Charity Miles and Charity Photos

I blogged a little while ago about Charity Miles. It is such a simple and brilliant idea. So far this year, just by walking the dog, going for a run in the morning, and longer walks at weekends and during the Easter break, I have raised $77.96 for Charity Water.

I have also told many other people about it, some of whom were similarly enthused (at least to my face) so I hope that they too are taking money from the likes of Johnson and Johnson, and giving it to worthwhile good causes.

But more recently, I have started using the Donate a Photo app. That one is even simpler: you upload a photo, and they (Johnson and Johnson) give a dollar to a charity. What's the catch? You can only donate one photo a day. So that means that if you do it all year, you have transferred $365 from J&J to a charity of your choosing (from quite a good list of choices.)  I am giving to Operation Smile, which provides free surgery for children with cleft lips.

So if you have a smartphone, download the apps, and help redistribute wealth from large corporations to charities doing some real good in the world!

Charity Miles

I have recently discovered Charity Miles. It is a simple and brilliant idea. You download the app to your mobile, and then every time you go for a walk, run or cycle, you select a charity. A sponsor (typically someone like Johnson & Johnson, who have a clear interest in being connected with healthy lifestyles) donates an amount of money to the charity of your choice, based on the miles you cover. 

The sponsor then emails you, and the app prompts you to tweet your support or put it on Facebook, which I suppose is what the sponsor is buying. The amount per mile is small, but it adds up.

Just by my usual routine of a run with the dog in the morning, a walk during the day, and a brief walk last thing at night, I will be racking up a little over $20 a month. Given that we often also go for longer walks at the weekends and in the holidays (especially when not entirely surrounded by floodwater...) I reckon that will be about $250 over the year, and any charity would welcome that.

The app offers a long list of charities which you can support. I am quite fussy about giving to charity, for various reasons, but found several I would be happy to donate to. The one I am choosing to support is Charity Water. Water is such a basic necessity, and I like their operating model of working with communities to devise and deliver sustainable water solutions. I had not come across this particular charity before, so that is another benefit of Charity Miles.

So if you take more exercise than I do: get the app and raise money for charity by doing nothing extra, other than remembering to start it each time you go for a run.

And if you take less exercise than I do, then get the app, and make a resolution to do a little more!