“I want to donate but can’t miss the funds…”
We from The Green Stamp learned over time that many good deeds come for free. When we say ‘good deeds’, we refer to donations. Research has shown that the act of donating adds up to our pure sense of happiness. That’s something we all want to tap into, right? A quick Google search shows you there is plenty of information to be found about donating actual money. But there’s more than that! Whether you’re looking to make a one-time donation for Christmas or throughout the year: we collected 7 donations you can make for free. Ready? Set, go!
I want to donate for free #1
The first free way of donating is to bring previously purchased clothing back to life. Donate clothes you don’t wear anymore to an organization that uses your it for charity purposes. As a guideline, you can donate all clothes you haven’t worn in a year (or longer). A lot of organizations have great missions for your clothes, such as helping migrants or those who live in poverty.
I want to donate for free #2
Have you ever heard about the opportunity to use your online purchases to donate? We got you covered: through The Green Stamp’s platform, you can purchase any item online you want to buy. With each purchase, you donate the affiliate commission for free! All your purchases don’t cost you anything extra, and donations are still made. In case you like to see the free impact made so far, make sure to check out this page.
I want to donate for free #3
Let’s be honest here for a second: haven’t we all (at least) once received a gift we didn’t like, need, or fit? We know for sure we have! Clothing pieces that didn’t really fit, or that book you already read… How cool would it be to donate these items, so they can be used for their original purpose? There are 2 different ways of bringing these items back to life:
- Re-gift: hold the item and ask yourself: who would benefit from this gift, who would like this, or who could really use this gift? The person that instantly pops up is the one to go to!
- Charity shop; just like you can donate worn clothes, you can also donate new clothes. Or books, or any other item. There are hundreds of million people out there who would be thrilled to get their hands on that item. Find a local charity shop and make sure to enlighten someone’s day!
I want to donate for free #4
A crucial element for our existence: blood. As natural blood might be for most, for some this juicy elixir is a tricky thing. Blood makes sure that oxygen and nutrients are available in all areas of your body. Some people simply have a shortage of blood for example after an accident or surgery. Other people suffer from a condition that lowers their blood platelets. They need a blood transfusion, which is something you can give. For free! There are different institutions where you can donate your blood. Out of personal experience, we can say that these institutions take extremely good care of you while you donate. There’s absolutely nothing to be scared of because you’re in good hands. If you want to donate for free, donating your blood is a beautiful (literally lifesaving) thing to do.
I want to donate for free #5
Number 5 in line with the free donating options, is one we really like: donate your time. Both locally and worldwide, there are the most extraordinary places you can go to donate your time by volunteering. We will give a few examples of the volunteer work you can do since the Green Stamp is a green-travel-related platform. You can donate your time through community-based volunteer work. You can help build classrooms, help teach local children, help build local environmental projects, and many other examples. When protecting the environment excites you most, you can also volunteer for a project that fully focuses on restoring nature. Crazy about wildlife? Great! You can volunteer to help take care of or protect wildlife in many places of the world. One of our guest bloggers did exactly that and shared her experiences with you here.
I want to donate for free #6
I want to donate and be challenged by doing so! Great, continue reading. Run in a charity run or set up your own charity run! This way of donating for free is massively rewarding, whether you’re already in good physical shape or you want to get back in shape. A few tips we’d like to give are:
- Make sure you train before the run takes place
- Do thorough research on the different charities you want to donate to
- Did you choose the right charity you want to donate to? Amazing, now make sure to spread the word and find as many sponsors as you can find!
Some charity runs ask for a fee to get you signed up, which they use to donate to the assigned charity as well. In this case, you can still find more sponsors yourself to be able to increase the amount you donate.
I want to donate for free #7
After years of working a 9-5 job, we both wish we had known about this way of donating: you can donate your unused vacation hours. Yep, you heard that right! Still got some hours left after years of being in a lockdown? How rewarding would it feel to donate these hours to a charity instead? Donating your unused vacation hours may sound like a challenge, but it’s quite easy. When you are on vacation, you get paid your regular salary. This means that your vacation hours aren’t actual ‘hours’ in the back office, but in fact, it is money. And since vacation hours are yours, it’s up to you to decide where you want to spend them. One point of attention: (we only refer to the regulations in the Netherlands) is to keep in mind the difference between the minimum lawfully vacation hours and supplementary vacation hours. As the name predicts: lawfully vacation hours may not be donated, only the supplementary vacation hours can be donated.
We have written over a dozen blog articles over the past year. We have to say that we deeply enjoyed writing this article, though! While writing, we even learned so many more impactful ways of donating. We hope this article has given you now inspiration. Most of all, we hope that reading this article has already awoken that feeling of wanting to GIVE.
Written by: Carmen Castricum
