You don’t need an excess of time and money to make a difference in the world. You don’t even need to do anything but download a few free apps on your phone! Seriously. Here’s a list of charity apps that give back to the world.
Charity Miles
Looking for extra motivation to get fit? In that case, Charity Miles (or these top fitness apps) may be perfect for you. With Charity Miles, an amount is donated to charity by sponsors for every mile you run, hike, or bike. You’re practically donating cash to charity for your athletic endeavor like you are a big-time sports superstar.
The donation is 25 cents a mile for runners/walkers and another 10 cents a mile for cyclists, and so the value adds up over time. You’ll not only feel good at the end of your daily exercise, but you also get an extra push to be fit, knowing full well it could make all the difference to the needy out there.
Donate a Photo
Imagine donating to organizations like Born Free Africa, Operation Smile, and Save the Children just by giving away your selfies. If you like the idea, give Johnson & Johnson’s Donate a Photo app a try. As its name suggests, donating a photo prompts Johnson & Johnson to send a dollar to your chosen charitable institution. Sadly, you’re only allowed one photo donation a day. Despite that, sharing your love for photography to the world and donating $365 annually isn’t so bad for a charity drive.
What we like about Donate a Photo is its in-depth information on every organization you could be donating to. It’s also reassuring that the app offers details on how donations are distributed.
Give 2 Charity
For the totally passive or outright generous, this app may be the perfect kind of charity effort. The app converts the amount of time you spend each day carrying and using your smartphone into monetary donations. You get points whenever you pass a certain time limit. Earn 1500 worth of points and you earn $2 and 3000 points will fetch you $5. The amount naturally increases the more points you earn. After your “earned” amount gets tallied, they go straight to the charity you choose.
The only catch with such an easy fundraiser is that the app uses GPS to constantly track your location. As you use your phone, GPS data is retrieved and then used to personalize survey questions you’re required to answer. But don’t worry; your data and information are protected.
Charity Tap
Get involved in social causes while having fun with this gamified charitable app. A simpler version of FreeRice, an online word game owned by the World Food Programme (WFP), the app donates a grain of rice every time you tap on the screen. The more you hit the screen, the more rice you donate through the WFP. The money needed to buy the food is acquired from the ads shown when you play.
To keep you playing, the app comes with a series of achievements so you stay hooked to the game. It also counts your taps per second and the corresponding rice grains you’ve gained so far. If you’re bent on doing your part to stop world hunger, keep tapping!
Feedie
Have a habit of instagramming your meals before eating them? In that case, Feedie is for you. The free charity app basically lets restaurants exchange donations with social media exposure. Every time you share your foodie snapshots via Feedie, participating restaurants will make a donation to The Lunchbox Fund, which is a non-profit organization that provides meals to school kids in South Africa.
The app works on the premise that you’re sharing your food snaps in your social media accounts. You also need to take pictures of meals served in participating restaurants only. Finding these diners is easy when you live in the city, but gets a bit difficult when you go out to the suburbs.
Whoever said you need to be filthy rich to make a difference probably hasn’t heard of these free, socially relevant apps. Sounds unbelievable, really, but you could be making the world a better place from where you are right now. All with the help of your smartphone and these 5 charity apps.