How to choose the perfect charity for your e-card donation

Like the idea of sending a charity e-card? Here's how to make your donation really count by choosing the right charity.
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Before sending an e-card, there's a few things you need to do first:
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1. Select the occasion
2. Choose a design you'll think the recipient will like
3. Write a message to be included within the e-card
4. Send it to arrive on time

But not all e-cards are purely commercial or free e-cards, so when you're in the the market to send an e-card that supports a charity, choosing the charity to receive your donation also needs to be considered. Here's our tips for choosing the perfect charity for your e-card donation.

The power of choosing the right charity

Finding a charity that has a personal connection to you and/or the recipient can make your greeting that much more meaningful. Knowing that you are helping the charity go on to raise more money using your e-card donation can feel like you're doing something truly positive and progressive with your donation, especially if you consider the alternative and simply wasting money on a commercial card or e-card.

Step 1: Identify causes you care about

Identifying causes you care about can sometimes feel obvious if you've just had a particular life event or love animals. But if you're unsure, or want to expand the breadth of charities that you give to, it's worth having a think about what you value and what’s close to your heart. Especially at this point in your life. Perhaps a current or past life event means that you care about supporting a particular cause for example.

Identifying causes that the recipient cares about too can make your e-card truly thoughtful that you donated on their behalf.

Step 2: Research charity credibility and transparency

When looking for the best charities for e-card donations you can use tools such as the Charity Commission for England and Wales to check if the charity you wish to support is credible. Searching social media sites for the charity name too can help you see if they are gaining bad press.

When wishing to support UK charities online via an e-card platform, you'll want to ensure that the organisation running the platform is legitimate. Do they have a reputable profile? Are they just a copycat? In which case you should think twice about donating via a cheap looking imitation, as they are likely looking to take advantage of charities and profit themselves by charging additional fees on top of the donation amount.

Spending a bit of time being cautious about which platform and which charities to give to upfront, can then make you feel comfortable going back and doing it again and again vs. spending on cards.

Step 3: Consider local vs. national charities

Going further into our charity selection tips, consider where you want your donations to make an impact. Do you want to make an impact at a local community level or a broader reach nationally?

Step 4: Look for charities with e-cards

Charities that actually have an e-card offering allows you to find the best charities for e-card donations. Have the charities designed the cards themselves? This can make the e-card really thoughtful for the recipient.  

Step 5: Match your donation to the occasion

Choose a charity relevant to the event can be another factor worth considering. It's not just about going to donate via e-cards. It's about the occasion you are sending the e-card for. If you were to send a birthday e-card for example, and you go to choose charity for donation UK, selecting the charity that has meaning towards the circumstances in the recipients life such as animal rescue, the environment, giving to a military veteran charity, can really make it that much more special.

How your e-card donation makes a difference

Getting in touch with charities and asking them how your donations are making a difference might surprise you how keen they are to hear your feedback and have useful dialogue with a valued supporter. Especially when it's via a new way of giving such aswith e-cards, which is effectively a new revenue stream for charities with e-card donations.

And of course you can always read their website and sign up for the charity newsletter to find out what they've spent the funds on so you know it's going towards something that you value.

Conclusion: Make your e-card donation count by choosing wisely

Choosing wisely can really make your e-card donation count. We know from running the DontSendMeACard platform and working with so many charities how appreciative they are to be receiving donations with e-cards for different occasions. So choose the best e-card system, and the  best charities for you and the recipients, and your donations will definitely count every time you send a happy birthday e-card or for any occasion.