As the British public tightens their belts and reprioritises where to spend their hard-earned cash this winter, charities are beginning to suffer as donations reduce. Recent research conducted by Charitable Travel discovered that due to the cost-of-living crisis 71% of people were having to cut back on charity donations.

The most popular ways to donate to charity are bucket collections (38%), sponsoring friends or family to do a challenge (34%) and 28% (regular direct debits). However, what many do not realise that is there are additional ways to donate to charity which can be incorporated into general living spending, which can help charities maintain some of their much-needed income and no extra cost to the consumer.

TOP SHOPPING HACK – SHOP FOR GOOD AT NO EXTRA COST!

Shop & Give initiatives are a free way to raise money for charity whilst shopping online and according to Charitable Travel only 12% of people are aware of these. Known as affiliate marketing, websites directing customers to a retailer earn a small pay per click commission. This can be a small percentage of the total cost spent or a set amount for each referral. Although the figures are tiny (could be just 1p per click for example), they can soon build up. Shop & Give websites will collect this commission and donate much needed funds to good causes. And in the current climate, every little helps.

The top five Shop & Give websites to consider this Black Friday and throughout the whole year are:

1. Give As You Live - simply register for free, choose to support one of 40,000 UK charities and select over 6000 participating retailers from M&S, John Lewis, Currys, Argos, Apple, Ticketmaster, WHSmith to easyJet and even Dominos Pizza. By accessing the retailers’ website from the Give As You Live page the affiliate commission will be donated by the brand to your chosen charity. Give As You Live has now generated more that £21 million for worthy causes.

2. Charitable Travel - the social-enterprise travel agency with a ‘Travel For Good’ ethos enables customers to donate 5% of the cost of their holiday to a charity of their choice via a Just Giving partnership. The fully bonded, online travel agency books holidays from a wide range of big brand and smaller operators and airlines including On The Beach, Expedia, easyJetHolidays, Intrepid Travel and G’Adventures.

3. Easy Fundraising – is the UK’s biggest shopping charity site with over 2 million users generating more than £43 million for much needed causes, with a simple message ‘when you spend, brands donate’.  Register for free, sign up to support your favourite cause and download their Donation Reminder plug-in for your desktop, which will alert you when donations from over 7000 brands are available whilst doing your online shopping. You can then track your donations via your online account.

4. Amazon Smiles – by setting up an Amazon Smiles account, you can choose from over a million organisations to support when shopping with the vast online retailer. Tens of millions of products are eligible for a donation of 0.05% of the purchase price and twice a year Amazon will calculate the total earned and the AmazonSmiles Foundation makes a donation on your behalf direct to the charity. 

5. Giving Machine – launched in 2006 they have raised over £1.9million for over 9000 charities. Register free online and choose up to four local or national good causes. Choose from hundreds of high street and big brand stores from The Body Shop to Ebay or Waitrose, click through to their website via an affiliate link and earn free donations from the brand to your selected charities. Giving Machine also offers discount codes, charity raffle to win some great prizes and a £1 per week supporters lottery.   

Melissa Tilling, Founder and Chief Executive at Charitable Travel, said: “Every year, online shops pay millions in sales commissions to websites for affiliate marketing campaigns, but there is a way to shop smarter and direct this commission to charities, whose services are increasingly in demand given the current climate, but their donations from the public are falling. Shop & Give is a quick and easy way to incorporate charitable giving into your daily life and the more of us that do it, the bigger the difference we can make.

“At Charitable Travel we offer travellers the opportunity to donate a percentage of their holiday to charity for free, simply by booking a holiday. For a family of four - where the average cost of a holiday is £2,000 - a free donation of £100 would be made to a charity of their choice, ensuring that travel can be a force for good.

“To ensure we continue to provide support to our beloved charities we recommend supporting Shop & Give initiatives in addition to direct charitable donations, as charities need our help now more than ever before.”

Founded in April 2020, Charitable Travel operates the same as other high-end travel agencies, with one key difference. The social enterprise will donate 5% per cent of the cost of the holiday - usually charged to generate profit - to a charity of the customer’s choice, via a partnership with JustGiving. Charitable Travel’s mission is to make travel “a force for good.” Whether it’s a city break or a beach getaway, holidaymakers can rest assured that their booking supports good causes.