Originally Posted by
FlytheTail
It is nice for United to do this, although the amount of matching funds seems quite small, $50K.
Note that the company they are using (Crowdrise) charges about a 9% tax on donations, which is pretty hefty IMO. I suggest donating directly to the charities, my favorite one being
http://americares.com.
Precisely. I strongly recommend looking at charitynavigator.com, which rates charities according to overhead and other key metrics. There are plenty that aren't that wasteful. For example, the one you mention -- Americares -- is very highly rated:
http://www.charitynavigator.org/inde...9#.VT7bCSHnu5M
Although this one might be even better:
http://www.charitynavigator.org/inde...0#.VT7cCCHnu5M
I would also be curious to know the tax deductability of the United offer. Clearly you are receiving something of value for your donation. I wonder what value they are placing on the miles.