The 5 Best Ways to Donate to Charity

With Christmas just around the corner, you might be looking forward to a festive season of parties and presents. Not everyone’s so lucky though. Switch on the news and you’ll hear stories of suffering from around the world or take a walk through your local town and see people without homes to call their own. If you want to do your bit to help, why not give to a good cause? There is a range of charities to donate to out there, and it’s never been easier to make donations. Here are five of the best ways to make your contribution.

1. Set up payments online

One of the simplest ways to donate is to set up payments online. Simply go to the website of your chosen charity and follow the instructions provided. Many charities give you the option of making one-off or regular payments. For example, the humanappeal website enables you to set up single or monthly contributions, and it allows you to choose from specified sums or set your own amount. This process takes a matter of moments and it’s a great way to give money.

As well as donating directly to charities, you can make payments online through special donation websites, such as JustGiving, Virgin Money Giving and BT MyDonate.

2. Make one-off donations by mobile text

Another quick and convenient way to make donations is to set up one-off payments on your phone. Lots of charities launch special appeals that allow you to text a code to a number in order to make a single payment. All you need is your mobile phone and the relevant code. It’s always worth checking the terms and conditions, but in most cases you should find that mobile providers offer this service for free, meaning that 100 per cent of the money you give goes to the charity you’re donating to.

3. Arrange transfers through your bank

Prefer a more traditional approach? Why not set up a transfer through your bank? To do this, you’ll need to know the bank your charity uses, the account name and number, and the sort code. Then you can simply decide how much you’d like to give and whether you want to set the payment up as a one-off or make it a regular contribution in the form of a standing order.

4. Donate by post

You can also keep things traditional by donating by post. It’s still possible to send cheques or drafts to most charities. Just make sure you make your cheque or draft payable to the relevant organisation and send it to the correct address. This can be a simple way to make a single payment if you want to avoid going online or using your mobile.

5. Give your time and become a volunteer

Bear in mind that charities don’t only encourage financial contributions. Many are also looking for enthusiastic helpers for their campaigns. So, if you’ve got a little spare time and you’d like to put it to good use, why not consider volunteering? There are lots of different roles available. For example, you might be able to put your marketing skills to use or help your chosen charity to stage events. As well as benefiting charities, volunteering can be rewarding and it can help you to enhance your CV – so it really is a win win.

*This is a collaborative post