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I have a suggestion to frugal folks who have pay-as-you-go cell phones. My husband and I both use AT&T's Go Phones, but we can never get rid of the balance because we hardly ever use them. AT&T makes us refill our accounts every three months or lose all our credit, so the balance just keeps going up and up.
There are a number of charities that accept cell phone donations by text message. I've found this is a great way to burn off your unused cell phone credit and help people at the same time.
Not the OP, but there are a lot of charities that accept text message donations. You'll see the message "Text XXXXX to donate $10 to (insert name of charity here)". I guess that's what the OP mean. I know Red Cross does it.
Maybe I didn't understand the OP. I have a prepaid service, in which I buy months of service, which I use only so I can carry the phone for emergency. I have to buy minutes along with the months, so I have way more minutes than I can use.
Is there a way I can donate my unneeded minutes? I don't know how to text, I don't even know if my phone/plan is text capable, and quite frankly, I have no interest in knowing.
I can't imagine how it can be easier or cheaper to donate to a charity by texting, when I can phone their toll free number or go on line and just give them my credit card number.
Maybe I did not either, but what I'll add is if you have any cell phones sitting around (and I would imagine this would apply to those with minutes?) would be to drop them off at a DV shelter. Having worked at one, I know the women carry them whenever they leave the shelter in the event their abuser tracks them down and they have to call 911. I am sure the OP will elaborate for all of us.
Not the OP, but there are a lot of charities that accept text message donations. You'll see the message "Text XXXXX to donate $10 to (insert name of charity here)". I guess that's what the OP mean. I know Red Cross does it.
Merjolie, that is exactly what I meant. I wasn't sure if it was OK to list the cell phone addresses for actual charities here. I should mention that not all cell phone carriers participate in this program, but most of the major ones do.
Here are some of the charities which accept text donations:
Text REDCROSS to 90999 to give $10 to the Red Cross. You will be prompted to reply with a digit to indicate which of their funds you want to donate to. For example, Reply "1" to donate to their Disaster Relief Fund. That's the fund you'd donate to if you want to help victims of the recent tornadoes in the South. (I'm not sure, but I believe you would select "2" to donate to their international relief fund.)
Text GIVE to 80888 to give $10 to the Salvation Army's general fund.
Text KOMEN to 90999 to donate to the Susan G. Komen foundation, which supports breast cancer research, education and social services.
Text WISH to 90999 to donate to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which helps children with life-threatening illnesses by granting their wishes, such as a trip to Disneyland, a princess bedroom or a visit from a celebrity.
Text JAPAN to 80888 to donate $10 to the Salvation Army's Japan Earthquake Relief.
Text SMILE to 90999 to donate $5 to Operation Smile, an organization that provides cleft lip and palate surgeries to children and adolescents around the globe.
Text POOPIN (yes, you read right! ) to 27722 to donate $10 to Water.org, a non-profit organization founded by Matt Damon whose goal is to provide aid to developing countries which have no safe, clean drinking water or sanitation.
Text ALIVE to 90999 to donate $5 to Keep A Child Alive, a non-profit organization whose goal is to provide medicine to families with HIV and AIDS in Africa and India. This charity was co-founded by singer Alicia Keys.
When you donate by text message, you will receive a reply from the organization asking you to confirm your donation by replying YES.
There may be a limit on how much your cell phone carrier will allow you to can donate per month, typically $30. The charities themselves also have some limits on the number of donations you can make.
Finally, there are a lot scam artists out there, so please be careful and donate only to reputable, trustworthy organizations.
Maybe I didn't understand the OP. I have a prepaid service, in which I buy months of service, which I use only so I can carry the phone for emergency. I have to buy minutes along with the months, so I have way more minutes than I can use.
Is there a way I can donate my unneeded minutes? I don't know how to text, I don't even know if my phone/plan is text capable, and quite frankly, I have no interest in knowing.
I can't imagine how it can be easier or cheaper to donate to a charity by texting, when I can phone their toll free number or go on line and just give them my credit card number.
The reason it's cheaper is that when you have prepaid service, you have already bought and paid for the minutes from the cell phone company. My prepaid cell phone plan requires that I add a minimum of $15 to my account every few weeks no matter whether I use my phone or not. This is money that is sitting there idle in my account.
So when I donate to a charity by text message, all I am doing is taking money that I have already spent and giving it to a good cause. It doesn't cost me anything extra because it comes out of the minimum charges I incur anyway order to keep my cell phone account active. I hope this explanation makes sense!
I don't know of any way you could donate unused minutes without texting unless you just gave your phone to a needy person or to a shelter that helps battered women. Maybe you could ask a friend or relative who is more tech-savvy to do the text donations for you on your phone. That's what I did for my husband, who doesn't have any interest in learning how to text.
Last edited by Bayarea4; 05-07-2011 at 07:35 PM..
Reason: clarity; to add additional information.
The reason it's cheaper is that when you have prepaid service, you have already bought and paid for the minutes from the cell phone company. My prepaid cell phone plan requires that I add a minimum of $15 to my account every few weeks no matter whether I use my phone or not. This is money that is sitting there idle in my account.
So when I donate to a charity by text message, all I am doing is taking money that I have already spent and giving it to a good cause. It doesn't cost me anything extra because it comes out of the minimum charges I incur anyway order to keep my cell phone account active. I hope this explanation makes sense!
I don't know of any way you could donate unused minutes without texting unless you just gave your phone to a needy person or to a shelter that helps battered women. Maybe you could ask a friend or relative who is more tech-savvy to do the text donations for you on your phone. That's what I did for my husband, who doesn't have any interest in learning how to text.
OK, but with a fully pre-paid plan, the package includes X days and X minutes, and I doubt if it would be possible to text a donation that would be paid out of those minutes, since they are not paid for on a cents-per-minute basis.
But this thread does open up a concept I'd never thought of---the cellphone donation to women's shelters, which is an admirably worthy cause.
In most (or all) states now, a cellphone with 250 minutes a month is being given free through Lifeline to everyone who is eligible for public benefits, such as food stamps or medicaid. I presume this would provide a phone for every woman in a shelter, who would simply need to apply for it. It's an alternative to the Lifeline benefit, which pays $10 a month on the landline charges.
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) to 27722 to donate $10 to Water.org, a non-profit organization founded by Matt Damon whose goal is to provide aid to developing countries which have no safe, clean drinking water or sanitation.
