Disclaimer: Iām a former PayPal employee. The following statements are my opinion alone and do not reflect PayPalās views. Also, this information is accurate as of 2024-10-14 and may become outdated in the future.
More donors should consider using PayPal Giving Fund to donate to charities. To do so, go to this page, search for the charity you want, and donate through the charityās page with your PayPal account. (For example, this is GiveDirectlyās page.)
PayPal covers all processing fees on charitable donations made through their giving website, so you donāt have to worry about the charity losing money to credit card fees. If you use a credit card that gives you 1.5 or 2% cash back (or 1.5-2x points) on all purchases, your net donation will be multiplied by ~102%. I donāt know of any credit cards that offer elevated rewards for charitable donations as a category (like many do for restaurants, groceries, etc.), so you most likely canāt do better than a 2% card for donations (unless you donate stocks).
For political donations, platforms like ActBlue and Anedot charge the same processing fees to organizations regardless of what payment method you use.[1] So you should also donate using your 1.5-2% card.
Anedot: For non-501(c)(3) organizations, 4% + 30Ā¢ on all transactions except Bitcoin and 1% on Bitcoin transactions. 501(c)(3) organizations are charged a much lower rate for ACH transactions.
Fwiw, there are ways to get more than 2% cash back:
Citi Double Cash and Citi Rewards+: you get 10% points back when redeeming points with the Rewards+ card, so if you āpoolā the reward accounts together you can get effectively 2.ĀÆ2% back on donations made with the Double Cash.
A number of credit cards give unlimited 3-4% cash back on all purchases, but thereās usually a catch.
A hack to multiply your donations by up to 102%
Disclaimer: Iām a former PayPal employee. The following statements are my opinion alone and do not reflect PayPalās views. Also, this information is accurate as of 2024-10-14 and may become outdated in the future.
More donors should consider using PayPal Giving Fund to donate to charities. To do so, go to this page, search for the charity you want, and donate through the charityās page with your PayPal account. (For example, this is GiveDirectlyās page.)
PayPal covers all processing fees on charitable donations made through their giving website, so you donāt have to worry about the charity losing money to credit card fees. If you use a credit card that gives you 1.5 or 2% cash back (or 1.5-2x points) on all purchases, your net donation will be multiplied by ~102%. I donāt know of any credit cards that offer elevated rewards for charitable donations as a category (like many do for restaurants, groceries, etc.), so you most likely canāt do better than a 2% card for donations (unless you donate stocks).
For political donations, platforms like ActBlue and Anedot charge the same processing fees to organizations regardless of what payment method you use.[1] So you should also donate using your 1.5-2% card.
ActBlue: 3.95% on all transactions.
Anedot: For non-501(c)(3) organizations, 4% + 30Ā¢ on all transactions except Bitcoin and 1% on Bitcoin transactions. 501(c)(3) organizations are charged a much lower rate for ACH transactions.
Thanks for the reminder! I used to do this before EA Giving Tuesday and should probably start doing it again.
Fwiw, there are ways to get more than 2% cash back:
Citi Double Cash and Citi Rewards+: you get 10% points back when redeeming points with the Rewards+ card, so if you āpoolā the reward accounts together you can get effectively 2.ĀÆ2% back on donations made with the Double Cash.
A number of credit cards give unlimited 3-4% cash back on all purchases, but thereās usually a catch.