Charity ideas – great ways to give in the recession

With the recession still in full swing in the UK most households are trying to make cutbacks, and this includes having to try and save money on everything from going out and entertainment to grocery bills, utilities, holidays, and more.

With finances already very tight for most people giving to charity can be very difficult no matter how good your intentions, and some people who may have given fairly generously to worthy causes in the past may find that at the moment their budget simply won’t stretch to donations.

However, there are other ways of giving to charity rather than just whipping out your credit or debit card and making donations by phone, post, or online. In fact, there are many different ways in which you could help charities, and in some cases you could even help yourself at the same time.

For example, charities such as animal shelters are always looking for donations, and not just cash donations. You can donate things such as pet toys, blankets, old quilts, and the like. This way you get to do something charitable for homeless animals and you could help to de-clutter your home of old unused items at the same time.

You could also look at fundraising for charity in order to raise some money for your favourite worthy cause. This could be anything from a sponsored event where you get people to sponsor you and then collect the money and send it to the charity after the event, to a car boot sale or fete, where you can sell a variety of items and set up stalls in order to raise money.

Again, the latter two can help to de-clutter your home whilst raising money for charity, and you will be surprised at how much you can make at car boot sales and fetes, especially in the current climate where everyone is looking for a bargain!

If you don’t feel that you have the time to hold various events or sponsored events then there is another effective way in which you can give to charity without actually having to budget for the money, and this is a method that requires you to do nothing out of the ordinary.

A charity credit card is a card where the provider donates a certain percentage per pounds spent on the card to the specified charity. All you have to do is spend on the credit card as normal, and the provider will do all the rest. Of course, the more you spend the more the charity will get by way of donations, but every penny counts these days for charities so even if you don’t spend that often on the card it can all help.

In fact, recent research has shown that whilst the recession is certainly impacting on our spending habits Brits are still giving generously to charities via the use of charity credit cards.

Last year close to £7 billion was spent on these charity credit cards, and out of this nearly £17 million went to the charities by way of donation for spending on the cards.

There has also been an increase in regular charity donations made on credit and debit cards compared to the previous year, reflecting the keenness of Brits to continue giving to charity.

One finance industry expert said: “Despite the economic downturn it seems there was no let up last year in people’s commitments to charities. Over the last few years we have seen more charities offer donors additional ways to pay, particularly with cards, and particularly online – all of which makes donating extremely easy, and unquestionably plays a part in the increase in charity spending on plastic cards.”

Tags: charity recession, uk, charity credit card, charirty, quilts, event