TIME for Giving: Support Frontline Organizations Helping in Fight Against Coronavirus

A few weeks ago, TIME dedicated its issue to front line responders: the medical workers risking their lives to the delivery people and pharmacy employees who aren’t able to stay in their homes to the coroners who are confronting wartime body counts. You’ll find their stories and those of dozens more around the world, often in their own words and illustrated with their own photographs.

Our staff also felt it was important to look at what those of us who aren’t on the front line can do to help. Of course, the most important thing the rest of us can do—as many of the first responders we spoke to reminded us—is to stay at home to slow the spread of COVID-19. But millions around the world are searching for ways to donate their time or money, and so our team has put together a list of charities and causes worth your attention. You’ll find them here, including many recommended by watchdogs Charity Navigator and GuideStar by Candid.

You can also support causes on a local level. We urge you to subscribe to local newspapers, support local homeless shelters or other organizations supporting the vulnerable and at-risk communities, donate to local relief funds for laid-off workers at their neighborhood restaurants. Contribute however you can.

Want to do more? You can also sign up here to be part of the TIME for Giving community as it grows. Add your e-mail to receive periodic updates on ways to give and stories of those deserving support.

I hope you’ll join us.

—Edward Felsenthal, TIME Editor-in-Chief and CEO

The American Red Cross is facing the cancellation of thousands of blood drives as social distancing has taken effect. People who are healthy can now schedule an appointment to give blood in the weeks ahead at drives where staffers are checking temperatures, increasing the space between beds and disinfecting surfaces and equipment to keep donors safe.

The CDC Foundation is helping local public health agencies prevent, detect and respond to COVID-19 by increasing laboratory capacity, deploying emergency personnel to the front lines and providing support to communities that are especially vulnerable to the disease.

The Center for Disaster Philanthropy’s COVID-19 Response Fund will support nonprofit organizations that work directly with communities most affected by the pandemic, including hourly wage earners and gig economy workers, immigrants, the elderly and people with disabilities. The fund also helps public health clinics purchase personal protective equipment and promotes good hygiene in areas with limited access to medical care.

Coronavirus Relief Fund, created by Global Giving, is aiming to raise $5 million to send doctors and nurses to communities in need; to provide masks, ventilators and other essential supplies to hospitals and clinics; and to help families and elderly people in some of the hardest-hit cities and refugee camps, while also supporting long-term recovery efforts to prevent devastation from future outbreaks.

Covenant House provides housing and other services to homeless youth, who are now facing unsafe and unsanitary conditions due to the spread of coronavirus. Donations help Covenant House give food, shelter, clothing and medical care to young people in need in 31 cities across six countries.

The COVID-19 Local News Fund—coordinated by the Local Media Association, which includes more than 3,000 newspapers and TV and radio stations—is helping news organizations improve their coverage of the pandemic and better inform their communities in the face of unprecedented financial challenges. Find participating local news organizations and their individual donation pages here.

Direct Relief is providing personal protective equipment and other medical essentials — including masks, gloves and isolation gowns — to healthcare workers on the frontlines of this pandemic in the U.S., the Caribbean and South America, and is building an emergency stockpile of ICU medications and equipment in anticipation of the spike in critical patients.

Feeding America, the largest hunger-relief organization in the U.S., supports 200 food banks to help people who are going hungry in the midst of the pandemic. It is distributing emergency food boxes and supporting food banks as they shift to mobile or drive-thru operations to prevent the spread of the virus.

Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck, N.J., is at the epicenter of the pandemic in the state. In this week’s issue, Danny Kim, a paramedic for Holy Name Medical Center, kept a diary chronicling one week on the front line. The hospital is fundraising to buy personal protective equipment for staff and other essential supplies to help them care for new patients.

Meals on Wheels is providing nutritious meals and a lifeline to at-risk elderly people, keeping a population that is among the most vulnerable to COVID-19 safe and healthy in their own homes. You can donate to the organization’s national COVID-19 response fund or to your local Meals on Wheels provider.

The National Domestic Violence Hotline is still providing round-the-clock crisis support to domestic violence victims, who are especially vulnerable if they’re now isolated at home with an abusive partner. Advocates on the hotline help victims create a safety plan to protect themselves and connect with local resources that can offer immediate help.

The National Domestic Workers Alliance established the Coronavirus Care Fund to support nannies, house cleaners and home care workers who are facing financial challenges because of the pandemic. Domestic workers, most of whom are immigrants and women of color, often don’t have access to health insurance or sick time through their jobs.

No Kid Hungry supports schools and community organizations that are feeding children who would otherwise miss meals while schools are closed. Thus far, the organization has sent more than $5 million in emergency funding and helped local programs with their goal of serving 2.1 million meals a day.

Project HOPE is training and equipping health care workers with the protective gear they need to save lives. The organization has been involved in fighting the virus on the ground in China since February and is now expanding training in high-risk countries and sending medical supplies and volunteers to some of the hardest hit cities in the U.S.

United Way Worldwide’s COVID-19 Community Response and Recovery Fund connects communities around the world with food, housing and health care resources. The organization has been experiencing a surge in calls from people in need, expecting to field as many calls in the next six months as it does in a typical year.

World Central Kitchen, founded by chef José Andrés, is delivering fresh meals to communities in need and to healthcare workers in hospitals and clinics across the U.S., working with restaurants that have otherwise been forced to close and lay off employees.

World Food Programme, a United Nations affiliate, draws on an extensive international logistics network to get food to the most vulnerable communities, including people living in refugee camps, people living in nations with weak health systems and people already struggling with hunger and nutrition.

The World Health Organization’s COVID-Solidarity Response Fund is helping the global effort to track the spread of this virus, buy and ship essential supplies to frontline workers, and accelerate efforts to develop vaccines, tests and treatments for COVID-19.

Wyckoff Heights Medical Center sits on the border between Brooklyn and Queens, the two worst-hit boroughs in New York City, the global epicenter of the pandemic. The hospital has treated over 2000 COVID-19 patients, and despite an infusion of emergency aid from the federal government in May, the management of Wyckoff say the hospital may not survive until winter, when medical experts expect another wave of infections to hit New York.

Contact us at letters@time.com.