Donate your “points” to charity!

If you’re anything like me, your wallet is full of points cards.  The creepy big-brother side of these cards is that they collect all sorts of data on your shopping habits, but on the other side, many of them have partnered with local charities to allow individuals to donate their points to a good cause.

Shoppers Drug Mart has a list of charities, including the Dr. Peter AIDS Foundation here in Vancouver, that use donated shoppers points for lots of different things.  The Dr. Peter AIDS Foundation uses the points to buy supplies for their Day Health program and 24-hour residence (click here to give them some or all of your points).

At Canadian Tire, you can donate your ‘money’ in the store, or else there are independently organized Canadian Tire Money drives for several charities including this one from a couple of years ago.

You can also make a difference with your Petro Points (Petro Canada)

The Air Miles program took a lot of searching for and isn’t very user friendly, but apparently you can donate to Kids Help Phone or Special Olympics Canada.  Aeroplan’s Beyond Miles program, on the other hand, is really user friendly and has a lot of great internationally-focused charities on their roster (lots without borders): Schools Without Borders, Stephen Lewis Foundation, Engineers without Borders, Doctors without Borders and War Child.

So, take a look through your wallet, see what kind of points you collect, and think about donating all or a portion of them to one of the great organizations out there that you believe in!