How to give
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Stealth givingGIVE WITHOUT IT COSTING YOU A PENNY. No catches. There are ways to raise small amounts for charity without it costing you anything, and they won’t interrupt your daily schedule either. In fact, you probably won’t notice that you are raising money at all. However, these donations are far too small to sustain even the smallest charity, so don’t fib to yourself that this is ‘doing your bit’. It’s just the icing on the charity cake. And Intelligent Giving has the definitive cake-decorator’s guide… |
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Charity Credit CardsThese look like a good deal: charities get more money every time you go shopping, and it doesn’t cost you a penny. And charities can earn big bucks too: Cancer Research UK has raised over £12million through their card scheme. Here’s a typical deal: the bank donates an initial wedge of cash to your charity when you first use your card – usually £15 to £50. Thereafter the bank will donate a small percentage of what you spend on the card – typically 0.25%. It’s an easy, cheap way to give.But, before you apply for a new plastic friend, there are some issues to consider. First, Having a charity credit card could even result in you donating less to charity. That’s because charity credit cards often charge high rates of interest. If you’re not careful, this could leave you paying a lot more to the bank, money which could otherwise have been donated to charity. (You may be able to avoid paying this interest by setting up a direct debit to pay your card in full every month.) Second Charity credit cards are an inefficient way to give, and with a little effort you could raise more for your chosen charity. Few charity credit cards donate more than 25p per £100 you spend, and there is no way to gift aid this donation. The best ‘cash-back’ credit-cards will give you £1 or more for every £100 you spend. You can donate this to charity. If you tick the ‘gift-aid’ box, the taxman will bring your donation up to a whopping £1.28 – over 5 times what the standard charity credit card donated. Many of the ‘cash-back’ credit cards return the money in one lump sum, so its not too much extra work, either. The only question is whether you will have the will power to donate it each time. If you want to apply for a charity credit card, we strongly recommend that you go to the charity’s website first. That’s because some banks will donate up to 10 times more money if you apply through the charity’s website. Also, some banks are notably quiet about how much their charity card schemes donate – so be very clear on what the charity gets before you sign on the dotted line.
Internet Search EnginesSome search engines donate part of their advertising income from charity. There’s certainly a lot of money spent on advertising, and if you search the internet using these sites and click on the adverts that come up, then some money will go to charity. A dedicated user could (apparently) raise up to £50 a year for their charity, at no cost to themselves. Even better, it normally doesn’t cost the charity anything to get this money, since all the administration is done by the search engine.Most of these charity search engines are based on Google or Yahoo. However, we have noticed that they often perform worse than their non-charity cousins, taking more time and producing less relevant search results.
Earn whilst you shopYou can also earn money for charity whilst you shop. The easiest and most efficient way is to visit a charity shop. They're not just for second-hand socks, either. Age Concern, for example, runs a flower shop. Beware: buying at a charity shop doesn't replace real giving. Many shops don't raise much money, and some even end up costing the charity.Shopping online? You can raise cash for charities without paying anything extra yourself. That’s because online shops pay websites to direct customers their way. And some of these websites will donate the money to charity. The Giving Machine raises about £5 per purchase, while Shop for Charity and All4Charities can raise anything from a couple of quid to £10. But the money will only be donated if you buy products whilst logged on to the charity website. And finally. . .Some silly suggestions, for those who want to squeeze every last penny for charity, no matter what it takes. There’s almost no way to make serious money for charity out of these schemes, and they seem a lot more effort than they are worth.You can buy gift vouchers for many major stores at Vouchers for Charity , and the good folks there will donate 3% of the value to charities. You can then go on to use the gift vouchers, effectively giving charity to money for free. Great! Except that, with postage costs starting at £1.35 you would have to buy at least £50 worth of vouchers to even hope to donate money to charity effectively. Buy any less, and you might as well just donate the postage costs directly. There are even some baffling sites which claim that you can save the world by simply clicking on a link each day. Don’t be fooled - a click of the mouse is never going to change the world. We like the rice game though. |
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