now you can donate to awesome charities via text
There are a lot of ways you can be charitable. How many times has the cashier at some random store asked if you wanted to add a dollar onto your sale to fight cancer? Our Facebook feeds are filled with GoFundMe’s and friends setting up charity donations in lieu of birthday gifts. There are a lot of people/animals/causes that need support. Narrowing down the options and figuring out just how much of your donation the charity actually gets can be daunting. Now, there’s a text-message based option, The GivingTREE, that might make donating to different causes easier.
Photo credit- moneysense.ca
The GivingTREE will text you on the first of the month with a list of 3 different charities to donate to. While the types of charities vary the more popular ones tend to be animal, environmental and humans helping humans. Members have preselected whether they want to donate $5, $10 or $25. All you do is reply to the text with the charity you choose, and your donation is made using the credit card you signed up with. $1 of your donation goes to cover the credit card processing fees and cost of running the network and the rest goes directly to the charity.
When you received your monthly text, you have a week to reply with your choice. If you don’t choose one, then your donation automatically goes to the charity that got the least. You could forego choosing simply to let your donation go to the one that got the least love. A week later everyone will receive a recap of which charity got what.
Joe Kennedy is the creator of The GivingTREE. Says Kennedy, “My grandmother had a saying with money ‘Spend a little, save a little and give a little away’. I always try to live by that motto. This is my approach at tackling the ‘giving a little away’ portion by bringing a lot of people together, giving them choice, and making a lot of nominal donations feel a little more substantive when you pool them all together”.
credit- Habitat.org
There are many different charities that The GivingTREE has given to but Kennedy avoids offering certain polarizing groups as options. “I’ve tried to stay away from any political platforms. Early on someone requested Planned Parenthood, which I think is an amazing organization, but that one seemed a little too divisive.” They have, however, raised funds for groups like The ACLU, Habitat For Humanity, The Wounded Warrior Project, Guide Dogs For The Blind and many more. Members themselves can also suggest groups to be considered. Of the various options Kennedy says, “The best thing I’ve heard from members is ‘Wow, that was really hard to choose’.”
The GivingTREE is a great way to make donations that won’t break your bank but, cumulatively with the other members, gives the charities a significant donation.
For more information go to GivingTREECharity.org.
Follow The GivingTREE on Instagram.
