It’s that time of year — the gift giving season is upon us. However, it’s also a good time to consider those who are less fortunate. The good news is, giving back is easier than ever and needn’t take more than a few magnanimous clicks from the comfort of your couch. While your Android is rife with possibilities for games, news, and productivity (hopefully not in that order), there are also some great philanthropic apps out there that make charitable gestures easy, fun, and free to do. Here are some of our noteworthy picks.
Named Women’s Running Magazine’s “Best Overall App” and Men’s Fitness Magazine’s “Game Changer of the Year,” it’s the perfect choice for sports enthusiasts. Charity Miles lets you do what you love most: running, biking, walking, etc., while earning money for the charity of your choice. As you workout, the app tracks your progress in terms of distance, and that data translates to a preset dollar amount for donation. So every mile you walk or run, for example, earns you $0.25 of sponsorship toward a worthy cause like Autism Speaks or Habitat for Humanity. Step to it.
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Think of this app as a gamified version of donating. Developed by high school student, Michael Schaja, the app lets you donate rice to the hungry at no cost to you. By simply tapping the rice bowl on the screen, you donate one grain of rice at a time. At the end of the month, the sum of your total taps — converted to the equivalent number of grains — is donated to the United Nations World Food Programme. So where does the money come from? The same way most free things generate their revenue: through ads.
Remember the The United Nations World Food Program you just helped donate to with your eager rice clicks? They started ShareTheMeal to provide assistance to millions of food insecure people worldwide. Funded entirely through volunteers, donations keep it running. You can pay as little or as much as you’d like. Even a modest $0.50 goes a long way in feeding a child for a day. This holiday season, skip the gingerbread latte and feed about seven children instead. I know it’s tough; you got this.
This year, instead of gazing morosely at those television ads of hungry children or homeless pets, join the tech for good movement. Do that thing you do best: download an App. Then, do that thing nobody does enough of: make a difference.
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