(tl;dr: $500 donated to Games For Change!)

after doing all my taxes, it appears I was being overly-cautious with the Mysterious Space profits: there’s a bit of money left over that can still be donated!

and really, this is fine: it’s absolutely better to be over-cautious than to be reckless, AND it means there can be an exciting period of donations at the start of the year 🙂

I can donate to FOUR non-profits, and having just donated to JAXA – in the category of space – the first place to start is education! (check out the “donations” page for more about my donation categories and process.)

I’m particularly interested in how games can be used in education, so began my research along those lines. this search lead me, eventually, to Games For Change.

I had a feeling I’d like these guys when I saw this “Sex Etc. Game Design Contest” post from a couple years ago. especially compared to some other non-profits I found (which, for example, seem to be worrying themselves over which games are appropriate for children, and which aren’t), Games For Change is actually interested in CREATING good, educational games! wonderful!

but digging in more, Games For Change isn’t just about education: looking over their various projects, education is definitely a part of what they do, but it seems almost like it’s more often a side-effect of what they do… which is possibly EVEN COOLER of them, but it DOES make me feel that “misc” might be a better category for them than “education”.

and so: $500 Misc to Games For Change! done! (but the hunt for something more-strictly “education” is still on!)

and I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on these guys! I’d especially be interested in other programming challenges or game jams they host – I might participate!

having skipped to the “misc” category, I should also mention “health”! I have some leads on a health-related donation, but there’s a super-specific cause I want to support (antibiotic resistance), and finding something related is proving difficult… so there’s more to do there, too! I think the use of antibiotics in the meat industry is going to be a good avenue… but again, I still need to look around.

I’ll let you guys know what I find, of course 🙂 but that’s all I have for now.

so: thanks for reading, and thanks for playing (and buying :P) Mysterious Space!