Trump's Victory A Financial Win For Charities
BOSTON (CBS) - If you look around Cambridge right now, you might notice a few bright spots, in the form of neon-colored Post-It notes scrawled with messages like, "If you're a Muslim I love you," or "If you're a person of color I love you."
Katherine Dullea put them there with a group of friends trying to spread love and tolerance in Boston and surrounding communities. She also has a GoFundMe page to raise money for activist groups now bracing to battle with the incoming Trump administration.
Half of the money she raises will go to Planned Parenthood. The other half goes to a gay rights group called Lambda Legal. She plans to make the donations in the name of Vice President-Elect Mike Pence, so he will get specific notifications. "I want to show him…we won't stand for those policies. We won't stand for those values."
Boston organizations say they're already feeling the positive impact of people like Dullea.
"We have received an unprecedented outpouring of support," said Tricia Wajda, with the Planned Parenthood office in Boston.
The day after the election, the office got calls from 200 people asking if they could volunteer. In one week, that number jumped to 600. "Compared to this time last year, we have seen an increase of online donors by 32 percent," said Wajda.
There's also more demand. The week after the election, appointments at Planned Parenthood for women wanting IUDs jumped more than five times from 52 to 265.
The local Sierra Club has also enjoyed a sudden spike in public interest, and $11,000 in new donations at the national level. "It'll help," said Emily Norton, who heads the Sierra Club's Massachusetts Chapter. "It'll make it easier for us to take on the fights that are going to be a lot harder in this administration."