Today is GiveBIG, the overwhelming annual nonprofit fundraising day, when basically every nonprofit in town is vying for your attention and your donations. In the past, GiveBig was presented by the Seattle Foundation, but this year, GiveBIG is being put on by two other local nonprofits: Encore Media Group and 501 Commons.

On the About page for this year's GiveBIG, the presenters say that unlike past years, participating nonprofits will have to pay "a registration fee." They argue that this fee is necessary "because the philanthropic support for the campaign is much less than in previous years, when the event was sponsored and largely paid for by Seattle Foundation." It's an unfortunate situation, and hopefully things will be different next year, but for now we should support the nonprofits who are doing good work in this city before we work to improve the situation for GiveBIG 2020.

For your consideration, here's a list of the literary nonprofits taking part in GiveBIG this year, as told in their own words. If you can, please give a little to support the organizations that are doing work in the fields that mean the most to you.

• The African-American Writers' Alliance, a diverse and dynamic collective of Seattle-area writers of African descent, provides an informal and supportive forum for new and published writers. We help one another polish our skills, provide peer review, and create opportunities for public readings and other media venues. Ultimately the group encourages members to publish individually and collectively, telling our stories in our words and encouraging others to do the same.

• A 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, ARCADE's mission is to reinforce the principle that thoughtful design at every scale of human endeavor improves our quality of life.

• Book-It Repertory Theatre's mission is to transform great literature into great theatre through simple and sensitive production and to inspire our audiences to read. Book-It's Arts & Education Program mission is to provide an interactive relationship between youth and literature through diverse theatrical productions and educational programs that promote the joy of reading, enhance student and teacher learning, and inspire the imagination.

• Bushwick Northwest delivers literature, music, and songwriting to the Seattle community while building the next generation of musicians and readers.

• Clarion West is a nonprofit literary organization based in Seattle, Washington, dedicated to providing high quality educational opportunities for writers of speculative fiction at the start of their careers and making speculative fiction available to the public with readings and other events that bring writers and readers together.

• At Crosscut, we believe that an informed public is essential to solving to the challenges of our time. As the Pacific Northwest's independent, reader-supported, nonprofit news site, Crosscut strives to provide readers with the facts and analysis they need to intelligently participate in civic discourse, and to create a more just, equitable and sustainable society.

• Densho's mission is to preserve the testimonies of Japanese Americans who were unjustly incarcerated during World War II before their memories are extinguished. We offer these irreplaceable firsthand accounts, coupled with historical images and teacher resources, to explore principles of democracy and promote equal justice for all.

• Folio is a gathering place for books and the people who love them. Folio offers circulating collections of fine books, vibrant conversations, innovative public programs, and quiet reading rooms, work spaces and meeting rooms. It serves the region's creative community by being an incubator for new ideas.

• The Friends of Georgetown History is a non profit organization dedicated to celebrating the neighborhood of Georgetown's many contributions to the legend of Seattle's early years. We use the power of history to bring communities together by engaging the public in creative history research, presentation and performance.

• Friends of the Library of Kirkland:To encourage closer relations between the Kirkland Library and local citizens. To publicize the functions, resources, services and needs of the library. To help the library serve the public by funding special library purchases as well as sponsoring programs for children, teens and adults.

• The mission of the Friends of Shoreline Library is to support, promote and advocate for the Shoreline Library, a branch of the King County Library System.

• Friends of Third Place Commons: As a safe, welcoming space open to everyone, Third Place Commons fosters real community in real space. The Commons hosts over 900 FREE community events each year and presents the Lake Forest Park Farmers Market. We nurture a vibrant, thriving community through arts programs like weekly music and dancing, monthly Art-Ins, and local school performances, civic programs like community fairs and public lectures, and social meet-ups like weekly play & learns, game nights, Mahjong Mondays, and more!

• GeekGirlCon celebrates and honors the legacies of under-represented groups in science, technology, comics, arts, literature, game play, and game design. We do this by connecting geeks worldwide and creating an intersectional community that fosters the continued growth of women in geek culture. GeekGirlCon provides a safe space to spark conversations around social justice while encouraging unabashed geekiness.

• Your generous gift to Hedgebrook supports visionary women writers whose stories and ideas shape our culture now and for generations to come. With local roots and a global reach, your support of Hedgebrook is a gift with a ripple effect. I encourage you to donate early April 23 - May 7th. All contributions will be processed on May 8th, the actual one-day online GiveBIG 2019 day!

• Hugo House opens the literary world to everyone who loves books or has a drive to write, providing people with a place to read words, hear words, and make their own words better.

• Humanities Washington creates spaces for people to explore different perspectives in order to provide context and help bridge divides across communities.

• Jack Straw Cultural Center is a multidisciplinary audio arts center that exists to foster the communication of arts, ideas, and information to diverse audiences through audio media. We provide creation and production opportunities including radio, theater, film, video, music, and literature. We serve over 10,000 individuals a year through direct services in our facility and over 100,000 individuals through radio broadcasts and podcasts of our artist, youth, and community productions.

• The King County Library System Foundation provides support beyond public funding for programs and services at all 50 King County Library System locations so that they can better serve the needs of our community.

• Push/Pull's mission is to: Promote underground art and comics; Foster community between those creating and viewing art; Encourage emerging artists, illustrators and cartoonists; Innovate the way art is consumed by presenting it in a unique environment and with nontraditional events; Stimulate diversity by actively seeking out marginalized and under-represented artists

• Established in 1991, The Raven Chronicles is a Seattle-based literary organization that publishes and promotes artistic work that embodies the cultural diversity and multitude of viewpoints of writers and artists living in the Pacific Northwest and other regions.

• Seattle City of Literature manages public and private partnerships, both within our city and abroad, to grow and promote a robust creative economy.

• Seattle Folklore SocietyTo preserve and foster awareness and appreciation of traditional and folk arts through education, outreach, publication and performance.

• The Seattle Globalist: Our mission is to elevate diverse voices through media.

• SPLAB exists to present poetry events, develop the audience & resources to support poetry, lead a bioregional cultural investigation using poetics & poetry festivals & build community through shared experience of the spoken and written word. Key 2019 projects: Cascadia Poetry Festival-Anacortes, 2019: A Tribute to Sam Hamill, August Poetry Postcard Fest, 2 anthologies: Make It True meets Medusario & the Samthology, honoring Sam Hamill & interviews: www.AmericanProphets.org.

• Tasveer: Our mission is to inspire social change through thought-provoking films, art, and storytelling. Tasveer was founded by two local immigrant South Asian women Rita Meher and Farah Nousheen, in March 2002, with the objective of raising awareness, promoting diversity and inclusion, and dispelling cultural stereotypes about our community, especially after 9/11.

• A vibrant gathering place in the heart of Seattle, Town Hall fosters an engaged community through civic, arts, and educational programs that reflect and inspire our region's best impulses: creativity, empathy, and the belief that we all deserve a voice.

• The Washington Talking Book & Braille Library builds community and provides equal access to information and reading materials for Washington residents unable to read standard print.

• Whit Press is a nonprofit publishing organization dedicated to the transformational power of the written word. Our mission is to promote literary work in support of environmental and social justice issues and to give a voice to women writers, writers from ethnic, social, and economic minorities, and first-time authors.