As the costs of food and health care continue to rise, and the size of many people's 401k plans shrink, much of the population feels as though their income is not enough to cover the costs of living. With so much concern over the influence of economic factors, many people who were otherwise big contributors to charities no longer feel as though they are able to give. Thankfully, there is still a way to contribute to charities without needing to worry about losing control of your financial situation.
Affinity credit cards allow you to express your love for almost anything, and now a great deal of nonprofit organizations have been added to the list. These types of credit cards allow you to donate a specific portion of your transactions to charities.
The contributions themselves are relatively small, of course, amounting to less than a percent of each transaction. Nevertheless, when added together, all of these transactions add up to a great deal of money that can be used to support various causes. Some cards can also be set up with a donation at the beginning for those who would like to give a little bit more.
As an example of the power of this type of charity, one private school has managed to earn approximately $6,000 every quarter through the use of these types of programs. If you don't use a credit card, there are several programs available that allow you to make similar contributions through debit cards. However, in those cases the contributions are somewhat smaller, amounting to about 0.2 percent on each transaction.
There are some things to think about when choosing to use charity credit cards, however. First off, the credit card company gets the tax deduction; you don't. In addition, since the percentage given is small in comparison to the size of each transaction, it can be easy to fool yourself into thinking you are giving more than you really are.