Automatic $1.00 Monthly Donations To Qualify For Reward Offers

For those of us who take advantage of various offers out there that require a credit or debit card to be used a certain number of times per month, I thought it would be handy to have a list of organizations that are happy to take monthly donations as small as $1.00.

Whether you are looking to make 10 transactions per month to qualify for a reward checking account at State Bank of Toledo, or one transaction a month to keep a 0% for life balance transfer rate, you can make it “automatic” and also do some good in the world!

If you are going to add to the list, and the organization does not specifically advertise the availability of $1.00 monthly donations, then please do not add the organization unless you confirmed with them ahead of time that they will welcome such small donations. Here are the ones to which I was able to make a donation:

The Fund For Animals

The Humane Society (Charity Navigator 4 Stars)
Note: Donation made same day of the month each month as the date it was set up on.

Safe Harbor International
Note, there are a number of "causes" that you can donate $1.00 a month to at this website, including Darfur, a pastoral sponsorship, hurricane dean relief and if you click around the site you can easily find 10 people/causes to donate a dollar a month to).

V Foundation Four Stars from Charity Navigator. (Allows monthly or weekly donations) Thanks Choe!

You can set up a recurring donation for:
WOODCENTRAL'S 2007 FALL FUND DRIVE

I joined the Humane Society today for a $2 monthly donation. I thought the membership was a good thing in light of my recent BoA Humane Society money market account. Won't be paying with my SBoT card as I don't have it yet. But I am paying with my Chase Perfect card, who maybe also wants to support the Humane Society and takes care of small monthly balances like this (combined with the perfect card monthly rebate).

jennatx said: I joined the Humane Society today for a $2 monthly donation. I thought the membership was a good thing in light of my recent BoA Humane Society money market account. Won't be paying with my SBoT card as I don't have it yet. But I am paying with my Chase Perfect card, who maybe also wants to support the Humane Society and takes care of small monthly balances like this (combined with the perfect card monthly rebate).Humanen Society E-Mail said: ...while our website lists $2 as the first option, we have many monthly donors who give $1 a month, as this is an available option to donors. We certainly know that $1 per month is very helpful to contributing to our programs. If you visit our monthly giving donation page again at https://secure.hsus.org/01/sustainingmember?qp_source=gabaho (where you set up an online monthly pledge), you can use the "Other" field to list $1 as your monthly giving amount.Note, again, this is not the case with all charities and I have been told by at least one (not on the list, of course) that they did not wish to take $1.00 donations because of processing fees. But its good for the Humane Society!

psychtobe said: not that I disagree with you, but can you post the math that justifies spending $120 per year on this checking account vs a 4.9% APY checking like ING?Nope. But I can give you soft numbers...
$15,000 x 6.01%=$901.5
$15,000 x 4.9%=$735

Difference between the two is $166 which seems to be $46 more.

$100,000 x 6.01%=6010
$100,000 x 4.9%=4900

Difference between the two is $1,110 which seems to be $990 more.

I don't know if that is a precise calculation or not, but it seems the way to do the math, no? Plus the $120 does not cost you $120 if you itemize your deductions. Plus its good to give to charity.

DavidScubadiver said:
$100,000 x 6.01%=6010
$100,000 x 4.9%=4900

Difference between the two is $1,110 which seems to be $990 more.

I don't know if that is a precise calculation or not, but it seems the way to do the math, no? Plus the $120 does not cost you $120 if you itemize your deductions. Plus its good to give to charity.

thanks. don't forget the $1110 is not $1110 in your pocket, either, because of taxes. but i see your point. The 10 debit transactions are a killer for me, esp from a small bank whose rate may not be sustained. It's just oo much hastle, even for $50 per month after taxes. There are easier ways to make $50 than running 10 debit card transactions (or occasionally forgetting 1 and paying for it with a lower APY).

cool. my bad - I did not register the entire 'automatic' part of your post. good idea!

I’m not a tree hugger or anything but I do find at times PETA actually does some decent stuff. Some times PETA goes buckwild and I completely disagree with them. I do not like PETA and ultimately think they should not be tax exempt and they blow a lot of things out of proportion. Anyways – I tried to donate $1.01 a month to them for the whole bank of America keep the change deal. I did about 50 transactions – I spent $50 and I got $50 back from BOA so in my mind BOA basically donated $50 to PETA by me doing this. I did this in a day and the next day I tried again – PETA put a block on the site and now only allows $5 donations online.

This may actually end up costing the charity more then the $1 you donate. I would try to select a charity you hate like me – PETA.

WhiteGuy said: I’m not a tree hugger or anything but I do find at times PETA actually does some decent stuff. Some times PETA goes buckwild and I completely disagree with them. I do not like PETA and ultimately think they should not be tax exempt and they blow a lot of things out of proportion. Anyways – I tried to donate $1.01 a month to them for the whole bank of America keep the change deal. I did about 50 transactions – I spent $50 and I got $50 back from BOA so in my mind BOA basically donated $50 to PETA by me doing this. I did this in a day and the next day I tried again – PETA put a block on the site and now only allows $5 donations online.

This may actually end up costing the charity more then the $1 you donate. I would try to select a charity you hate like me – PETA.I did not include the charities that told me a buck was too little. I included at least two that advised me directly that a buck was good. The rest specifically allowed monthly subscriptions specifying a buck as an option. Therefore if you pick from my list you are helping.

clampuke said: glxpass said:
Look at it this way: You normally contribute at least $120/year to charity every year, right? If you don't want to spend an additional $120, just re-allocate from those $$ to do this. You're helping worthy causes and yourself (even more). Seems like a win-win to me.

Edited to allow for additional generosity.
But remember, that by splitting up your usual $120 donation into 120 separate donations, you are significantly driving up the overhead costs of the charity and leaving them with significantly less money to use for their charitable activities than if you had made a single $120 donation.

The next time you see an "expose" on the local news during sweeps month about how much overhead certain charities have, keep this in mind.I believe you are incorrect vis a vis the charities on the list. They aggregate the monthly donations and process them all at once, and perhaps get a discount from the banks. Plus its automatic and they can count on the income in their budgets, etc. And if you want to stick with the 4 star charities do so. But the "news" is not going to "dis" dollar donations. If everybody contributed a buck a month, we could save the snow leopard by providing funding to eliminate need for poachers.

DavidScubadiver said: jennatx said: I joined the Humane Society today for a $2 monthly donation. I thought the membership was a good thing in light of my recent BoA Humane Society money market account. Won't be paying with my SBoT card as I don't have it yet. But I am paying with my Chase Perfect card, who maybe also wants to support the Humane Society and takes care of small monthly balances like this (combined with the perfect card monthly rebate).Humanen Society E-Mail said: ...while our website lists $2 as the first option, we have many monthly donors who give $1 a month, as this is an available option to donors. We certainly know that $1 per month is very helpful to contributing to our programs. If you visit our monthly giving donation page again at https://secure.hsus.org/01/sustainingmember?qp_source=gabaho (where you set up an online monthly pledge), you can use the "Other" field to list $1 as your monthly giving amount.Note, again, this is not the case with all charities and I have been told by at least one (not on the list, of course) that they did not wish to take $1.00 donations because of processing fees. But its good for the Humane Society!

Great news! Thanks for leaving charities who prefer not to get those $1 donations off the list. Note, that I did this for $2 specifically with a Chase card that will take off the small balance after the monthly reward has been applied....See the small balance thread for cards that will 'donate' for you balances usually under $2. So I hadn't tested different amounts, even though I saw the option.
But please help speed my SBoT debit card to me (opened 9/4) and I will gladly make some $1 contributions all around.

welookgoodcom said: American Cancer Society is a horrible organization for what they are now doing.
Honestly, the point of the thread is to identify those organizations that allow automatic monthly donations of a dollar. If you really want to discuss the pros and cons of their missions, best to do that in a separate thread. You can start one and add the link to quick summary.

And for those with smaller balances or with accounts that charge high interest on purchases, it may be possible to charge less than a buck. But I was to embarrassed to ask the question of the charities I contacted. Some did say "any" amount helps so…

welookgoodcom said: DavidScubadiver said: Honestly, the point of the thread is to identify those organizations that allow automatic monthly donations of a dollar. If you really want to discuss the pros and cons of their missions, best to do that in a separate thread. You can start one and add the link to quick summary.

And for those with smaller balances or with accounts that charge high interest on purchases, it may be possible to charge less than a buck. But I was to embarrassed to ask the question of the charities I contacted. Some did say "any" amount helps so…

Keep in mind they may sell your name to other charities. This might provide far more than the $1 you donate.Some do and some don't. If you prefer one or the other, you can check them out on Charity Navigator and they identify which charities do not sell donor lists.

Added American Diabetes Association to Quick Summary.

DavidScubadiver said: jennatx said: Great news! Thanks for leaving charities who prefer not to get those $1 donations off the list. Note, that I did this for $2 specifically with a Chase card that will take off the small balance after the monthly reward has been applied....See the small balance thread for cards that will 'donate' for you balances usually under $2. So I hadn't tested different amounts, even though I saw the option.
But please help speed my SBoT debit card to me (opened 9/4) and I will gladly make some $1 contributions all around.Jenna, I have no magical powers in this department... but hopefully you will get the card 3 weeks after your opening deposit was made! If you do not, and they do not agree to extend the "grace" period, let me know. I will be happy to stick my nose into your business and try and convince them to do the right thing.Jenna, My SBOT account was officially funded on 9/4/2007. Actually opened the account on 8/22/07. Paperwork and deposit received by SBOT on 9/4/2007. Grace period granted on 9/5/2007 for 30 days. Received the Shazam Pin reference number form 9/21. Received the Shazam Debit Mastercard 9/22. FWIW, I'm in Northern Virginia. Exactly 1 month after account opening, I'm operational. Five automated charity transactions done, five to go by 10/10. Thanks, DavidScubadiver.

Added The Nature Conservancy to Quick Summary.

Those who don't take a $1 are really short-sighted. They should realize people give what they can afford in many cases. A $1.month donation might turn into $10/month next year...

David, I appreciate the time you took to contact organizations in order to ensure they'd accept $1 donations and that such donations would truly benefit them. I'm willing to spend the time trying to make $1 donations to those organizations that appear to have no restriction on their donation amounts and of course, organizations that I want to donate to. If the organization accepts the donation, then I think that's sufficient.

I'm unwilling to spend the time to contact an organization and ask them if they are sure that a $1 donation will truly help them. If you want this type of contact to be required in order to add an organization to the list, that's fine, but I won't be adding any. Please let me know how you want to handle this before I proceed further. Thanks.

jayK said: DavidScubadiver said: I believe you are incorrect vis a vis the charities on the list. They aggregate the monthly donations and process them all at once, and perhaps get a discount from the banks.Did you confirm that the charities can aggregate small charges? I don't see how they can do so when the charges come from separate credit cards. Unless the contact at the charity specifically mentions that they do this type of aggregation, I would tend to assume that they don't know what the overhead costs are.Nope. I assume they know more about these things than I do, or you do, since they are in charge of donations and some told me they would like to be on the list and some told me they would not like to be on the list. I can only do so much. But I am not about to assume I am torpedoing a charity just because I gave them a dollar a month. Plenty of charities reject anything that small so it can be done if they wish.

DavidScubadiver said: glxpass said: David, I appreciate the time you took to contact organizations in order to ensure they'd accept $1 donations and that such donations would truly benefit them. I'm willing to spend the time trying to make $1 donations to those organizations that appear to have no restriction on their donation amounts and of course, organizations that I want to donate to. If the organization accepts the donation, then I think that's sufficient.

I'm unwilling to spend the time to contact an organization and ask them if they are sure that a $1 donation will truly help them. If you want this type of contact to be required in order to add an organization to the list, that's fine, but I won't be adding any. Please let me know how you want to handle this before I proceed further. Thanks.Here's my suggestion. Try doing it at path.org. They specifically told me they did not want a dollar. If their site lets you do it then I think we should not be adding sites that don't specifically offer $1.00 as an option (unless verified). Sound fair?
That sounds reasonable. I tried donating $1.00/monthly and a "Data Validation" screen came back, saying the minimum in the amount field is "10". It wouldn't accept "1", either. So, I think we are good to go without the extra investigation. I also believe if the small amount proves to be a problem for an organization due to processing costs, we will hear about it.

Incidentally, I have found it is much easier to donate to sites that accept paypal because your DC information is already saved and you do not have to enter the information again and again specially if you have a large number of Reward Checking accounts.
I have found many sites that work with paypal.