Your Complete Guide to Donating to Charity

It's Good for You

According to The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation studies show that doing a good deed will actually increase your health and happiness - including a reduction in negative emotions, an increased sense of self-worth, greater happiness, increased immunity, and greater overall health levels.

Also, according to a survey by the Ad Council more than 95% of people believe in the principle of karma. In other words, doing a good deed for someone else (such as donating to charity) will eventually come back to you, and possibly even multiplied! Donating to charity is great karma.

It Makes Your World a Better Place

Even people who don't believe in karma have to agree that doing something good for someone else will make the world a better place overall. Just take one small example - donating to an educational scholarship fund - Your donations mean someone who before couldn't go to college now can - this means one more educated person in the world - this means one more person who is contributing to society instead of taking from it - which means a better world for all of us.

Tax Deductions!

Let's not forget the tax deductions. Donating to charity in any form allows you to catch a break from the IRS in the form of a tax deduction. Just make sure you keep the receipt!

Donating to charity is a noble and just decision. However, there are many people out there that will try to take advantage of your altruism to make a profit for themselves. Before you do anything there are a few things to look out for:

Charity Scams

There are several different ways a so-called "charity" can scam you. The first of course is the age-old email scam, where you get an email from an unknown charity to donate to the cause of the day (Haiti, Katrina, etc.) Never, donate to a charity like this.

The second scam, is the guy in front of the store asking for donations. Unfortunately, sometimes these people are just scammers relying on your "buyers guilt" to make some quick cash for themselves.

The third, and by far the most insidious scam is the valid charity which doesn't actually do right with your donations. The way this scam works is that you donate money or goods to a valid non-profit who in turn farms the work out to various for-profit companies (which are of course owned by the same people who run the charity). "Donate your Car" charities are notorious for this.

A simple rule to live by is: Never donate to any charity unless you've done your homework.

For-Profit Companies Running Charity Websites

A good charity website (whether it's click-to-donate, shop-to-donate, search-to-donate or other) will tell you which company owns and operates the website. Look out for for-profit companies running non-profit or charity websites. If this is the case there is a good chance a large portion of the "donations" go to the companies owners and not the causes that you intend them for.

If a website is run by an LLC, a partnership, or any other type of for-profit corporation, then it's important you keep in mind that their job is not to maximize donations, but instead to maximize profits. Also, if the website simply does not list the company who owns and operates it there is a good chance it is run by a for-profit company and you should strongly consider steer clear.

*Dreamer is owned and operated by The Good Life Foundation which is a non-profit company. Our 501(c)(3) application is currently in progress and has been held up at the IRS since October, 2009.

The traditional method of donating to charity is to simply get out your checkbook (or credit card) and donate money. Just about every charity out there will accept monetary donations so if this is what you'd like to do then you'll have some choices to make, so be prepared to do some research if you really want to get the most bang for your buck. We suggest taking the following steps:

1. Choose Your Cause

Your cause will be something like "the environment", "world hunger", "health", "education", "human rights". Some people might want to go more specific, for example: "breast cancer" or "college scholarships". Other people will want to go local, for example the local YMCA or Music Association.

Many people select a cause that is near and dear to their heart. For example, people who've been affected by cancer may choose to donate to cancer research. If you're in a situation like this then choosing a cause will be easy.

For others, choosing a cause isn't so straight-forward. If you're unsure on which cause is right for you ask yourself the following questions, and be sure to note how important each of the questions is to you.

1. Who/what needs your money the most?
2. Who/what can use your money most effectively?
3. How will donating to this cause improve the world?
4. How will donating to this cause improve your neighborhood?
5. How will donating to this cause improve your life?

2. Select Your Charity

Now that you've chosen a cause, it's time to select an actual charitable organization to give your money to. For every cause there are most likely hundreds if not thousands of different charities. But, how do you know that your money is actually going towards the cause and isn't just going to a CEO or even a receptionist for that matter? Selecting a good charity is extremely important as you'll want to make sure you're getting the most bang for your buck.

Most people want to know that their money is being spent responsibly and on the cause that you actually intend it for. The best way to do this is to review the company's form 990, which is a financial statement that every non-profit files annually. The 990 for most charities can be found on the Foundation Center website.

Analyzing a 990 can be a rather difficult and extensive process, however. Fortunately there are a few great websites that actually provide a summary of this information, and even go a step further by providing ratings for charities. The two most prominent of these are Charity Navigator and Charity Watch.

3. Select Your Donation Amount

You may have selected more than one charity at this point. Be careful not to select too many charities as you will want to really narrow your focus to make sure your money is having the biggest impact.

Selecting an exact amount can be tricky, but according to this article most people say that donating 3% of after-tax income is a good goal, while others recommend as much as 10%.

3% is just a guideline however, if you don't feel you can spare it then donate less. On the other hand if you have money lying around that you simply can't find a better use for then donating more is certainly a great way to go.

4. Donate

This is the easy part. Almost every reputable charity has a website, and almost every charity website has a place where you can donate. Hint: It's usually a big button that you can't miss right on their home page.

Besides donating money you can also choose to donate some of your possessions.

Charities such as The Salvation Army, Goodwill, and Planet Aid accept donations in clothing, shoes, furniture, books, and just about anything else you want to donate. This not only keeps your unwanted goods out of landfills, but helps it people in need.

Besides the three just mentioned, here are some other great charities where you can donate something other than money:

Donate Your Eye Glasses

Lions Clubs International while making an impact for the world, accepts donations in the form of eyeglasses, allowing you to donate to children, adults, and seniors in need of glasses to get through everyday life. If you wear glasses, you can probably relate to the frustrations of not having clear vision. A donation of old eyeglasses can help someone in need get through their daily life.

Unite for Sight also accepts the donation of eyeglasses, as well as a list of many other tools and accessories such as sunglasses which are in good or excellent working condition.

Donate Your Shoes

Donate Your Old Shoes is dedicated to providing shoes to the shoeless. The project also gives shoes to natural disaster victims, such as the recent flood in the Philippines. While you ship the shoes to the company on your own expense, it's a small price to pay for supplying people around the world with the basic necessities.

Donate Blood

American Red Cross as most know, accept blood donations at your nearest blood bank or from a blood drive. You can donate once every two weeks, and each donation saves the life of a person in need. If you have a rarer blood type, it's even more important to donate, as there is a shortage of blood from rare blood types.

Donate Food

Feeding America is a site that allows you to donate in multiple ways; either through money, through volunteer work, or by donating canned food to your local food bank. The site itself has a directory that can point you to your nearest food bank where you may drop off canned food or participate in a food drive. If you have any left over cans of food that you never ended up using for your baking, or soup you won't touch, donate it to those who need it!

Donate Your Car

Donating a car to charity seems like a great idea. Unfortunately the industry has gotten a bad reputation since although a non-profit company usually is at the head of the pyramid they will often farm out collection and sales duties to for-profit companies which take the great majority of the proceeds. If you want to donate your car to charity there are many people who will pick-up and buy your car (even if it's not running) - you can then donate the proceeds of the sale to your favorite cause.

If you're interested in taking a more active approach to giving, you could volunteer and donate your time instead. Volunteering is a great way to donate without spending money, and it makes you feel more directly involved with the cause you choose.

Volunteer in Your Community

It's virtually impossible to find a community that doesn't have many volunteer opportunities. Volunteering in your community is a great way to make new friends, feel good about yourself, and make a difference in the neighborhood in which you live. Common volunteer activities are mentoring, coaching, visitation (for the sick and elderly), and food distribution.

Volunteer Match is certainly the best site out there if you'd like to search for volunteer opportunities in your area.

Virtual Volunteering

Virtual volunteering is where you volunteer from home on your computer. Many companies, including Dreamer have virtual volunteer programs. If you're interested in this approach to helping a cause, check our volunteer resource guide which has the best websites to find virtual volunteer opportunities.

Voluntourism

Another method of volunteering is called voluntourism, where you can travel the world while volunteering your time through an organization or private volunteer group. It's a great way to experience life outside of your home country. While the term implies that there is manual labor, you don't need to be able to lift heavy items, or be a muscular person in order to take part. Voluntourism combines passions and pastimes with travel and service. While this isn't for everyone, if adventure and travel excite you, you should give voluntourism a try!

One method of donating to charity for free is called click to donate - it's a quick and easy way to change the world from home, and all you're doing is adding a few extra clicks to your daily online experience. To donate to charity simply click the click-to-donate button or link (there is usually a daily limit to how many times you can click) and for each click the site and its sponsors will donate a certain amount of money, or a certain item to the charity they list.

The Hunger Site

The Hunger Site is a website tackling multiple causes, from world hunger, to saving the rainforests and preventing breast cancer. The site has a click to donate feature for each cause, allowing you to visit them once a day to keep clicking. The site is non-profit, so you can be sure that the great majority of the money from the sponsors actually goes to the charity they support.

Care 2

Care 2 covers a total of 14 different causes, each with their own click to donate button. The best part about this site is that it tracks and tells you exactly how much the clicks have helped each day, and if you create an account, you can track exactly how much you, yourself, made an impact over time.

Ecology Fund

Ecology Fund focuses its efforts towards protecting land from pollutants, hunters, and land from being built upon. While their buttons aren't as easily found, the causes are still worth investing a few minutes of your time. In addition, registering on the site donates even more funds to their causes.

Free Rice

Free Rice is a click to donate site with a twist; you take a vocabulary quiz while you donate. The site itself is setup so that for every word definition you answer correctly, the sponsors donate 10 grains of rice to the World Food Program, run by the United Nations. While you play, not only will you be donating to a great cause, but you'll be learning new vocabulary words at the same time. There's more scientifically significant results for you the longer you spend on the site, but we'll leave you to click the site link and find out for yourself! Be careful, the site is addicting!

The Nonprofits

The Nonprofits is a site that has collected 60 click to donate sites together under one roof, each of the sites being non-profit. The causes they are for are great, however the site may seem a little confusing and uninformative at first glance. If you have a few minutes to sit and go through this list, give it a chance! You're making a difference to someone or something in the world every time you do.

The Solar Site

The Solar Site is a click to donate site that focuses on providing solar energy in underdeveloped countries. Each click generates approximately 1kw of power to those in need. This is one of the smaller sites in the bunch, but its cause is equally warranted and meaningful!

Bhookh

Bhookh, meaning hunger in Hindi, is a site dedicated to solving the hunger crisis in India, which houses 1/3 of the world's hungry. Over 7000 people die in India everyday from hunger, and by your click, you can donate a cup of food to a starving child in India. The site is very simple and has the click to donate button right on the front page.

Imagine if a percentage of everything you ever shopped for on the internet went towards making the world a better place. With shop-to-donate sites this now possible.

A Message from the Founder

Another great innovation with the digital age is the search-to-donate website. Almost all of these sites (including Dreamer) combine 3rd party search results with the goodwill of their users in order to allow people donate to charity at no cost.

A few noteworthy search-to-donate websites are: Dreamer (this website), Do Great Good, GoodSearch, and Livoogle.

Click Fraud

Click Fraud is an important thing to be aware of when using a search-to-donate website. "Click Fraud" refers to people clicking on search results not becuase they are intrested in what the page has to offer but because they want to support the company or charity that benefits from the click. While you may think you're doing the right think, the truth is that clicking a link that you have no interest in does much more harm than good, even to the charity. So please, NEVER click a link unless you are acually interested in what's on the other side of it.

Visit our click fraud page for more information.

A Message from the Founder

Searching with Dreamer

Your normal search activity can generate up to $100 per year or more for the search engines (sometimes much more than that). Multiply that by the number of people searching around the world each day and you'll get an idea of the amount of money we're talking about here.

Using Dreamer's search engine technology YOU can convert the money generated by your searches into donations to good causes. Basically Dreamer is a way you can donate to charity for free!

Best of all there is no cost to you in terms of either time or money - To donate just simply search, click, and buy like you normally do, it's so easy to do good!

Start Searching with Dreamer!

Shopping with Dreamer

In addition to our search services, we also provide access to online shopping. For each purchase you make, 2-10% of your purchase will go to Dreamer and then will be donated to our causes.

It's a great way to make the world a better place just by choosing where you do your shopping. We have partnered with Amazon.com™ so you know you're getting high quality products at a great price. In fact the price you pay is exactly the same whether or not you buy your products on Dreamer or not, so why wouldn't you do it!

Start Shopping with Dreamer!

The following books are recommended by the staff at Dreamer to help you donate effectively:

Charity on Trial: What You Need to K ... Doug White Best Price $0.85 or Buy New $24.95

PricewaterhouseCoopers Guide to Char ... Pricewaterhous ... Best Price $0.29 or Buy New $34.95

If It Takes a Village, Build One: Ho ... Malaak Compton ... Best Price $2.80 or Buy New $23.99

Volunteer Vacations: Short-Term Adve ... Bill McMillon Best Price $5.20 or Buy New $18.95