This Giving Tuesday, you may want to use some of your rewards balances to help your favorite causes and organizations.
For a little background, Giving Tuesday was founded in 2012 as a global charitable organization designed to help inspire people to do good in their communities and around the world. Many people use Giving Tuesday as a day to donate to causes they care about (and possibly earn bonus points and miles). Others use it as a day to volunteer and donate their time, or as a reminder to make someone smile and show the world some light.
Another way to give this Giving Tuesday is to donate your credit card rewards. If your budget is tight and your points are unused, putting them toward a donation may be a good option for you.
Related: Earn up to 75,000 Air Canada Aeroplan points by donating to Miles4Migrants
Donate points with American Express
American Express Membership Rewards has always gone above and beyond when it comes to using points for charity. Through a long-standing partnership with JustGiving, Amex cardholders can donate Membership Rewards points at a value of 0.7 cents each to more than 1.5 million US nonprofits.
Even better, the portal allows you to donate points for all or part of the donation amount without the need for a specific promotion. Simply select your charity and donation amount, then enter how many points you want to spend at checkout.
It’s not the highest priced option out there. However, if you are sitting on a ton of points and wondering what good you can do with them, this could be the way for you.
Related: Which American Express credit card is best for you?
Donate points with Chase
Chase has a redemption option called Pay Yourself that allows people to use their Top Rewards points to redeem recent purchases. You’ll get a 1 cent value per point for most purchases, but sometimes you’ll see promotions for certain types of purchases (in this case, select charities) that can make your points go further.
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For example, from now until the end of the year, holders of the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® can redeem their points for 1.25 cents each for donations to select charities. Chase Sapphire Reserve® cardholders can get an even better rate of 1.5 cents per point. Active charities include:
- American Red Cross
- Equal Justice Initiative
- Feeding America
- GLSEN
- Human Place
- International Medical Corps
- International Rescue Committee
- Leadership Conference Education Fund
- Make-A-Wish America
- NAACP Legal Advocacy and Education Fund
- National Urban League
- Outgoing and Equal Workplace Advocates
- Sage
- Thurgood Marshall College Fund
- United Negro College Fund
- UNICEF USA
- The United Way
- Central Kitchen of the World
To redeem points this way, simply donate to the nonprofit directly and wait for the transaction to appear in your account. Then, sign in to your Ultimate Rewards account and navigate to the Pay Yourself page, where you can use points for statement credit to pay for transactions.
Related: Annually payable credit cards that earn transferable points
Donate points with Citi
If you have a lot of ThankYou Rewards points, Citi has several redemption options for partners in need. These non-profits include:
- American Red Cross Relief
- American Red Cross International Services
- The ASPCA
- No Child Hungry
- SmileTrain
- Susan G. Komen
- UNICEF USA
- FACE
- World Central Kitchen
Each ThankYou point spent this way is worth 1 cent. You have to choose from $10 (1,000 points), $25 (2,500 points), $50 (5,000 points) and $100 (10,000 points) donations. These limits limit your options, but you can always make multiple donations if you want to give more.
Related: How to donate airline tickets and hotel miles to charity
Bottom line
These credit card partnerships make it easy to donate using your points.
Amex takes the crown when it comes to the widest range of organizations you can donate to, but it also offers the lowest value for your points (0.7 cents each). Citi cardholders who earn ThankYou points can get a 1 percent better value per point. And, for a limited time, Chase cardholders can earn 1.5 cents per point for charitable donations — assuming they want to support organizations currently available through the Pay with Points feature.
Hopefully, all card issuers will continue to expand these options and offer more flexibility when it comes to donating points in the future.
Related: The best credit cards to increase your nonprofit giving
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