About the Organization Actors Ensemble is an all volunteer community theater that has been producing plays in Berkeley since 1957. We currently present several shows a year at John Hinkel Park Amphitheatre and other local venues with free or very low cost for admission. AE provides opportunities for members of the community to become involved in the art of theater without discrimination on the basis of race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender expression/identity or physical ability.
About the Organization Ashkenaz is a 53-year-old nonprofit music and dance venue in Berkeley dedicated to building community through global culture. Every week, we present live music, dance lessons, family programs, and cultural events rooted in traditions from around the world - Balkan, Cajun and Creole, Latin American, African, Caribbean, Middle Eastern, and more.
As one of the longest-running community arts spaces in the Bay Area, Ashkenaz offers an all-ages, alcohol-free, radically inclusive environment where people of all backgrounds can come together to dance, learn, celebrate, and connect. Your support helps us preserve cultural traditions, uplift local and international artists, provide accessible programming, and keep this beloved community hub thriving for generations to come.
About the Organization The Berkeley Food Network seeks to build an accessible, food-secure future for Berkeley and beyond. As the largest food assistance organization in Alameda County, BFN believes food is a basic human right. BFN operates food pantries, delivers groceries to vulnerable households, and provides food to dozens of community organizations in the Bay Area to ensure all are able to access healthy, nutritious food. We rely on a network of over 500 volunteers annually to support thousands of community members each week. Join the Network to end hunger and food insecurity in Berkeley!
About the Organization For the past 30 years, the Berkeley Herbal Center (BHC) has served the Bay Area community as a foundational non-profit dedicated to cultivating the next generation of clinical herbalists. BHC’s core mission is to empower students and the public alike through education and direct mentorship.
BHC is fundamentally dedicated to amplifying diverse herbal traditions, empowering community health, and preparing practitioners for the health needs of the future. To realize this vision, BHC offers eight distinct certification programs, including our comprehensive Clinical Practicum. Our educational model is built upon rigorous academic study combined with deep, hands-on clinical practice, ensuring future practitioners are equipped with the knowledge and confidence to offer sustainable, accessible herbal medicine.
At the core of our service is the busy, low-cost Community Clinic—a vital resource providing sliding-scale health services to thousands of diverse community members annually. Here, students gain real-world ethical practice, working directly with clients under the close supervision of experienced clinical faculty. The clinic is where our commitment to education meets our commitment to health equity.
Beyond this training model, BHC fosters a love for plants through short courses, public health days, and free community events, bridging traditional wisdom and modern science.
About the Organization For over a century, the Berkeley Holiday Fund has served as a vital connection between the generous citizens of Berkeley and their neighbors in need, bringing joy to the holidays for all.
The Holiday Fund annually solicits contributions from residents of Berkeley and partners with 25 local social services agencies to identify families and individuals which then receive modest cash cards during the December holiday season.
About the Organization Berkeley Humane has been sharing the LOVE and saving the lives of dogs and cats since 1895 through shelter and medical programs as well as supporting pet families through community resources and training. Berkeley Humane’s Thrift Shops (Solano Ave and Ashby Ave) provide support for the Hope Medical Fund.
How to Support Berkeley Humane Thrift will be at the Chamber Holiday Gift Fair on December 4th 3-7pm at Hotel Shattuck Plaza. Stop by and say hello, your purchases will benefit the Hope Medical Fund!
About the Organization The Berkeley Lions Club has worked tirelessly since 1919 to support our local community through fundraising and donations. Some of our current projects include providing unhoused children and families with new clothes and hot meal gift cards, rebuilding accessible ramps at parks and local homes, financially supporting the Womens Daytime Drop in Center and the Womens Cancer Resource center, the East Bay Center for the Blind, and Canine Companions. We are constantly fundraising and welcoming new members. The Lions Club International, our umbrella club and all Lions clubs are 100% non profit.
About the Organization With your support, we annually invest $1 million into grant, volunteer, and STEM programs that directly benefit our school community by meeting essential needs of students and families (including food security in schools), fostering safety & belonging, and a love of learning in students.
About the Organization Chartered in 1916, Berkeley is one of the oldest Rotary clubs in the world.
We do service — locally and internationally. We clean up parks, plant trees, support our unhoused neighbors, remodel community centers and schools, provide scholarships and grants, run a free health care clinic, and more! Our club members have learned how to be global citizens by working shoulder-to-shoulder on long-term projects around the world.
About the Organization Berkeley Symphony celebrates our unique and diverse community through music — creating live performances and educational programs to engage the curiosity, spirit, and intellect of our audiences.
Inspired by our home city’s long-standing legacy of innovation and inclusion, Berkeley Symphony presents unique and accessible musical experiences that respond to the shifting needs of our community. We believe that music is a living art form that must resonate with the cultural demands of our time and place. By courageously exploring diverse avenues of music and education, we create a greater sense of belonging.
About the Organization Berkeley Youth Alternatives is a community based organization. Our vision is to provide a secure and nurturing environment for all the children, youth, and families of our community. We desire to promote, to their fullest potential, the freedom to develop individual skills and visions of the world. BYA’s holistic services are designed to shift so-called “individuals at-risk” into “individuals with promise” by utilizing a continuum of care approach that emphasizes 3 core areas: Education, Health and Well-Being, and Economic Self-Sufficiency. To do this work, we create teams of diverse professionals from the fields of education, mental health, workforce development, and recreation that work collaboratively to meet the psycho-social, emotional, and economic needs of those most vulnerable in our community. We meet individuals where they are and build upon any gift, talent or ability that they possess. We inspire them to reach their full potential with staff who act as coaches and mentors that help individuals captain their own ships.
About the OrganizationBOSS helps people in crisis to build skills and social connection, access services and resources, and turn their lives around — people impacted by homelessness, disabilities, generational poverty, community or domestic violence, former incarceration and other crises. BOSS provides emergency shelter, housing, health/mental health services, education, training and employment services, child/family services, violence intervention/prevention, trauma recovery support for survivors of violence, and civic engagement. Our mission is two-fold: helping people in need right now, while working to end the root causes of inequity and injustice.
About the Organization Your gift to Caz makes a real difference. Here’s a glimpse of what we achieved with the help of our donors this year.
Providing Camp Experiences: We welcomed 647 young musicians to our summer camp and 505 local youth to our JumpStart in Music programs. Cazadero Music Camp inspires a love of music and learning in youth. We provide a nurturing, inspirational environment for young musicians ages 9-18. For more than 65 years, Caz has offered a dynamic program that strikes a thoughtful balance between in-depth music education and summer camp fun.
Scholarships: This year Caz was able to award over $133,900 in scholarships thus breaking through financial barriers faced by some young musicians. This is thanks to the generosity of friends like you!
Addressing urgent facility needs: Managing big projects with a small staff is challenging. Recently, we’ve taken on more than our fair share: creek erosion control, replacing the main electrical panel, replacing failing kitchen appliances and our camp truck, a new roof on the dining hall, electrical updates in the dining hall, structural work on the kitchen wall and floor, repairing roofs, decks and tent frames that sustained damage in storms, identifying and replacing rotten wood, surprise kitchen waste water issues, termite tenting, and more.
Awesome Camp Staff: Our music staff sits amongst the students during ensemble rehearsals and they lead sectionals to offer instrument-specific lessons. Thanks to the exceptional music-staff-to-camper ratio of 1 to 4 at most, each student receives excellent individual attention. In order to provide a top-quality music camp program, we hired over 140 camp staff this year to make sure all our camper’s needs are met, and giving them transformative experiences.
About the OrganizationCRS enlightens, engages and empowers elementary and middle school students to explore and discover through STEM, and to envision their own bright future career pathways with guidance from diverse, caring STEM mentors and role models and well-supported teachers. We provide direct support services and training to elementary and middle school teachers across Berkeley and the East Bay (serving nearly 2,000 educators); we engage 1,000+ STEM professionals from UC Berkeley and local companies to go directly into classrooms to serve as role models and mentors and lead exciting experiments and run fun STEM festival stations reaching 17,000 kids each year.
We welcome local businesses and employees to participate in our outreach programs — inspire thousands of future innovators, problem solvers, leaders and environmental stewards! We welcome local businesses to donate in-kind goods and gift certificates to help us celebrate and give prizes to awesome teachers and students. Direct, long-lasting impact in our community!
About the Organization We are a grassroots community based group of like-minded neighbors and friends who want to help those less fortunate than ourselves! Unlike most other services for the homeless we do not expect them to come to us. We deliver dinner and supplies to whomever needs them by driving slowly around and stopping for each individual to make sure they have what they need in addition to serving them hot nourishing soup and bread.
About the Organization We are a nonprofit that focuses on support people in the transition from unhoused to housed. We feed the community 365 days a year, feeding 250 people a day. We have a drop in that operated 365 days a year and provides showers, mail, laundry, storage, and respite as well as recourses. We also operate Berkeley winter shelter a well as Inclement weather shelter and 3 year around shelters. We believe in leading with love and accountability.
About the Organization Founded in 1969, the Ecology Center is a nonprofit organization located in Berkeley, California that focuses on improving the health and the environmental impacts of urban residents. We address critical issues through a model of education, demonstration, replication, and advocacy. We envision a world where human activity nurtures the ecosystems that we all depend on — a world of sustainable cities; empowered, resilient communities; zero waste and zero toxics; equal access to healthy food; sustainable resource use; and a safe and stable climate.
The Ecology Center’s mission is to inspire and build a sustainable, healthy, and just future for the East Bay, California, and beyond. We transform the ideals of sustainability into everyday practice. We deliver information you can act on, infrastructure you can count on, and leadership for lasting change
How to Support You can donate online or visit our store at 2530 San Pablo Ave. to shop for green gifts!
About the Organization Flux Theatre is a Berkeley-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit dance and performance company dedicated to bold, immersive storytelling. What began as a small collective of artists has grown into a vibrant community hub where dance, aerial arts, pole, theatre, and live music collide to create unforgettable experiences.
We offer a wide range of movement classes, artist training, performance opportunities, and affordable rehearsal and theatre rentals. Our work blends elegance and edge, inviting audiences and performers alike to step into emotionally charged, visually striking worlds.
Flux Theatre produces original full-length shows throughout the year, including our annual Nutcracker Nightmare Fantasy — a seductive, high-energy reimagining of the holiday classic featuring pole, aerial, dance, and dark fairytale theatrics.
As part of Berkeley’s rich arts landscape, Flux Theatre provides accessible performance opportunities, nurtures local talent, and creates space for community to come together through movement, artistry, and storytelling.
Special Offer: Use code BerkeleyHolidays for 10% off tickets to Nutcracker Nightmare Fantasy (excluding VIP options).
About the Organization Ensuring everyone in our community has a home through supportive and sustainable housing solutions. We envision a world where everyone has food and housing security in a caring community that they call home.
When you give to Insight Housing you open the door to shelter and hope for a neighbor experiencing homelessness. Now through the end of the year, all donations will be DOUBLED up to $75,000 by an anonymous donor.
About the Organization Luna Dance & Creativity is a nationally recognized arts organization and the most comprehensive dance education provider on the West Coast. Founded in 1992, Luna promotes creativity and self-determination through the transformative power of dance, with a focus on serving children and families who are least likely to have access to arts education—including those in the dependency system, living in poverty, or with disabilities. As California’s only dance school grounded in a creativity-based pedagogy, Luna partners with schools, social service agencies, and cultural organizations to reach youth and caregivers across diverse communities. Luna’s unique approach integrates research in play, neuroscience, child development, and cultural responsiveness, fostering the choreographer in every child and nurturing the artist in educators, caregivers, and dancers. Through movement and creativity, Luna nourishes familial bonds, deepens community connections, and inspires life-long learners and future creative thinkers.
Last year, 130 families, 1,894 teachers, artists, and caregivers, at least 28,975 students, 4,056 with disabilities and special needs, from eleven counties across the country (Alameda, Contra Costa, Los Angeles, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Sonoma, Shelby TN, Honolulu HI, and Kings NY), twelve public school districts (Berkeley, Fontana, Los Angeles, Miller Creek, Novato, NYC District #13 & #32, Oakland, Reed Union, Ross Valley, San Rafael, and Sausalito), six independent schools, and three universities (Cal State East Bay, University of San Francisco and College of Marin) received Luna’s programs and resources. Discover more at lunadancecreativity.org.
About the Organization Meals on Wheels of Alameda County is a nonprofit umbrella organization providing financial support, community outreach and strategic assistance to six independent Meals on Wheels programs. These programs deliver nutritious meals and perform daily wellness checks that support 2,700 homebound seniors to live independently with dignity. Our organization provides over $1.3m in direct assistance as well as one-time grants for special projects enabling Meals on Wheels programs to deliver over 700,000 meals annually.
About the Organization The Mental Health Association of Alameda County (MHAAC) is a nonprofit organization that has been advocating for individuals with mental illness in the Alameda, San Mateo, Marin and Sonoma Counties since 1958. Governed by a Board of Directors and staffed by qualified individuals who are trained in trauma-informed care and passionate about standing by people with mental health conditions, MHAAC runs multiple programs to help individuals and their families thrive. Serving over 24,000 individuals every year, we are proud to offer free support, education, and mental health resources to family caregivers.
About the Organization Social Justice & Equity in Early Childhood Education
Nia House is a non-profit Montessori School in the heart of West Berkeley. We are committed to providing children between the ages of 18 months and 6 years with an education centered around peace, understanding, acceptance, independence, community, and truth.
Our mission is to bring together children from different socio-economic backgrounds to grow and work in harmony and cooperation, and to actively work toward all of Dr. Maria Montessori’s concepts, especially that of peace through education.
About the Organization This Giving Tuesday, we invite you to stand with Options Recovery Services in our mission to ensure that every person—regardless of their circumstances—has access to compassionate, evidence-based substance use disorder treatment and a real chance at recovery.
Every day, people walk through our doors seeking stability, healing, and hope. With your support, we provide critical services including housing, case management, treatment programs, workforce development, and re-entry support. Your generosity helps break the cycle of addiction, homelessness, and incarceration for thousands of community members.
This Giving Tuesday, your gift directly supports:
* Safe and stable housing for participants rebuilding their lives * Access to treatment and counseling * Basic needs like food, clothing, and transportation * Career pathways through recovery workforce partnerships * Second chances for individuals returning home after incarceration
When you give to Options, you give someone the dignity, support, and opportunity they need to begin again.
About the Organization Pachamama Alliance is a global community working to protect the Amazon rainforest and create a just, sustainable future for all. With roots deep in the Amazon, we partner with Indigenous peoples to defend their territories while offering transformative programs that awaken people worldwide to take meaningful action.
Our work integrates Indigenous wisdom with modern solutions to address the interconnected crises of environmental destruction, social inequality, and spiritual disconnection. Through our transformational educational programs and Amazon-based initiatives, we inspire people everywhere to reconnect with the Earth, one another, and their sense of purpose—inspiring them to take meaningful action for the future of all life.
Your support protects vital rainforest ecosystems, empowers Indigenous communities, and inspires thousands to become effective changemakers. Join us in bringing forth an environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling, socially just human presence on this planet.
About the Organization Pacific Center for Human Growth is the Bay Area’s oldest LGBTQIA+ community center, providing affirming mental health services, peer support, and wellness programs for LGBTQIA+ people of all ages. Rooted in equity and inclusion, we center the voices of trans, nonbinary, and QTBIMPOC community members in everything we do. From clinical therapy to youth and elder support groups to community events and outreach, Pacific Center fosters belonging, resilience, and joy. This holiday season, your gift helps us continue creating spaces where everyone can be seen, supported, and celebrated.
About the Organization Where Girls Discover Their Power in STEM
Every girl deserves the chance to see herself as a scientist, engineer, creator, and problem-solver. Scientific Adventures for Girls removes the barriers that keep girls—especially girls of color and girls from under-resourced communities—out of STEM, and replaces them with confidence, curiosity, and opportunity.
Through fun, hands-on STEM experiences in East Bay schools and community spaces, girls build robots, design circuits, explore nature, code stories, engineer solutions, and meet BIPOC women STEM professionals who show them what’s possible. Our Near Peer Leadership Program brings older SAfG alumni back as mentors and role models, proving that STEM is a place where girls belong and can lead.
Our mission: remove systemic barriers, spark lasting interest, and equip girls with the skills they need for the future. Our vision: a gender-equitable world where girls grow into women free to pursue the STEM paths that bring independence, purpose, and the power to shape tomorrow.
Invest in girls. Invest in STEM. Invest in the future.
About the Organization Seacology’s mission is to protect threatened island ecosystems all over the world. We do that by working directly with communities, helping them to preserve their cultures and improve their lives while saving precious island habitats.
Islands take up only five percent of Earth’s land, but are home to an estimated 40 percent of critically endangered animal species. All Seacology projects help protect island ecosystems, which include some of the world’s rarest plants and animals.
At Seacology, we believe that environmental issues are also human issues. When an island community wants to protect a forest or marine area, we offer a grant that will benefit the whole community—for example, a school, ecotourism center, or water system. This win-win approach recognizes the efforts of indigenous communities and gives them an economic incentive to preserve their natural resources. It also recognizes that local communities—who are often ignored by decisionmakers—can be the best stewards of the environment.
About the Organization Compassion is not just about helping those less fortunate than ourselves, it’s about the realization that we are all connected as one human family. That sense of compassionate service motivates all of Seva’s work, as we build sight-saving programs that support people around the world in their efforts to build healthy communities. Seva’s blindness-prevention programs span many cultures and countries.
Make a Gift of Sight this holiday season in honor of a friend or loved one, that person will receive a card featuring photography from around the world created exclusively for Seva. You can include a personal message in addition to Seva’s description of how your gift will change someone’s life.
About the Organization The 1947 Partition Archive is racing against time to document the last forgotten stories of those who experienced the colossal 1947 Partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, as well as World War II in South Asia.
About the Organization Making Books a Birthright is our mission.
We partner with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library to make their free books by mail for 0 to 5 year olds available to all children in 4 cities we serve: Berkeley+Emeryville and Richmond+San Pablo. Children may be enrolled from birth until age 4.5 years; their age and home address are the only eligibility criteria. Enrolled children receive an age-appropriate quality book every month until their 5th birthday, addressed to them - a detail of great interest and importance for toddlers. Imagination Library participation is shown to improve Kindergarten Readiness levels for that One Child, and whole communities of them. IL is the most joyful, efficient, and economical way to ensure children own books from the start. Research from around the world shows conclusively that ownership of books from birth predicts Kindergarten Readiness more accurately than any other metric. Help us get more books to more children: Donate today! It costs us less than $50/year to have 12 books delivered to a child. A gift book in the mail is just one small thing, but, it is a powerful thing, it is a Joyful thing. In our annual survey Joy at the mailbox is a top comment, along with words of gratitude. Imagination Library is funded by the Dollywood Foundation, no gov’t $’s are involved. The BBBP pays IL for books mailed to children we enroll; all other costs - books selection, publishing, printing, the Bulk Mail facilities IL has built to serve our entire Country, and live staff available for help every weekday are all value left on the table if there is no IL Partner serving an area. It’s a literacy boosting bargain.
About the Organization The Bread Project is a nonprofit based in Berkeley, California, dedicated to empowering individuals facing barriers to employment by providing free culinary job training, career support, and pathways to living wage jobs and lasting employment. Since 2000, we’ve helped thousands of Bay Area residents build sustainable careers.Our hands-on programs give individuals the skills and confidence they need to thrive—whether they are entering the workforce, building a small food business, or supporting their community. We specialize in supporting low-to-no-income adults in the Bay Area who are ready to build a better future through food industry careers.
About the Organization The Freight has become a world famous venue for music that celebrates cultures, connects communities, and inspires creativity.
We are a nonprofit community arts organization aiming to be a center for the discovery and exploration of music from around the world that welcomes curiosity, pushes boundaries, and champions inclusivity.
About the Organization The Berkeley Music Group (BMG) was founded in 2012 as a 501 c3 non-profit organization. We operate The UC Theatre as a community-minded multi-tiered independent live music venue with culturally diverse music programming featuring Local, National, & International Touring Artists, as well as transformative workforce development programs removing the barriers of entry/advancement for young adults from marginalized communities. We’re sustained by a blend of earned revenue (tickets and ancillary revenue sales) and contributed support from generous donors and local, city, and state grants.
The UC Theatre’s Concert Career Pathways workforce development program (CCP) (now in it’s 10th year) is a comprehensive workforce development training program designed to remove barriers to entry and provide to provide participants from marginalized communities with industry-relevant training, work-based learning experiences, and career placement support in the live music, performing arts, and nonprofit sectors. CCP is a nine-month workforce development program for young people ages 17 to 25, centered on hands-on, experiential learning that cultivates critical thinking, creativity, and the career skills essential to thrive in today’s job market. From training to job placement, we collaborate with Industry professionals who not only to teach/train/mentor the nuanced skills for a successful career, but also participate in our Profession Partner Network to drive job placement. In many cases our program gets a foot in the door for CCP Grads where a college degree could not.
About the Organization Waterside Workshops empowers youth through hands-on, paid learning in bicycle mechanics, wooden boatbuilding, and climate action. Complemented by year-round outdoor education, Waterside provides a safe, supportive environment where young people are heard, build confidence, develop job skills, and access the resources they need to lead healthy, sustainable lives.
About the Organization Women’s Cancer Resource Center is a Berkeley-based nonprofit serving Alameda and Contra Costa counties. We help women and gender-expansive individuals with cancer and their families find the information, care, and community support they need before, during, and after treatment.
WCRC provides free programs including multicultural and bilingual patient navigation, individual therapy, support groups, and health wellness classes. We also offer emergency financial assistance to help clients cover essential expenses during treatment and connect them with community resources that address barriers to care.
Each year, WCRC serves over 1,000 people across the East Bay and reaches thousands more through outreach and education. Our work focuses on improving access to care and reducing the inequities that affect women with cancer in our community.
About the Organization Women’s Daytime Drop-In Center provides free hot meals, groceries, hygiene for unhoused and low income families. Assessment & housing referrals for unhoused Berkeley area families; resources, referrals, counseling, workshops, transitional housing program and more. Serving the Berkeley area since 1988. Annually provide about 40,000 pounds of free food to about 5,000 persons. More than 100 volunteers assist annually!
About the Organization Since 1889, the YWCA Berkeley/Oakland has been a pillar of the Berkeley community. For over 136 years we have served as a center supporting community connection, access to resources, and leadership development. Our organization has been committed to working with the community to address social, racial, and economic inequities with a gender and racial justice lens. While you may know us through our reproductive work on the UC Berkeley campus in the 1960s or our youth mentorship programming that kicked off in the late 1990s, we are ever evolving to the times and needs of women, girls, and BIPOC community members.
Currently at the YWCA we provide a breadth of resources, uplifting what is most important during these times, empowering health and wellness. Through free wellness classes that take the form of yoga, dance, support groups, or meditation–just to name a few–we provide access to mind and body healing. With community support, we hope to continue our pop up Persimmon Food Pantry, a resource desperately needed by the community, as federal funding changes have dramatically reduced food access for families this holiday season.
Furthermore, leadership development is a constant pillar of the YWCA Berkeley/Oakland. Through our internship program, career coaching and financial literacy workshops, high school/college mentorship event, and our English in Action program, the YWCA invests in the community to build leaders who are ready to empower their community.
Lastly, the YWCA Berkeley/Oakland has a history of civic engagement that spans across decades. From fighting for women’s right to vote at Sather Gate in 1910 to currently being a polling center and registering community members to vote, we ensure our community is informed and well resourced to make their voice heard.
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