13 Apps & Websites To Help Your Kids Give Back

Your kids are glued to their tech devices all day anyway, so what’s to keep them from making giving back to organizations and charity part of their everyday? There are many kid-friendly websites and apps—and …

Apps & Websites To Help Your Kids Give Back

Your kids are glued to their tech devices all day anyway, so what’s to keep them from making giving back to organizations and charity part of their everyday?

There are many kid-friendly websites and apps—and not just Kickstarter and GoFundMe—that will teach kids that being an active philanthropist not only is a great habit to have but also makes them feel really good. To get started, get familiar with these 15 start-ups and get back to giving!

Causes

As the world’s largest online campaigning website, Causes should be on your radar for sure. Not only can you search for and support established campaigns, but you can also begin building your own fundraisers, petitions and rallies around the issues that matter the most to you.

The great thing about Causes is that the passionate audience is already embedded in the website, so you can count on the network of existing supporters to give you a leg up in your efforts, either by acting as an example for you to work off, or to give you the first members of your following.

Check-in For Good

This app works by counting on the businesses and retailers you already visit to help the causes you’re interested in, and it means you’re making contributions every time you purchase. With causes for individuals and organizations, as well as the opportunity to create your own page, raising money for causes are more simple than ever.

To get started, just downloaded the app to identify donation places closest to you and then visit that location. You can pick which cause your location supports and then check in every time you visit the same location-raising money is that simple!

Crowdrise

Unlike a lot of fundraising sites, Crowdrise has a big thing going for it right off the bat: 100% of your fundraising efforts go straight to your cause, and there’s no percentage cost for using the website at all.

Best used for raising money to pay for medical bills, volunteer trips, and over 1.5 million other charities, you can get ideas from the sites on how to create your own campaign, or you can volunteer your time, participate in a run or walk, get behind a celebrity cause, or even get creative and embark on a new project and adventure simultaneously from traveling the world to putting art supplies into impoverished areas.

Benefit from their money raising tips, get your own homepage for your fundraising and donations, and get 3% guaranteed pricing and fast access to your funds.

DonorsChoose

DonorsChoose.org is a U.S. based web platform, which may mean it’s limited to U.S. residents, but it’s still a great way to help out in school-based charities. By raising money for math supplies, team sports, art supplies, field trips, books and more, DonorsChoose operates by putting the money directly into schools and with full transparency, you can see the projects working immediately.

Founded by Charles Best in 2000, a history teacher from the Bronx, and his need for more funding for school projects, it quickly caught the eye of teachers in his school, and beyond, so when he got the attention of Oprah in 2003, their was immediately $250,000 worth of support on the site and three years later they were able to begin funding products to schools as far as the Gulf Coast and add relief to those affected by Hurricane Katrina.

A year later they go national and get Stephen Colbert as an official fan; it’s proof that when it works, it definitely works. So not only does helping this cause give back to your kids, but it can inspire their teachers to create their own projects and seek funding from the organization.

FirstGiving

Organizations like the Special Olympics, the Humane Society, and Habitat for Humanity trust FirstGiving and it’s because the peer-to-peer giving of FirstGiving means people can be able to set-up causes on their own, for free, and they’ve got a great customer service backbone for first-timers and return users alike.

While their are processing fees need to keep FirstGiving going, it can be offset by transferring it to your donors, so your cause doesn’t have to shell out money to use the service. With a decade of experience behind them, FirstGiving works for both individuals and nonprofits by making the process of getting a website and campaign going online, simple.

Givezooks!

Givezooks! is the answer for fundraisers who are banking on throwing events for their cause; this one-stop shop helps you sell tickets, accept donations, promote your fundraisers and create wish lists for your supporters to fulfill. The campaign builder works both for single-event fundraising and larger campaign goals, for everything from Triathlons to general fund campaigns.

Perfect for a charity baseball game or creating your own charity run, this social fundraising page is perfect for grassroots campaigns that are looking for an inexpensive way to get big support and raise awareness and money.

FundRazr

FundRazr is a social media fundraising platform that banks on the prowess of noise and clicks from outlets like Twitter, Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn to reach family, friends, and even go viral. With personal coaching and support every step of the way, the support help center and how-to-guides (not to mention the great live chat option) makes raising money and awareness easy.

With an affordable start-up cost—it’s free—and no penalties or additional fees, you can invest in your campaign to grow it or you can just let the money come in on its own. From funerals to animals, small business start-up funds to accidents and disaster, raising money using the social platforms you already frequent is never easier, and makes it twice as easy for your kids.

GiveMob

While charitable giving with an iPhone may still be gaining momentum, it definitely owes it’s success to apps like GiveMob for getting the revolution going. By downloading the app to your smartphone, you can give between $5 and $10 to a charity of your choice through SMS messaging, and instead of having to constantly input your credit card information, the app allows you to donate to charities that are already on a text-to-donate plan across the U.S. so there’s less hassle, and less security risk for giving back.

Register your email address and then find causes by telling GiveMob what you’re interested in; from Job creation to the environment, causes are smartly sorted to make it easy to find the charity that is exactly right for you. Bonus points: if you’re a non-profit, you can connect your charity to this app to be on the other side of this great start-up—all you have to do is apply.

JustGiving

JustGiving gets started by having you sign-up via Facebook; it’s how it gets your information and things you’re interested, while also tapping you into your friends who are already signed up and giving. While keeping its users information under lock and key, the site reaches over 164 countries and has raised more than $3.3 billion for causes worldwide and begins by making your page, sharing with friends, and then raising the big bucks.

JustGiving also works directly with Vodafone to make it possible in some countries to receive donations through a text message—which is an added bonus for phone addicts everywhere! Just create your personal code, share it, and wait for the messages to come in. Make your story personal with photos, videos, and text, or if you’re looking for ideas on how to get to fundraising, they’ve got an answer for that too.

Instead

With a tagline like “macro donations, macro impact,” you already know that Instead is going to be a revolutionary way to give back. Focusing on changing the way you spend instead of asking you not to spend, Instead makes philanthropy as easy as $3 or $5 and the small donations are having a big impact.

By pointing out that brewing your own coffee for a day can save $3 or $5 a pop, or packing your lunch instead of eating out, Impact logs your philanthropic choices and takes your saved donation and converts it into dollars for your favorite non-profit by asking you to cutback, rather than put out. All donations are tax deductible and only 5% of donations go back to Instead; making this avenue for giving a good investment and easy to incorporate into your everyday life.

Donate A Photo

Perhaps the most child-friendly philanthropy app around, Johnson & Johnson’s Donate A Photo app takes the easy path of snapping a photo and turns it into money so all your snaps can become ways to give to your favorite charities. Banking on the awareness you spread when you share a photo, this app donates $1 for every photo you share through the app and simultaneously helps to get the word out about the cause you support.

With a max of one photo per day, your photo each day can turn into $365 dollars over the year and not only does it share donations, but it can inspire others through a great, touching shot. This also is great for kids because none of their own money is leaving their pocket (or yours) so it only takes the attention of a daily share to make a difference.

Feedie

Are you a foodie? Do you notice your kids swapping shots of their dinner with their Instagram friends? Then Feedie is for you and the whole family. Feedie is an app that connects with your social networks, tags a participating restaurant, and asks you to share a photo of your meal so that the restaurant will donate one meal to the Lunchbox Fund.

Not only does this mean you can give while also enjoying your own meal, but you can also ask restaurants, cafes, and nosh hot spots in your community to get involved and give back. And with no money changing hands for you or your kids, it’s safe to let them tackle this one on their own.

Charity Miles

With the influx of interest in running and marathoning, Charity Miles has become one of the most famous free donations apps available simple because it’s so easy to give to your favorite cause without spending a dime.

While it’s true that your mileage doesn’t necessarily ring in the big bucks—10 cents a mile for bikers, 25 cents a mile for runners—your motivation to get fit will have double the bonus points because the apps corporate sponsors are paying for doing good and you’re getting your daily exercise! So get the kids off the couch and onto their feet (or onto their wheels) and make giving back a family activity.

So whether you encourage the kids to start on their own nonprofits, donate their allowance money, or get smarter about their app time, it’s easy to get kids in on giving back, and these websites and apps are the reason why.

3 thoughts on “13 Apps & Websites To Help Your Kids Give Back”

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  2. It’s great that you said that you can help charities with marathoning. My wife and I are interested in helping children in need. I’m going to talk to her if she would like to sign up for a marathon to aid kids in need.

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