Last Updated on June 2, 2020 by Corinne Schmitt
Today’s post is sponsored by Giving Assistant, which I’m thrilled to share with you because it’s such a great resource for busy moms who want to save money and help others.
I always have good intentions of doing amazing things like serving my family dinner masterpieces, keeping a spotless home, saving the world… But as a busy mom, I end up doing the best I can with the limited time and energy I have. As a result, I’m always on the hunt for tips, tricks and resources that let me accomplish great things without making my life any harder. Today I have a great resource to share with you that accomplishes exactly that! Giving Assistant puts money back in your pocket (or to the charity of your choice if one of your goals is to help others), while doing your regular online shopping.
What is Giving Assistant?
In the most general sense, Giving Assistant is a cash back rewards program. But there are plenty of cash back rewards programs and sites, so what makes Giving Assistant special? For one, they make it super easy to be charitable.
If you decide to donate, you get to choose the charity (you can even choose your child’s school!) and what portion of your rewards you want to donate.
You also decide how you want to receive your payments. Currently, you have the option of PayPal or a mailed check. But as you can see from the image above, a debit card option is in the near future.
And here’s the best part, even if you choose NOT to donate (no judgment here – we all have bills to pay), every time you earn cash back Giving Assistant donates a meal to a needy family on your behalf!
Another reason Giving Assistant differs from other cash back rewards programs is that the commission they charge their retail partners for driving purchases to them is ALL YOURS. That’s right, they don’t keep a portion for themselves. So, you’ll find that for many retailers, Giving Assistant offers a higher cash back reward percentage than similar programs.
If you’re like me, you’re wondering how Giving Assistant makes money then if they’re giving it all to you, donating to charity on top of that, and offering you this service for free. After all, it is a for-profit organization. Simple – they make money from the commission earned from non-members who use their site to find coupons and promo codes.
How Do I Use Giving Assistant?
One option is to visit GivingAssistant.org. From there, you choose the stores where you want to shop. The first time you visit a specific store, you might get a pop-up window like this one to make sure you earn your cash back for any purchases:
After you click the “SHOP NOW” button, you’ll be directed to the store’s site and continue shopping as usual. I created a short video to give you an idea of how long it takes to shop via the Giving Assistant site.
See? It’s not hard and doesn’t take long. Plus, did you notice the coupons Giving Assistant showed me before I clicked through to Amazon? They have coupons for most of their partner sites so that’s savings ON TOP OF the cash back rewards, just for shopping via their site.
I’m SUPER lazy though so I skip this step and I installed the Giving Assistant button in my browser. If you use Chrome or Safari, you can download the free browser extension and bypass shopping via the Giving Assistant web page. Instead, you shop just like you normally do, by going directly to the sites you love. To get the button, just click on that green “Activate Now” button in the upper right hand corner of the Giving Assistant home page.
When you visit a website that is one of Giving Assistant’s partners, the button will auto-detect it and pop open a small window in the upper right hand corner of your screen, prompting you to activate the cash back reward.
I love this not only because it saves me time, but also because I’ll never miss out on savings if I forget to shop via Giving Assistant!
What Types of Shopping Can I Earn Cash Back Rewards on?
Everything! Giving Assistant is partnered with thousands of sites so almost all of your typical online shopping sites are included.
Shop for clothes for the whole family at Old Navy and earn 4% cash back.
Book your family vacation on Expedia and get cash back on everything from airline tickets to hotel reservations.
Need a new refrigerator, computer or a case for your cell phone? Earn cash back at Best Buy.
You can even earn cash back on sites that are already offering you huge savings! I was thrilled when I found out I earn 6% cash back on Groupon.
When it comes to money saving tips, Giving Assistant is a slam dunk.
What a great idea. We focus on charitable giving in our family and this makes it so easy.