Easy Ways to Give to Charity

published 1 June 2015

Even the best of our philanthropic intentions are often sidetracked by the business of everyday living. These tools make charitable giving as simple as checking your Facebook page.

How to Check Out a Charity Before You Donate

Pledgeling recently launched a free mobile app that lets you make donations with just three clicks. Users may give as little as $5 and keep track of all of their charitable contributions in one place (you can print a PDF for tax purposes at year-end). Donors who don’t want to be bombarded with e-mails and phone calls from charitable groups may give anonymously. The app is available only for iPhones; donors may also contribute through the Web site.

Good St. is a subscription program that allows you to give as little as 25 cents a day. Subscribers receive a daily e-mail recommending two charities that are addressing the “cause of the day.” (Among the recent causes were autism research and rainforest conservation.) Donations are charged to your credit card monthly; if you don’t like the day’s choices, you can roll over your contributions to another day.

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Block joined Kiplinger in June 2012 from USA Today, where she was a reporter and personal finance columnist for more than 15 years. Prior to that, she worked for the Akron Beacon-Journal and Dow Jones Newswires. In 1993, she was a Knight-Bagehot fellow in economics and business journalism at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She has a BA in communications from Bethany College in Bethany, W.Va.