6 Effortless Ways to Give Back This Season

Tis’ the season for giving, not just to family and friends, but those who need it most. Time is the most precious commodity around the holiday season and chances are you don’t have time to volunteer at a soup kitchen or ring the Salvation Army bell. Luckily, charity is just a click away these days. Here are six effortless ways to give back without sacrificing time for family.

Click and give
Goodshop lets you shop at your favorite retailer while giving back. Just go to the site, enter your preferred charity and you’ll be matched with retailers who support your cause. We’re talking big-name retailers like Amazon, Bloomingdale’s, Best Buy, Macy’s, Target, and Gap. A percentage of your purchase-from 1% to 30%-goes to charity.

Search for a cause
Trade your curiosity for some good karma at GoodSearch. The Yahoo-powered search engine donates a penny to charity every time you use it to do a search. Recipient charities include UNICEF, United Way and parent-teacher associations nationwide.

Bid or buy
With Ebay’s Giving Works program bidding for a good bargain just got that much more thoughtful. Through the program, sellers can decide how much of the proceeds go towards a cause and buyers can choose to bid for items based on the charity they benefit.

Write a note
You may not believe in Kris Kringle, but the premise behind Macy’s “Believe” campaign is too sweet to ignore. Bring a stamped letter to Santa and the retailer donates a $1 to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which grants wishes to children with life-threatening conditions.

Become an online volunteer
Use your time online to volunteer at non-profit and grassroots organizations. Through the United Nation’s online volunteer database, you can select a skill you’re good at (writing, editing, design), focus on a sector (education, heath, food) and a region (United States, Canada, South America) and your skills will be matched with a charity.

Each one teach one
When it comes to funding and supplies, inner city classrooms are often the hardest hit. Through Donor Choose you can help provide students and teachers with the tools they need to learn. The site has a list of project requests from teachers around the country (anything from computers to book bags). You choose, donorchoose delivers them to the classroom.