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Give a Mile - Canadian Charity Providing Compassionate Flights w Aeroplan Miles

Give a Mile - Canadian Charity Providing Compassionate Flights w Aeroplan Miles

Old Jul 30, 2017, 11:42 am
  #1  
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Give a Mile - Canadian Charity Providing Compassionate Flights w Aeroplan Miles

Introducing to the Flyer Talk world, Give a Mile. I recently started volunteering with this charity in their social media outreach team.

Over the past 2.5 years, Give a Mile has raised over 7.5 million miles (10th largest charity receiving donated Aeroplan miles) and provided over 350 flights of compassion.

Give A Mile raises Aeroplan miles funds through two programs:
(1) General appeal for donations. Interested miles contributors can either donate to the general pool or choose a story that moves you and contribute directly to an active flight request.
(2) Flight Hero program. The Flight Hero program is where a contributor raises 25,000 Aeroplan miles over 25 days from their friends, family, coworkers.

Give A Mile accepts any amount of Aeroplan miles with a minimum amount of 1,000 miles. All donated miles go towards flights of compassion.

Give A Mile also covers the fees, surcharges, and taxes for each compassionate flight. Cash is raised through several methods such as corporate donation, charity golf tournaments, etc. Give A Mile is 100% volunteer operated, no one is pulling a salary or expense account.

Give A Mile also accepts donated points from the following programs;
- Marriott Rewards,
- SPG Starwood Preferred Guest,
- Amex Membership Rewards,
- and select other programs consult the following link for a complete list: http://giveamile.org/donate/
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Old Jul 30, 2017, 11:45 am
  #2  
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Give A Mile - Formal Introduction

Who We Are
Give A Mile is a group of dedicated volunteers who believe strongly in the power of visits from loved ones for people in palliative or critical condition. Our Inspiration: Founder Kevin Crowe experienced this power first-hand during the passing of his good friend Ryan who relished such visits. Kevin learned that Kulacauses.com said over 10 trillion air miles went unused in 2011 alone, and Give A Mile was born. We continue to receive inspiration from our flight recipients and their follow-up stories. HERE is one featured in our Blog section.

Our model is:
100% of your donations go to flights of compassion and associated travel fees (taxes, transfers); Give A Mile operating costs are fundraised for separately.
Total transparency we post Give A Mile financial records on our site.
Make it easy to donate Aeroplan, other loyalty miles, and more through Give A Mile site.

How does the transaction process work?
Give A Mile connects with people who are dealing with a palliative ill person or critical illness through its partnership, via people submitting their profile form to us and via outreach in our communities. The person that needs to travel to see palliative/seriously ill friends or family, creates a profile form and describes their story, and where they need to go. Give A Mile then reviews this form by its flight review team. If approved Give A Mile posts this story for donors to donate loyalty travel miles to help those in need. There is also a general miles pool which comes from people and corporate donations. For the pooled miles, Give A Mile will do its best to help everyone in need by donating miles to the stories where timing is the most critical.

Who do I contact for more information?
Please email us at [email protected] with any questions, concerns, ideas or other feedback you may have. We look forward to hearing from you!

A word from our Founder, Kevin Crowe
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Old Jul 30, 2017, 11:47 am
  #3  
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Give A Mile - How it Works

How it Works
1. Choose a story that moves you, or donate to the general pool. Most Give A Mile flight requests come from social workers, medical care providers or hospice care workers, all flights are medically verified and follow a review process.
2. Click DONATE NOW to take you to the page for easy Aeroplan miles, American Express point conversion, Air Cash Miles or dollar and bitcoin donations.
3. Get flight status updates, and info on Give A Mile events on our website, on social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube) and through our blogs. Please share!
4. Feel great in your heart for creating this amazing moment of support, and repeat!
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Old Jul 30, 2017, 11:53 am
  #4  
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FAQ - Applicants Who Need to Travel

Frequently Asked Questions about the Applicant Process

An Applicant is a person or family in need of a Flight of Compassion.

1) What are the qualifications to be selected?
You must have a family member or very close friend that is a palliative ill person or dealing with a life threatening illness or be suffering from a life threatening illness yourself. You should also explain your specific situation in respect to the importance of making a flight happen.

2) Do the Travel Miles cover a round trip?
Yes they do!

3) Do the Travel Miles cover the taxes?
Yes they do! Give A Mile pays for the flight taxes out of our operational budget.

4) Who books the flights?
We do! We collect the miles in our name and once we have enough we will book the flight and send you the ticket/itinerary by email.

5) Is there a choice of which airline to fly with?
Give A Mile collects loyalty miles to make flights happen. We need to book your flight with airlines that the miles work with, and where seats are available. This includes most of all the Star Alliance airlines. We hope to expand this to many other airlines in the future.

6) Is there a way to thank those that donated miles?
The donor is usually made up of a community of several people so the best way to say thank you is to send us back a note or photo from your visit, we will share it with our community. In some cases, the donor may ask to remain anonymous and if this is the case unfortunately you will not be able to thank the donor.

7) Can I fly anywhere in the world?
The answer is yes, however you will need to take care of any visa or visiting eligibility requirements yourself. In order to accumulate the large amount of miles that will be required for this, you should post your testimonial as early as you can to give donors enough time to fund your trip.

8) How soon can I use this service or how long does it take?
Ideally two weeks notice, so donors will have time to read your story, and donate enough miles to fund your trip. We understand that time is of the essence and we have provided flights in 24 hours under emergency situations. If you need to leave sooner than two weeks Give A Mile will review your story and consider funding your trip with our general miles pool.

9) What if dont get enough miles donated for my trip?
There may be some instances in which your trip will not be funded. Give A Mile will do its best to help those in need, however we cannot provide any guarantees.
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Old Jul 30, 2017, 12:00 pm
  #5  
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FAQ Donations & Donors

Frequently Asked Questions About DONATIONS/DONORS

1) Can I choose a specific person/story to donate my miles to?
Yes, you can. Read a story that is compelling or resonates with you. Each story has a reference code associated with i.e. SAM-01. You can then select the specific person you would like to help and enter the reference code into the comments field when donating miles or money.

2) What kind of points can I donate?
Currently Give A Mile is partnered with several organizations:
a) Aeroplan miles
b) Air Miles Cash Rewards
c) American Express can be converted to Aeroplan
d) And 12 other reward programs that can be found here Link the DONATE NOW page for a list of Eligible Point Programs
e) Eligible Point Programs We hope to expand this to many other Airlines in the future. We are in the process of expanding to more programs and more details will follow soon.

3) Can I just donate money?
Yes, there is a PayPal or Credit Card option for money donations. Click DONATE NOW for links to donate cash.

4) Is my donation tax deductible?
We can provide Canadian tax receipts for any money donated but not for loyalty points or miles donated.

5) Does Give A Mile have charity status?
We are federally registered Canadian not for profit. We are partnered with Place2Give to facilitate tax receipts. Place2Give is a partner with Give A Mile in the facilitation the processing of cash donations. Place2Give Foundation is a Canadian registered charity providing online donor advised fund services. Place2Give contracted Give A Mile to provide a program and service allowing donors who want to donate Aeroplan points or cash towards bringing together friends/family during times of crisis related to terminal illness the ability to do so. Donations processed by Place2Give are transferred to Give A Mile within 30-60 days and a tax receipt from Place2Give is issued immediately upon the transaction.

6) How many miles do I have to donate?
1,000 miles is currently the minimum. You can donate 1,000, 10,000 or 100,000. It is entirely up to you and Give A Mile and the recipients will be happy with anything!

7) How can I trust Give A Mile?
We believe in spirit and good of 99.9% of people. We are committed to full transparency. As our stories build, please read our testimonial section. If you feel any trust has been violated in any part of this equation, please contact us immediately and we will investigate it fully.

8) Do you have a question that wasnt answered here?
Please email your question to [email protected] and we will respond to you as soon as we are able.
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