Giving Tuesday: Use your credit card points to donate to charities

This Giving Tuesday, you may want to leverage some of your reward points balances to help out your favorite causes and organizations.

For a little background, Giving Tuesday was established in 2012 as a global generosity movement meant to help inspire people to do good in their communities and around the world. Many people use Giving Tuesday as a day to donate to causes they care about (and possibly earn bonus points and miles). Others use it as a day to volunteer and donate their time, or as a reminder to make someone smile and show the world some light.

Another way to contribute this Giving Tuesday is by donating your credit card rewards. If your budget is tight and your points are going unused, putting them toward donations may be a good option for you.

Related: Earn up to 75,000 Air Canada Aeroplan points by donating to Miles4Migrants

Donate points with American Express

American Express Membership Rewards has been the perennial front-runner when it comes to using points for charity. Through a longstanding partnership with JustGiving, Amex cardholders can donate Membership Rewards points at a rate of 0.7 cents each to more than 1.5 million U.S. nonprofit organizations.

Even better, the portal allows you to donate points for all or part of the donation amount without the need for a specific increment. Just choose your charity and donation amount, then enter how many points you want to use at checkout.

It’s not the highest-value option out there. However, if you’re sitting on a ton of points and wondering what good you can do with them, this could be the route for you.

Related: Which is the best American Express credit card for you?

Donate points with Chase

Chase has a redemption option called Pay Yourself Back that allows folks to redeem their Ultimate Rewards points to reimburse recent purchases. You’ll get a value of 1 cent per point for most purchases, but sometimes you’ll see promotions for specific types of purchases (in this case, select charities) that can make your points go further.

For instance, from now through the end of the year, holders of the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® can redeem their points for 1.25 cents apiece on donations to select charities. Chase Sapphire Reserve® cardholders can get an even better rate of 1.5 cents per point. Applicable charities include:

• American Red Cross
• Equal Justice Initiative
• Feeding America
• GLSEN
• Habitat for Humanity
• International Medical Corps
• International Rescue Committee
• Leadership Conference Education Fund
• Make-A-Wish America
• NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund
• National Urban League
• Out & Equal Workplace Advocates
• Sage
• Thurgood Marshall College Fund
• United Negro College Fund
• UNICEF USA
• United Way
• World Central Kitchen

To redeem points this way, simply donate to the nonprofit directly and wait for the transaction to appear in your account. Then, log in to your Ultimate Rewards account and navigate to the Pay Yourself Back page, where you can redeem points for a statement credit to cover the transaction.

Related: No-annual-fee credit cards that earn transferable points

Donate points with Citi

If you have an excess of ThankYou Rewards points, Citi has several charity partner redemption options. These nonprofits include:

• American Red Cross Disaster Relief
• American Red Cross International Services
• ASPCA
• No Kid Hungry
• SmileTrain
• Susan G. Komen
• UNICEF USA
• USO
• World Central Kitchen

Each ThankYou point redeemed this way is worth 1 cent. You must choose from $10 (1,000 points), $25 (2,500 points), $50 (5,000 points) and $100 (10,000 points) donations. These set thresholds limit your options, but you could always make multiple donations if you want to give more.

Related: How you can donate airline and hotel points and miles to charity

Bottom line

These credit card partnerships make it easy to donate using your points.

Amex takes the crown when it comes to the sheer breadth of organizations to which you can donate, but it also provides the lowest value for your points (0.7 cents each). Citi cardholders who earn ThankYou points can get a better value of 1 cent per point. And, for a limited time, Chase cardholders can get up to 1.5 cents per point for charitable donations — assuming they want to support the organizations currently available through the Pay with Points feature.

Hopefully, all card issuers will continue to broaden these options and provide even more flexibility when it comes to donating points in the future.

Related: Best credit cards to maximize your nonprofit donation