Bee Money Savvy Fundraising Challenge
In the past few years, beemoneysavvy.com has really developed. It all started in 2017 as a bit of a hobby, and something to do in my spare time, but last year it was nominated as one of the UK’s top money-making blogs, featured in 4 national newspapers, and helped me fund buying my first home.
There are so many pressing issues happening in society and across the world right now that it seems only right to play my part in promoting good causes, raising money for charity and doing better for my community and planet. Therefore, I’m holding myself accountable on my fundraising efforts.
I’ll be recording and promoting my fundraising on this blog post throughout the year. If you’d like to join in, I’ll be sharing some easy, effortless ways to raise money for charity. Here’s a breakdown of my fundraising efforts so far and some of the ways you can raise money for charity or good causes.
Gener8Ads
Gener8 allows you to earn tokens every time you see an ad on the internet. You can then exchange these tokens for money, products or donation to charity. I’ve been using Gener8 since 2020 and I’ve managed to donate lots of my tokens to the selected charities including:
- Australian Red Cross – £5 (+£5 matched donation)
- Greenpeace UK – £10 (+£10 matched donation)
- Women in Sport – £2.50
- FareShare – £5
- Alzheimers Society – £2.50
- Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust – £2.50
- Surfers Against Sewage – £2.50
- Breast Cancer Now – £2.50
- NHS Charities Together – £5
- Oxfam – £2.50
- Mind – £2.50
- Asthma UK – £2.50
- Planet Patrol – £1
- ClientEarth – £1
- Atlantic Pacific – £1
- British Heart Foundation – £1
#Foodbank Advent
In 2017, UK Money Bloggers started the hugely successful #FoodBankAdvent campaign. The idea of a Reverse Advent Calendar is to support your local foodbank as they prepare for the huge spikes in demand during the winter months. You can support the campaign by collecting an item a day and putting them all together to donate to your local foodbank at the beginning of December.
#FoodbankAdvent – Do Good this Christmas
WeAre8
WeAre8 allow you to earn money by watching ads on your phone. For each ad you watch you’ll also generate a donation to a chosen charity. Once your earnings have been approved you can choose to either cash them out or donate them to charity.
The selected charities currently include: The Trussell Trust, Peace First, UNISEF, Climate Coalition, National Emergencies Trust, NHS Charities Together, FareShare, Water Aid and more.
Hold App
The Hold app allows you to earn credit for staying off your phone; earn 10 points for every 20 minutes. Back in 2020 you could donate 150 points for a £3 donation to MQ Mental Health (hopefully they’ll bring a donation option back soon).
- MQ Mental Health Research – £66
Tickr (Ethical Investments)
Tickr is an ethical investment app that allows you to invest in clean water and energy, equality education, or technology for good. In the time I had my Tickr account I managed to invest in the following:
- Clean Energy – £30
- Clean Water – £30
- Green Bonds – £40
- 8 trees planted
Swagbucks
I use Swagbucks almost daily to earn money and gift cards. I can usually earn between £5-£30 a month, so as part of my challenge I’ll be donating with my earnings every month.
- The ALS Association – $10/£8
- UNICEF – $20/£16
- Water donation drive – $10/£8
- Action Against Hunger – $20/£16
- The Breast Cancer Research Foundation – $10/£8
EasyFundraising
Using EasyFundraising I’ve been able to raise £1.85 for Snowdrop. EasyFundraising works like a cashback website where you can earn a small commission on any purchases you make online. By searching for Car Hire and Flights through Skyscanner you can earn up to £3.60 a month (at no cost to you!). Sign up to EasyFundraising and select your preferred charity to raise funds for them every time you shop.
- Snowdrop Project – £5.85
Amazon Smile
Support a charitable organisation by shopping at Amazon via smile.amazon.co.uk. Amazon donates 0.5% of the net purchase price of eligible purchases to a charitable organisation of your choice when you purchase through Amazon Smile.
- Comic Relief – £4.80
- Bradford Hospitals Charity – 92p
Shopmium
Shopmium (a cashback app) committed to donating 10p for each in-store or online cashback request during the coronavirus pandemic. All donations went go to Action Homeless. I’ve made 5 cashback request so far. I also regularly claim free food and drink items to donate to my local food bank.
- Action Homeless – 50p
- Food donations (worth £60+)
Almond Impact – 45 Trees
The Almond App allows you to calculate your carbon footprint. You are then rewarded for shopping at ethical brands with trees! I’ve already planted 45 trees through the almond app (equivalent to over 1.2 tonnes of carbon over 25 years).
- 45 trees planted
Ecologi – 22 Trees
It’s now common knowledge that one of the best tools to tackle the climate crisis and keep our temperatures from rising above 1.5C is to plant trees. Ecologi invest into projects that remove more greenhouse gasses than your own carbon footprint puts in.
- 22 trees planted
Deliveroo – Full Life Fundraising
Through Deliveroo’s Full Life campaign, they work with customers, restaurants, grocers and riders to deliver food to communities in need. You can donate £1-£500 to the campaign and your donation will be slip between FareShare and The Felix Project.
One of my perks from my Amex card is £5 cashback on a £5 spend at Deliveroo (twice a month) – I intend to make use of this by donating £10 a month to Full Life Fundraising.
Trying to do more good? Add these to your reading list.
Good Causes You Can Support for Free
Ethical Investments An Easy Guide
22 Ways to Save Money and the Environment
Tips for Reducing Your Energy Bills
As you can see above, your donations don’t have to come at an expense to you. With a little bit of effort on your lunch break, commute or when you have a spare minute you can still raise money for charity. If you’re joining in with my fundraising challenge I’d love to see how much you’ve raised so far and what worthy charities you’re increasing the awareness of. Please do get involved on Twitter and Instagram @beemoneysavvy