With many different causes out there, it can be difficult to find an easy way to donate to charity. As college students, we already struggle with buying lunch before class without our bank account draining. Luckily, our generation’s surge in technology has created in-app options to motivate us to donate to different causes. Valley has compiled a list of different apps that are making strides to help others in need.
Instead
This app is all about the idea of “micro donations.” The Instead app puts common purchases into perspective for you in hopes that you’ll be inspired to donate a small amount. For example, your daily coffee purchase can average around $3. The app challenges you to change you routine, and each time you skip out on that coffee purchase, document it in the app. After three at-home brews, you’ve already saved yourself about $10 and can put that money toward providing free drinking water for people elsewhere. The app also challenges you to do things such as packing your own lunch or renting a movie instead of heading to the theater. Not only can these small changes help you have a cheaper, healthier daily routine, but also can help you make a large difference with just a few bucks.
Donate a Photo
Our camera rolls are full of endless photos, but did you know those photos can go to a great cause? Johnson&Johnson has created the Donate a Photo app which allows users to donate photos in order to raise money for charity. You can donate one photo a day, and each photo amounts to $1 that can go to causes such as providing a necessary surgery for a child or helping a deployed service member connect home. The charity options are endless and are updated frequently, each with their own goal amount. Johnson&Johnson will add your photos to its gallery or even use them as a cover photo to promote one of its causes, but the photos will never be used for commercial purposes nor will they be released to invade your privacy. Send in some of those artsy photos and start donating $1 a day to help others in need.
Feedie
Food-lovers rejoice – now you can actually help others each time you tell your friends to wait while you snap a picture of your dinner plates. Feedie is an app that allows restaurants to donate money in exchange for your social media food pictures. Simply choose a participating restaurant to eat at and make sure to take a photo of your meal and post it to the app. Each time you share a photo the restaurant will donate money to The Lunchbox Fund, a non-profit organization that provides meals to children in South Africa. Not only does this app allow you to donate every time you post a food picture, but it also introduces you to restaurants in the area that you may have never been to before.
Budge
If you’re someone who enjoys some friendly competition, this is the perfect app for you. Budge allows you to create a challenge between you and your friends, such as who can finish their run first, or who can take the bus to class the least in a day. Use this as an opportunity to motivate yourself to workout, get on track with studying, or simply have a good time with friends. The catch? The person who loses the challenge has to donate an amount of your choice to one of the charities on the app’s charity list. Budge creates a fun way for competitive users to help others out there while also being productive and having fun.
Download these apps today and start making a differences in the lives of others. It can be as easy as challenging a friend, or skipping out on a Starbucks run. Each small step that we take can make a large difference for someone else.
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