MONEY TALK SUE’S GUIDE TO Giving To Charity When Money Is Tight
Consumer expert Sue Hayward’s savvy finance tips and advice
Want to lend support but can’t afford to dig deep? There are lots of ways to give a boost to your favourite charity… Amazon Smile
If you shop on Amazon, sign up to Amazon Smile and it donates 0.5% of your spending to your chosen charity. Nearly £6 million has been raised for charities this way. Free to register, then use WWW.SMILE.AMAZON.CO.UK which links to your Amazon account when shopping. It won’t cost you a penny more and you can track how much you raise. While not all purchases are eligible, those that are will be flagged up.
Donate your pennies
Paying by card in petrol stations or shops? You may be asked if you’d like to “round up” your payment to the nearest pound with spare change going to charity. This is Pennies, a digital charity money box that’s raised £25 million through retailers including Boots Opticians, Notcutts garden centres, Hobbycraft and Travelodge. Find out more at WWW.PENNIES.ORG.UK.
Donate your cashback
You can earn cashback when shopping at some online stores, so why not donate it to charity? Sign up to WWW.EASYFUNDRAISING.ORG. UK the UK’s biggest charity shopping site and when you shop at over 4,000 stores including M&S, John Lewis, Argos, Boots and Tesco your cashback gets paid to your chosen charity every time you spend. At WWW.TOPCASHBACK.CO.UK you can opt to donate your cashback to a charity of your choice including Macmillan Cancer, or Samaritans.
◆ You can check a charity is genuine on the Charity Commission website WWW.GOV.UK/FIND-CHARITY-INFORMATION
◆ Gift Aid means charities get an extra 25p for every £1 you give. Find out more at WWW.GOV.UK
◆ Charities including the RNLI and Marie Curie have online shops selling gifts and cards all year round. Lots of charity shops sell gifts on the high street too.