Top 5 Credit Cards That Make Charitable Donations

These days, the smart folks out there want their credit cards to do more than just pay for a purchase.  They want to earn airline miles, reward points, cash back, or get special deals and discounts.   Rewards are great, but there’s another option out there: if you have organizations that you want to support, there are credit card companies who have put together programs that will automatically make donations either when you apply for a card, when you make a purchase, or in some cases, for both.  Here’s a listing of the top five credit cards that do more than just rack up miles that you may never use anyway.  (And if you have miles sitting around that you’re not going to use, you can donate them, too!)

Make-A-Wish® Platinum Visa® Card
Just applying for and activating this card sends a minimum of a $2 donation to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and every time you use this card to make a purchase, they receive a .65% donation to help grant the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions.  It’s a great card, too, with no annual fee, a low intro rate, and offers all the features you’ve come to expect from a platinum visa card.

PetRewards® Platinum Plus® Visa® Credit Card
Put your pet’s furry face on the front of the card, and donate to other animals in need when you use it.  This card, from Bank of America, offers a rewards program where you earn two points for every dollar spent at the vet, on pet food, and at farm and feed stores along with one point per dollar on other purchases.  You can elect to have these points redeemed toward shelter donations.  The points don’t expire, you get 500 points just for making a first purchase, and there’s a 0% intro rate for the first six billing cycles.

Rainbow Platinum Plus® Visa® Card
For every account that is opened and activated, a donation is made to Rainbow Endowment for GLBT Community.  You get a great rewards program and a great donation program with this card.  When you use it, you’ll earn one point for every dollar spent and a percentage will be donated to the Rainbow Endowment organization which benefits causes for the lesbian and gay community.  The card has a 0% intro rate and no annual fee along with perks like personal concierge service, auto rental insurance, and other travel and emergency services.

Brighter Planet Visa® Credit Card
Help make the world a better place by getting this card, which supports an organization dedicated to protecting the environment.  The Brighter Planet Visa offers a rewards program where you earn points with every purchase to helps to offset carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and help fund renewable energy projects and shrink our carbon footprint.  Cardholders earn one EarthSmart™ point for every dollar spent with the card, 1,000 bonus points after your first purchase, and 1,000 bonus points if you select paperless billing.  On top of that, for every two points earned through the end of this year, Bank of America will make a matching contribution of one additional point.  The result of all these points you’re accumulating?  Every 1,000 points will fund an estimated 1 ton of carbon offsets.  Perks include your basic benefits like no annual fee, a low fixed interest rate, fraud protection and online access, and you can also create a profile on the Brighter Planet site that you can use to track your impact on the environment.

The Nature Conservancy Platinum Plus® Visa® Credit Card
For every account that is opened, and with every purchase you make, FIA Card Services will make a donation to The Nature Conservancy to help preserve the plants, animals and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on earth.  In addition, cardholders receive a one year membership and subscription to the Nature Conservancy magazine. This card also offers the WorldPoints rewards program, fraud protection, online account access, and great card designs to choose from, like the cute monkey on the card to the left.

So now that you know you can do more with your credit cards than just run up a bill at the local supermarket, why not apply for one of these great cards and give something back to the earth and its inhabitants - it needs you!

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 3rd, 2008 at 9:06 pm and is filed under Tips & Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.