Francisco-based, nonprofit organization that supports over 450 Bay Area dance companies that are sustaining and celebrating the world's cultural legacy. The work of our organization includes producing and presenting the nationally acclaimed San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival each June.
 * Music National Service Initiative: MusicianCorps trains and places skilled musicians to serve as teachers, mentors and certified therapists in low-performing public schools, hospitals and other community settings. By providing critical "music interventions," MusicianCorps Artists improve student success, soothe the sick, and strengthen communities of all kinds. MusicianCorps is a program of Center for Music National Service (MNS), a nonprofit organization that promotes the use of music in society through direct programs and advocacy.
 * Playwrights Foundation: Playwrights Foundation (PF) was founded in 1976 by Robert Woodruff, and is now widely recognized as one of the top play development labs in the country, and the only of its size and scope on the West Coast. PF fulfills an essential need in the cultural ecology of the Bay Area by providing a home for exceptional local and national emerging and mid-career playwrights. In doing so, we’ve earned a national reputation for introducing a truly diverse range of exceptional new voices to the American stage.
 * American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works Inc: Our goal is to elevate the vital role of cultural heritage conservation by applying its expertise to urgent global preservation initiatives while empowering conservation professionals, motivating collecting institutions, and engaging the public.
 * Gratmakers in the Arts: A national network of private, public, and corporate arts funders, Grantmakers in the Arts provides leadership and service that advances the use of philanthropic and governmental resources to support the growth of arts and culture.
 * Inner City Arts: Our mission is to engage young people in the creative process in order to shape a society of creative, confident and collaborative individuals.
 * Center for Constitutional Rights: The Center for Constitutional Rights is dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Founded in 1966 by attorneys who represented civil rights movements in the South, CCR is a non-profit legal and educational organization committed to the creative use of law as a positive force for social change.
 * National Urban League: The mission of the Urban League movement is to enable African Americans to secure economic self-reliance, parity, power and civil rights.
 * Proteus Fund, Inc: The Proteus Fund, guided by equality, diversity and justice works through philanthropic partnerships to advance democracy, human rights and peace.
 * National Council of La Raza: Since 1968, the National Council of La Raza has remained a trusted, nonpartisan voice for Latinos. This is the community we serve through our research, policy analysis, and state and national advocacy efforts, as well as in our programs work in communities nationwide.
 * Lamba Legal: Founded in 1973, Lambda Legal is the oldest and largest national legal organization whose mission is to achieve full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and those with HIV through impact litigation, education and public policy work.
 * Lawyers Committee for Civill Rights Under Law: The principal mission of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law is to secure equal justice for all through the rule of law, targeting in particular the inequities confronting African Americans and other racial and ethnic minorities. The Lawyers’ Committee is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, formed in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy to enlist the private bar’s leadership and resources in combating racial discrimination and the resulting inequality of opportunity – work that continues to be vital today.
 * Anti-Defamation League: The Anti-Defamation League was founded in 1913 "to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment to all." Now the nation's premier civil rights/human relations agency, ADL fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects civil rights for all.
 * Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Asian Law Caucus: The mission of Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus is to promote, advance, and represent the legal and civil rights of API communities. Recognizing that social, economic, political and racial inequalities continue to exist in the United States, Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus is committed to the pursuit of equality and justice for all sectors of our society with a specific focus directed toward addressing the needs of low-income, immigrant, and underserved APIs.
 * PATH: PATH is the leader in global health innovation. An international nonprofit organization, we save lives and improve health, especially among women and children. We accelerate innovation across five platforms—vaccines, drugs, diagnostics, devices, and system and service innovations—that harness our entrepreneurial insight, scientific and public health expertise, and passion for health equity. By mobilizing partners around the world, we take innovation to scale, working alongside countries primarily in Africa and Asia to tackle their greatest health needs. Together, we deliver measurable results that disrupt the cycle of poor health.
 * Possible: We make healthcare possible in the world’s most impossible places.
 * The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation: The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation seeks to end pediatric HIV/AIDS through research, advocacy, and prevention and treatment programs.
 * Diabetes Action Research and Education Foundation: The Diabetes Action Research and Education Foundation (Diabetes Action), a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization founded in 1990, is committed to the prevention and treatment of diabetes and to the funding of innovative, promising research aimed at finding a cure for diabetes and diabetes related complications.
 * Project C.U.R.E: Project C.U.R.E. was founded in 1987 to help bridge staggering health resource gaps in the developing world by matching medical supplies and modern equipment with facilities in need to empower doctors and nurses with the tools they need to treat disease, deliver vaccines, perform life-changing surgeries and ensure safe childbirth.
 * Guttmacher Institute: The Guttmacher Institute is a leading research and policy organization committed to advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights in the United States and globally.
 * Alliance for A Healthier Generation Inc: The Alliance for a Healthier Generation is a catalyst for children’s health. We work with schools, companies, community organizations, healthcare professionals and families to transform the conditions and systems that lead to healthier kids.
 * Cancer Support Community: As the largest professionally led nonprofit network of cancer support worldwide, the Cancer Support Community (CSC) is dedicated to ensuring that all people impacted by cancer are empowered by knowledge, strengthened by action and sustained by community. CSC achieves its mission through three areas: direct service delivery, research and advocacy.
 * The Housing Partnership Network: The mission of the Housing Partnership Network is to build affordable homes, better futures and vibrant communities for low- and moderate-income people through partnerships with our member organizations, the business sector, government, and philanthropic institutions.
 * Coalition for the Homeless: The Coalition for the Homeless is the nation’s oldest advocacy and direct service organization helping homeless men, women and children. We believe that affordable housing, sufficient food and the chance to work for a living wage are fundamental rights in a civilized society. Since our inception in 1981, the Coalition has worked through litigation, public education and direct services to ensure that these goals are realized.
 * Living Cities: Founded in 1991, Living Cities harnesses the collective power of the world’s largest foundations and financial institutions to build a new type of urban practice that gets dramatically better results for low-income people, faster.
 * National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions: The mission of the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions is to help low- and moderate-income people and communities achieve financial independence through credit unions.
 * Low Income Investment Fund: LIIF is dedicated to creating pathways of opportunity for low income people and communities. Serving the poorest of the poor, LIIF is a steward for capital invested in community-building initiatives. In so doing, LIIF provides a bridge between private capital markets and low income neighborhoods.
 * Enterprise Community Partners: We believe opportunity begins when people have a safe, healthy and affordable place to call home. It grows with access to good schools, jobs, transit and health care. Enterprise’s mission is to create opportunity for low- and moderate-income people through affordable housing in diverse, thriving communities.
 * National Community Landtrust Network: The National Community Land Trust Network (the Network) was incorporated in 2006 to provide support and leadership for CLTs around the country. Today the Network also welcomes other organizations that offer homeownership programs with lasting affordability. Along with CLTs, this includes some Community Development Corporations, Community Development Financial Institutions, Habitat for Humanity affiliates, government-based inclusionary zoning programs, and deed-restricted programs that are providing permanently affordable housing.
 * Community Developement Corporation of Brownsville: The Community Development Corporation of Brownsville (CDCB) is a private, 501(c) (3) nonprofit community housing development organization (CHDO). Founded in 1974, CDCB has been providing safe, sanitary affordable housing to the citizens of the lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas, and is now one of the largest non‐profit producers of single‐family housing for homeownership in Texas. CDCB is governed by a 12-person community-based Board of Directors that serves on a volunteer basis to determine policy for the corporation. We serve the southernmost area of the United States – Cameron and Willacy Counties, Texas, which shares its border with Mexico on the south, and the Gulf of Mexico on its east.