Multi-task with a mission this holiday season

This time of year we often find ourselves buried under a pile of “to-do’s.” Even for those of us attempting to embrace a less commercial holiday, many of our tasks involve shopping in one form or another.

Today I’m thankful for the opportunity to share with you a way we can multi-task with a mission, combining our shopping errands with something much more significant.

It’s called Pure Charity.

I recently bought some items we need for the upcoming season–a bike for Jonathan this Christmas, these winter boots for Elijah, and a homeschooling mama’s best friends–new books to add to our shelves.

These purchases weren’t extras, but items I would have been buying anyway. By using Pure Charity, the stores I bought through are giving a small percentage of the money back to me–to donate to the charity I choose!

It’s a win for me as I shop, a win for the store I buy from, and a win for the charity–everyone’s a winner!

How it works

I found it fairly simple to shop through Pure Charity, who provided a gift card so that I could experience the program for myself. I set up a free account, then headed to their rewards page and searched for the stores I needed to buy through.

After clicking on the store logo, I was taken immediately to the store’s page where I could shop. Many mainstream (& some local) stores are included, and Pure Charity add more every day.

These include:

• Target
• Apple
• Gap
• Barnes & Noble
• Best Buy
• Groupon
• and over 1,000 more

Pure Charity even has a browser plug in you can download–if you do, whenever you’re on a site that has signed up, you’ll see a notification allowing you to click through and get giving credit for that transaction.

Need a visual for how this works? Check out this one-minute overview:

The good part–the giving

The amount each store gives back to you is small–typically between 1 to 3% of your purchase. But imagine if hundreds of thousands of us signed up–not to buy needlessly, but to give on what we already buy regularly.

Can you imagine how incredible an impact that would make for charities in need of funding?!

And did you hear that Simple Living Media is now sponsoring our own Compassion Child Survival Program in Ethiopia? Tsh introduced it on Simple Mom a few days ago–and it is exciting. These mamas cherish plans and hopes for their little ones, and we have the chance to do something that will make a real difference for them!

A few days after you make purchases through Pure Charity, you’ll see the transaction show up in your giving fund on their site. You can then designate it to the charity of your choice.

I’ll be contributing mine to these mamas and babies in Ethiopia, and I hope you’ll consider doing the same. With our efforts combined, we can easily raise the $25,000 needed to fund the program for an entire year!

A word about ethical spending

Many of us who believe in simple living also care about where, and how, the goods we purchase are made. My family researches companies and their track records, and we try to buy the highest quality our budget allows. But even our best efforts are imperfect–it can be downright difficult at times to find out exactly how some of our stuff is made.

What I appreciate about Pure Charity is that it doubles our efforts in this area: We can do our best to spend wisely, and we can be even more intentional by doing good with the giving funds returned to us.

You can sign up, too!

If you haven’t already done so, you can sign up for your own free Pure Charity account. By using this link I’ve provided, you become part of SLM’s advocate network. (This means you can easily follow me, our editors, and other people who want to help support our specific Compassion program.)

By signing up today, your purchases this holiday season can benefit the Ethiopian village we are supporting! It won’t cost you a single extra penny, but it can have a worldwide significance.

If you’d rather donate directly to our Child Survival Program, you can do that too! Just head here and click “Fund This Project.” Even a few dollars helps!

Pure Charity works best if more people become involved–so can you help spread the word? Tweet, share on Facebook, pin it, email your friends–it’s all good.

Will you join me as we multi-task with a mission this holiday season? Let’s make a difference that extends across an ocean and matters more than the soon-to-be-forgotten presents under our tree.

Sign up for your own Pure Charity account today! Any questions?