mattolo

I was looking around and can't find any current offers for getting miles for making a donation to charity. I'm surprised this isn't more common. Does anyone know of any current deals valid right now? I'm going to a wedding that is requesting donations to charity in lieu of gifts and was hoping to get a few miles out of it as well

Athena53

Check aa.com. They offer miles for donations to the USO and Susan G. Komen among others.

http://www.aa.com/i18n/AAdvantage/ea...ities/main.jsp

mattolo

Oh thanks! I was aware of the recent special where they were offering 30 miles/$ but forgot to check if they normally offer miles for donations.

maryalicebrown2003

Not as good as 30 miles, but if you are looking for HHonors points, Hilton is offering 10 per $1 right now for tornado disaster relief.

http://www.globalgiving.org/hhonors/

stephlac

You can get 10 DL miles/$ with the National Foundation for Cancer Research:

http://www.nfcr.org/index.php?option...156&Itemid=283

I believe they also offer AA miles.

If I recall correctly, while they actually do support cancer research, their overhead costs are quite high for a charity. Something to consider.

Counsellor

I read they also offer UA miles (10 miles per dollar) for NFCR donations.

As to overhead being higher than others, I suppose if they have to buy the miles to reward donors, that adds to their overhead more so than a charity that does not give miles.

sharonsimon

What an excellent thread for us to keep active. Combining the need to keep miles or points from expiring (or just to earn more) and making a charitable donation is a great match. Thanks.

pgary

I have a list of links to airlines which support charities on my website below on the Other Programs I Like page in the Charities section. Most allow you to donate miles. Some will give you miles for cash donations.

My list is no doubt out of date. I will track this thread to keep my website up to date. Thanks, all.

mattolo

Oh yeah thanks for mentioning this. It looks like you can get 10 miles/$ on AA, Delta, or UA by donating to NFCR: http://www.nfcr.org/index.php?option...=343&Itemid=32

HikerT

If you donate thru a matching donor (such as an employer) it may be better for the charity if you buy miles directly from US Airways and donate the difference to the charity.

For example, under the AA offer (30 miles per $1 donated) you would need to donate $3333 to get 100K miles. The charity gets $3,333 and you get 100K miles. Compare this to buying 100K miles from US Airways for $1478 and donating $1855 (total outlay of $3,333). The charity would get $3,710 after the matching donation ($400 more than if you donated via the AA promotion). The benefit of donating directly is even greater if we account for the tax deduction (which is less under the AA offer because you must deduct 2+ cpm for the value of the miles received).

Yes, I realize most here don't value US miles as much, but if you want a specific charity to benefit then buy US miles and donate the difference under a matching program.

doss1

Hi all,
I would like to donate to a few charities and wondering if there were any good known ones out there that also give you some miles/points? I found a good one that is offering 'up to' 20 AA miles PER DOLLAR with a minimum of a $25 donation. It's a cancer site: https://secure.nfcr.org/page/contrib...rican-airlines

Are there any others you know about?

pgary

Take a look at my Charities section on my Other Programs I Like page in my website below.

Dr Jabadski

The USO, a very worthy organization, has a promotion through the end of the month for 15 AA miles per $ donated, instead of the usual 10 miles per $. MANY service members and veterans have been entertained by the USO and USO sponsored entertainers, including for me personally Lee Greenwood on an aircraft carrier in the middle of the Med 25 years ago and Katy Perry on a pier in NYC 3 or 4 years ago. The USO also has lounges at many airports which provide refreshments, sleeping areas, showers, computers, TVs, toiletries, books, etc. I was also fortunate enough to enjoy a USO lounge in Afghanistan. Absolutely the USO is a “good known one”.
http://hub.aa.com/en/ju/uso-american...HPHERONOV14&pp

NOTE: Be aware that many organizations which give miles for $ donations provide a tax letter which specifies the value of the miles, which if one is being honest decreases the amount of tax deduction. I’ve donated to the USO annually for the past few years and despite their website stating the value of miles received, their tax letters to me, including one last month, have never included any mention of miles received or the value thereof. Several donations to Komen and NFCR between 2008 and 2012 resulted in letters which always specified the value of the miles received.

Recommend the following brief (28 posts) thread for a discussion of the tax implications of receiving miles for donations to charities:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...esearch-2.html

srdshelly

I just don't see the advantage of doing it this way. There isn't any reward at all that I can tell. Isn't it just a marketing tool? Aren't you just buying the miles at 2.225 cpm? If you consider that a good price, I suppose it works, but I would seldom pay that much myself. If the goal is to give to the charity, why not just do that and forgo making a dubious value mileage purchase alongside?

srdshelly

The value of your donation for IRS purposes is reduced by the value of the miles, which is calculated in an official letter to you at 2.225 cpm. So there is really no miles benefit at all. You are not getting miles for making a gift. You are buying them.