“Giving is not the same as solidarity. The difference is who’s centered.”
Most people who want to contribute to the world — financially, through their time, through their skills — are asking a genuine question: does this actually make a difference? And beneath that: am I giving to the right place?
Those are exactly the right questions. Because not all giving is the same. The organization you choose, the values it holds, the communities it centers — all of it shapes whether your contribution becomes a transaction or a genuine act of partnership.
At Ubuntu Village, we want to help you think through what meaningful support actually looks like — and why the how matters as much as the decision to give.
It connects you to something real
There is something that happens when you give to an organization that is genuinely rooted in community — when you can see where the work is happening, who is leading it, and what it’s building toward. It’s different from writing a check to a distant institution and hoping for the best.
Studies on prosocial behavior suggest that giving — especially giving connected to specific people and places — deepens our sense of belonging and shared purpose. That’s not a marketing point. It’s what Ubuntu philosophy has always understood: we become more fully ourselves through our connection to others.
When you support Ubuntu Village, you’re not funding an abstraction. You’re connected to specific communities — in East Harlem, Nairobi, Kampala, and Lagos — and the specific people leading work there.
Who leads the work matters
One of the most important questions to ask any organization you’re considering supporting: who is centered in the work? Are the communities being served also the ones making decisions? Are their stories told with their consent and in their own voice?
Ubuntu Village’s Ethical Storytelling Policy governs everything we publish. We don’t share images or stories of community members without informed consent. We don’t use poverty or suffering as fundraising tools. We don’t frame communities as problems to be solved — we frame them as leaders of their own futures, in need of resourced partnership, not rescue.
That’s the standard we hold ourselves to, and it’s worth holding other organizations to it as well.
Your time is a form of partnership too
Financial contributions matter — and they’re not the only way to show up. Volunteering your skills, amplifying an organization’s work through your network, asking your employer about matching programs, attending community events, and simply paying attention to what’s happening in communities beyond your own — all of these are acts of solidarity.
What makes the difference is intentionality. Showing up in ways that follow community leadership rather than impose your own vision of what’s needed. Giving time and energy to work that was already underway before you arrived — and will continue long after.
What to look for in an organization worth supporting
If you’re evaluating where to direct your support, here are the questions worth asking:
- Does the organization center the communities it serves — in leadership, storytelling, and decision-making?
- Is there transparency about how funds are used, with specifics rather than vague assurances?
- Does the organization have a public ethical storytelling or safeguarding policy?
- Are community members treated as protagonists or as recipients?
- Does the organization’s language reflect dignity and agency — or dependency and deficit?
- Is the work building long-term community capacity, or creating ongoing reliance?
Ubuntu Village holds itself to these standards — and publishes our Ethical Storytelling Policy at ubuntuvillageusa.org/ethical-storytelling-policy for anyone who wants to read it.
Community is the medicine.
Ubuntu Village is a 501(c)(3) rooted in East Harlem with programs in Kenya, Uganda, and Nigeria. Every dollar goes directly to the work. Join us as a partner, not a donor.
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About the author
Michele Mitchell
Founder, President & CEO — Ubuntu Village Inc.
Michele Mitchell is the Founder, President, and CEO of Ubuntu Village Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit empowering communities across the African diaspora through ancestral wisdom, public health advocacy, and digital innovation — with active programs across East Harlem, Kenya, Uganda, and Nigeria.
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