How you can donate your points and miles to charity

Your points and miles can do many things, and one of those things is giving. This isn’t always the highest percentage per point for your score, but even small contributions can make a big difference in the lives of others.

The holiday period can make you reflect on what you have to be grateful for and how you can show generosity to help the less fortunate and those in need.

Ahead of Giving Tuesday, here are some opportunities for you to put your points or miles toward helping charities for this or other efforts.

Related: Giving Tuesday: The 6 best credit cards to maximize your charitable giving

Miles4Migrant

Established in 2016, Miles4Migrant is a non-profit organization that receives donated airline miles from frequent flyers and uses them to book airline tickets for migrants in financial need. Miles4Migrants has helped more than 40,000 people, from refugees to asylum seekers, using more than 775 million points and miles.

You can donate from rewards, airline loyalty programs, and credit cards.

To donate, you must pledge a minimum of 1,000 to 47,500 points or miles, depending on the program. Once you submit your pledge, the airline booking team at Miles4Migrants will match the donated miles to an individual in need.

Remember that the matching process can take several weeks. Miles4Migrants will update you with photos and recipient stories about how your donation helped them.

Besides frequent flyer miles, you can also give away travel vouchers and cash. Miles4Migrants currently accepts most coupons from Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines, JetBlue, Allegiant Air and others.

Additionally, cash donations also help cover any taxes, fees and surcharges.

How it works

A TPG employee previously pledged 15,000 JetBlue TrueBlue points. Soon after, they received an email thanking them for their contribution and information about next steps. They fill out a Google form with their contact information.

Sometimes processing is quick, so you’ll want to provide the best way for the organization to contact you. Miles4Migrants will also ask if you have a preference for who wants to use your miles and how you want to make the booking.

You must sign an electronic sponsorship agreement and then provide your contact information to the airline booking team so they can discuss the use of your miles with you.

just give

just give is a fundraising platform with over 1.5 million registered nonprofits, including Malala Fund. American Express has partnered with JustGiving so you can donate your Membership Rewards points to the charity of your choice.

You must have one The card earns Amex membership rewards to participate in this program. After creating an account and linking your eligible cards, you can apply your points at checkout. Donations can be paid in full or in part with points.

When you donate, your Membership Rewards points are worth 0.7 cents each, less Value of TPG 2 cents each.

Donating points instead of using cash at checkout can help offset your contribution, though, and is an option definitely worth considering.

Give a mile

Give a mile Support helps loved ones come together to say their final goodbyes.

It has provided nearly 1,000 flights with more than 36 million donated miles. Give a Mile primarily operates using Aeroplan miles but accepts donations from United MileagePlus and other programs.

Donate credit card points to charity

You can donate with credit card points using The card has a fixed value to pay for donations and then use your points to “pay” the charge on your statement.

Part of Chase Pay Yourself Back feature, Chase Sapphire Sanctuary customers and Chase Sapphire Preferred Card customers can redeem Ultimate Rewards points to donate to eligible nonprofits at 1.5 cents and 1.25 cents, respectively, through at least the end of the year. Eligible nonprofits include a combination of the following racial and social justice groups:

• Equal Justice Initiative
• Feeding America
• International Medical Corps
• International Rescue Committee, Inc
• NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
• National Urban League
• Advocates for a Fair & Equal Workplace
• Negro United College Fund
• unified road
• World Central Kitchen

Citi also has it Charity partner redemption optionsincluding the American Red Cross and UNICEF. You can now donate ThankYou Bonus Points at a rate of 1 cent per nonprofit.

Donate airline miles to charity

Frequent flyer programs offer the option to donate your rewards to partner organizations. Go to the airline program of your choice for more information about the charities you can support with your miles:

Giving back through these partnerships can be a great way to donate smaller points and miles. This is also one of the easiest ways to keep your miles from expiring in mileage expiration programs due to account inactivity.

International airlines have similar charity partnerships, so chances are you’ll find miles donation options in any domestic or international program you like.

Donate loyalty points to charity

In addition to airline loyalty programs, these loyalty programs also offer donation opportunities. See your hotel’s program of choice for more information about the charities you can support with your loyalty points:

• Hilton Honors Return Program: For every 10,000 points you donate, Hilton Honors will send $25 to that charity.
• Give the gift of Marriott Bonvoy: Minimum donation of 2,500 points is required. From November 21 to November 28, Marriott Bonvoy will donate two points per donor (up to 10 million points) to support World Central Kitchen, World Wildlife Fund and the Legal Defense Fund.
• IHG One award giving: You can gift 2,500, 5,000 or 10,000 IHG ​​One Rewards points at a time.

Bottom line

While the TPG team prefers to use points and miles for travel, donating them can be a huge help to those in need, especially if you have miles that you won’t use or that you want to Helping a cause but don’t have the cash to devote to it right now.

Keep in mind that point and mile donations are generally not considered tax deductible because the IRS recognizes reward points and miles as a gift from a company or to an individual.

However, you can always contact a tax professional to discuss your options if you’re planning to donate large amounts of money.

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