12 Ways To Donate This Christmas

I never really thought about donating to charity while in my 20’s; I figured I would just donate more later in life once I had the means to make an impact. But it’s never too early to start donating your time and money, especially now in 2020. Individual savings are at an all-time high, the stock market is near all-time highs, yet unemployment is still at 7% and the less fortunate got even less fortunate this year. Not to mention over the next few months the entire hospitality industry will endure its roughest stretch ever.

With COVID going on, it’s much more difficult to donate your time, but here are some ways to put your money to good use. And for those of you in your 20’s that are about to get your student debt eliminated, (thanks government for taking care of the college-educated first), start focusing more on charity now. Instead of monthly student loan payments, consider monthly donations to places like St. Jude Children’s Hospital.

Reasons to Donate:

1. You’re in the top 1% of humans who have ever lived
2. We’re all privileged in some way — give back
3. If you have kids, it’s never too early to teach the lesson of charity
4. You can use it as a tax deduction

12 Ways to Donate:

1. Gift a Toy with Toys for Tots, you can pick an age range on their site (gifts start at $10)
2. Donate a Christmas Tree ($25 per tree and tax-deductible)
3. Support a family Christmas Meal, or 10 ($15 per family)
4. Donate your Blood — this is a weakness of mine because I usually pass out, but the medical field needs more blood donations so I’ll give it another try. Personally, I think all everyone (especially college kids) that developed the Antibodies this semester should donate
5. Call your local hospital and see if their Pediatric Wing is accepting gifts
6. Donate the frequent flyer miles that you aren’t using
7. Support your local florist, it has been a terrible year without the orders from weddings. Send some flowers to your mom, wife, hospital, or even the local nursing home
8. Support the front line workers in the hospitals, partner up with a few friends, and…