6 Easy Ways To Donate To Charity Bankrate.com Caret RightMain Menu Mortgage Mortgages Financing a home purchase Refinancing your existing loan Finding the right lender Additional Resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Bank Banking Compare Accounts Use calculators Get advice Bank reviews Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Credit Card Credit cards Compare by category Compare by credit needed Compare by issuer Get advice Looking for the perfect credit card? Narrow your search with CardMatch Caret RightMain Menu Loan Loans Personal Loans Student Loans Auto Loans Loan calculators Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Invest Investing Best of Brokerages and robo-advisors Learn the basics Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Home Equity Home equity Get the best rates Lender reviews Use calculators Knowledge base Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Loan Home Improvement Real estate Selling a home Buying a home Finding the right agent Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Insurance Insurance Car insurance Homeowners insurance Other insurance Company reviews Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Retirement Retirement Retirement plans & accounts Learn the basics Retirement calculators Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Advertiser Disclosure

Advertiser Disclosure

We are an independent, advertising-supported comparison service. Our goal is to help you make smarter financial decisions by providing you with interactive tools and financial calculators, publishing original and objective content, by enabling you to conduct research and compare information for free - so that you can make financial decisions with confidence.
Bankrate has partnerships with issuers including, but not limited to, American Express, Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, Citi and Discover.

How We Make Money

The offers that appear on this site are from companies that compensate us. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site, including, for example, the order in which they may appear within the listing categories. But this compensation does not influence the information we publish, or the reviews that you see on this site. We do not include the universe of companies or financial offers that may be available to you. SHARE: December 15, 2016 Janna Herron Bankrate logo

The Bankrate promise

At Bankrate we strive to help you make smarter financial decisions. While we adhere to strict editorial integrity, this post may contain references to products from our partners. Here's an explanation for how we make money. Bankrate logo

The Bankrate promise

Founded in 1976, Bankrate has a long track record of helping people make smart financial choices. We’ve maintained this reputation for over four decades by demystifying the financial decision-making process and giving people confidence in which actions to take next. Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that we’re putting your interests first. All of our content is authored by and edited by , who ensure everything we publish is objective, accurate and trustworthy. Our banking reporters and editors focus on the points consumers care about most — the best banks, latest rates, different types of accounts, money-saving tips and more — so you can feel confident as you’re managing your money. Bankrate logo

Editorial integrity

Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that we’re putting your interests first. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions.

Key Principles

We value your trust. Our mission is to provide readers with accurate and unbiased information, and we have editorial standards in place to ensure that happens. Our editors and reporters thoroughly fact-check editorial content to ensure the information you’re reading is accurate. We maintain a firewall between our advertisers and our editorial team. Our editorial team does not receive direct compensation from our advertisers.

Editorial Independence

Bankrate’s editorial team writes on behalf of YOU – the reader. Our goal is to give you the best advice to help you make smart personal finance decisions. We follow strict guidelines to ensure that our editorial content is not influenced by advertisers. Our editorial team receives no direct compensation from advertisers, and our content is thoroughly fact-checked to ensure accuracy. So, whether you’re reading an article or a review, you can trust that you’re getting credible and dependable information. Bankrate logo

How we make money

You have money questions. Bankrate has answers. Our experts have been helping you master your money for over four decades. We continually strive to provide consumers with the expert advice and tools needed to succeed throughout life’s financial journey. Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that our content is honest and accurate. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. The content created by our editorial staff is objective, factual, and not influenced by our advertisers. We’re transparent about how we are able to bring quality content, competitive rates, and useful tools to you by explaining how we make money. Bankrate.com is an independent, advertising-supported publisher and comparison service. We are compensated in exchange for placement of sponsored products and, services, or by you clicking on certain links posted on our site. Therefore, this compensation may impact how, where and in what order products appear within listing categories. Other factors, such as our own proprietary website rules and whether a product is offered in your area or at your self-selected credit score range can also impact how and where products appear on this site. While we strive to provide a wide range offers, Bankrate does not include information about every financial or credit product or service.

Cheap easy ways to give back

It’s that time of year when doing good is en vogue. Salvation Army bell-ringers greet shoppers. Volunteers line up to serve food to the less fortunate. And local fire stations make calls for donations. While it seems as if corporations make the biggest donations, it’s everyday Americans who keep charities afloat. In 2015, charitable giving totaled $373.25 billion, with $264.58 billion of that coming from individuals, according to the Giving USA Foundation. That’s an increase in current dollars of 4.1 percent for total giving and 3.8 percent in individual donations over 2014. You don’t have to have the wealth of Bill Gates to make a difference; every little bit helps when it comes to charitable donations. Here are some easy ways to give back on a budget. ADVISER SEARCH: Want guidance on budgeting for the holidays? .

Say yes at the store

gpointstudio/Shutterstock.com You have likely encountered this request before: As the checkout clerk rings up your purchases at the drugstore, he or she asks if you want to donate $1 to a charity ranging from cancer research to feeding hungry children. Next time you’re asked, say yes. “These charitable donations help to provide much-needed health care services and to heighten awareness,” says Walgreens spokesman Jim Cohn. While you’re walking the aisles in the store, toss a can or two of soup or beans in your cart. Many supermarkets help organizations host canned-food drives at various times during the year by placing a bin at the entrance. After checking out, drop the cans in the bin as you leave. Coupons can help these food donations go even further. And let’s not forget about when you are waiting in line scanning that National Enquirer, or while you are waiting and eyeing that Snickers bar; check to see if there’s a donation jar by the register. Local charities or neighborhood fundraisers often place donation jars there. By tossing in some spare change, you’re helping a cause that has fewer resources and a limited marketing reach. Of course, you can always choose a bigger charity like the Ronald McDonald House, which has donation containers at McDonald’s registers, a perfect place to drop the change from your Big Mac combo meal.

Take a swipe for charity

John Giustina/Getty Imagese Use your plastic for the power of good. One way to begin is by signing up for a credit card or debit card that gives back. Find out if your bank offers a credit or debit card tied to a cause. There are some rewards credit cards that have a feature allowing you to donate a portion or all of your rewards or points to your favorite charity. Call your issuer to find out what your options are.

Make a change with change

Vstock LLC/Getty Images That jingling you hear is not reindeer, but all the change in your pockets. Before it ends up between the sofa cushions, pull out an old piggy bank or pickle jar and collect it for a week, month or a whole year, says James Yunker, president and CEO of The Yunker Group, a consultant to nonprofit organizations, and past chairman of Giving USA. Get the family involved. At the end of the specified time, exchange the change for bills and donate to the charity of your choice. (Call your local bank to see if it exchanges coins without a fee, or visit a Coinstar machine to make a donation to one of the charities it sponsors.) If you don’t feel like lugging change around, pull out the few bucks you would spend every day on a coffee from Starbucks, Yunker says, and take that to a charity at the end of one month. And what about that $2.36 left on a gift card you’ll probably never use? Donate it to charity, says Sandra Miniutti, vice president of marketing for online nonprofit evaluator Charity Navigator. Call up your cause of choice and ask whether it takes gift cards. For example, an underfunded school might benefit from a Best Buy or Staples gift card, while a homeless shelter may be helped by a supermarket or clothing store card. RATE SEARCH: Want to save up to help the less fortunate starting today? Get some interest on your savings! .

Change the world techie style

Plume Creative/Getty Images If you often check your cellphone, use it to make a change. Many local, national and international charities accept donations of $5 to $10 via text message. The donation is added on to your cellphone bill. To learn if your favorite charity accepts text donations, check the running list on the Mobile Giving Foundation’s website. And while you’re catching up with friends on Facebook or Twitter, check for charity deals you can share with them. There are multiple websites that donate money, food or supplies for every click you give them on their site.

Donate yourself

Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock.com Don’t think you can afford even a little bit this year? Instead of money, donate time. Cook meals at a local homeless shelter. Foster rescued cats or dogs. Even something as simple as raking leaves or shoveling snow for an elderly neighbor makes the world a better place and sets a good example, Yunker says. If you have a particular skill, look for a charity that might be able to benefit from that, says Bob Ottenhoff, former president and CEO of GuideStar, which keeps a comprehensive database on charities. If you’re a writer, perhaps you can help pen grant letters. If you’re a computer tech, try upgrading a nonprofit’s server. Retired executives can help tweak business plans for struggling organizations. Websites such as VolunteerMatch.org and Idealist.org help pair volunteers with appropriate opportunities. “It’s a wonderful way to tap into the experience and expertise from people who have had wonderful careers but are looking for something more meaningful,” says Ottenhoff, who currently is president and CEO of the Center for Disaster Philanthropy. Last, give the gift of life by giving blood. The American Red Cross has a blood drive locator on its website that’s searchable by ZIP code.

More bang for your buck

Lilly Roadstones/Getty Images You know what goes even further than $1? Two dollars. Multiply your donation by looking for matching donations. Many companies will match their employees’ donations dollar for dollar or even more, says Miniutti. Typically, the only requirement is easy paperwork, so the company can confirm the charity’s 501(c)(3) tax status and the employee’s donation. “It’s the perfect way to give more by giving less,” Miniutti says. If you’re interested in giving overseas, then you’ll be happy to know the dollar you can spare will still make a big difference in poorer countries, says Holden Karnofsky, co-executive director at charity research website GiveWell. For example, a nickel is enough to provide a child who is sick with diarrhea with a lifesaving packet of nutrients, according to the GiveWell website, which has researched and identified the best-performing charities so you don’t have to. Another way to make a contribution go further is to pool money together from a group. Ask family and friends to donate to a charity in lieu of gifts for a birthday, anniversary or holiday, Yunker says. Or, collect $5 from office mates to sponsor a hungry child for a year or buy holiday gifts for a family in need in your own community.

What to remember

Minerva Studio/Shutterstock.com Even if you’re just donating $1, giving back should be purposeful and relevant to you, not an afterthought. Make sure you back the charity’s mission and the recipients of its good work. Look into how it accomplishes its mission and what its results are, says Ottenhoff. For example, if an organization is feeding the homeless, it should be able to tell you how many people it feeds every night and how that compares with last year, he says. You should also be able to find a nonprofit’s financials to make sure it’s healthy and not squandering donations, Miniutti says. Charity Navigator, GiveWell and GuideStar all are resources for that. Last, if you itemize your taxes, make sure to get a receipt, which should spell out which organization got the donation, the date of the gift, the amount of money donated or the description of the property that was given. Usually, it’s up to the donor to place a value on any donated items. “It’s a nice benefit,” Yunker says. “But we find (that) people give to charity to feel good and make a difference.” RATE SEARCH: Ready to make your money go further so you can give to charity? . Related Links: Video: How much does liposuction cost? 5 kids’ holiday gifts that keep on giving Related Articles: Video: Elf on the Shelf lessons SHARE: Janna Herron

Related Articles