Remember: in times of crisis, local orgs can get an influx of one-time donations, which is great, but if you can afford a low tier monthly donation, you're committing to help after the spotlight/surge of support is gone. Donating $1/mo can be just as powerful as doing $20 once https://twitter.com/L0VELYKIWIS/status/1290780687491043335

So if you can't afford much, but you don't think you'd notice missing $12/year? That's an awesome donation to set up. Maybe you wouldn't miss $24/year either...

Low level monthly donations (to charities, individuals, patreons, etc) allow organizations and creators to bank on long term change. A surge/spotlight can lead to direct response, but you can't bank on getting that all the time, you can't make structural changes.

But if 2000 people donate $1-2/mo, all of a sudden they have a budget of $2000-4000/mo, and low-level donations are less likely to be cancelled (so don't feel pressured to donate outside of your means!) so they can start to enact meaningful change in the way they do things.

IDEALLY, if you have the means - do both. Send some donations and set up at least one recurring donation to a cause that feels like they can make use of it. And in the peaceful times, we can extend this attitude to creators and artists as well.