Supporting small charities can make a real difference, if they align with your values. Tiny charities often work tirelessly within communities, but are often overlooked in favour of larger more visible charities. Choose small charities that reflect your beliefs, so your contributions (whether time, money or skills) create a powerful impact.
To seek the best charities to give to, first understand your own core values, and what matters to you. Never donate to big unethical charities, just because everyone else does (or a ‘chugger – charity mugger’ approaches you on the street, and guilts you into giving). If you care about animal welfare, don’t give to animal-testing charities and instead donate to humane medical research. Likewise there are plenty of ways to help local wildlife rescues and animal shelters abroad (or even animals caught up in war zones).
If you care about the planet, don’t donate to charities that spend your money sending ‘free plastic pens’ made from oil. If you care about how your money is spent, don’t donate to charities that spend thousands of pounds on TV campaign ads.
Researching Small Charities
Now that you know your values, it’s time find small charities that match them. They may not have big marketing budgets, so finding them may take more effort. Start by entering your charity focus (and area if apt) at Find That Charity. It will bring up the big charities first, but also all the smaller registered ones, for you to peruse.
Then look up your chosen charities at the government’s Register of Charities. This will tell you a bit more about them, what their income/expenditures are, and if anyone earns over £60,000.
Finally, find out if the charitiy tests on animals. Animal Aid has an extensive list (green charities don’t test, and red charities do).
Local Giving is a good website set up by a former guest on Channel 4’s Secret Millionaire, who wished to make a long-term difference. For around £12.50 a month, tiny charities can list on the professional site with good traffic, and get listed by area for people to find local tiny causes. Registered charities also can set fundraising targets, use AI-generated grant applications, have Gift Aid taken care of and receive friendly expert support.
Gift Aid lets charities claim an extra 25p on each £1 donated, at no cost to you. You can include all donations from the last 4 years, but must tell charities, if you stop paying enough tax (there are special rules for high-rate taxpayers). The government page is complicated to understand, but perhaps that’s the point.
How To Give Anonymously to Charity
Many people love to donate to charity, but are put off if bombarded with letters and emails once they start to give. Also many people like to donate a small amount to different causes, and then feel guilty if they choose a different cause each month, when being asked by previous charities to donate again.
Giving should be private anyway. Sign up with Charities Aid Foundation (or just tick the ‘anonymous box’ for one-off donations). Once registered, you can donate to who you like, and your details won’t be passed on. It also runs a bank account for small charities.
This idea was to help stop situations like happened with Olive, a kind widowed poppy seller in Bristol. Although she had depression anyway, she jumped off a bridge in her 80s. It was later found that she had given to big charities who had sold her name to others. And she was giving nearly all her income away, responding to hundreds of requests for donations.
A No-Brainer Way to Raise Funds for Charities
easyfundraising is likely the best way to raise money for small charities, as it donates money from items you already buy. Just sign up, and if you shop at one of the 6000 brands (from zero waste shops to Amazon and Argos), and your chosen cause receives a portion of thte profits from what you buy – from phones to train tickets and from laptops to insurance).
So rather than you donating, you’re basically having the company you buy from, donate a portion of the price to your chosen cause.
Retailers pays a set fee or percentage, depending on their policy. Donations are sent to charities each quarter, and the service does not affect loyalty points.
Donate Unwanted Goods to Small Charities
A Good Thing lets businesses donate items to small charities via an app, rather them languishing in offices or going to landfill. From office furniture to laptops, you can even donate meeting room space.
The dispenser above was sitting unused in a dental surgery. This organisation arranged for it to be donated to a homeless shelter, to sanitise rooms ready for incoming residents. It would have cost £1600 to buy, but they got it for free!
Many animal shelters and wildlife rescues can legally take unused human medical waste from GP surgeries and hospitals. Get in touch to see how they could help.
Volunteer for Small Local Charitites
Whether you donate financially or not, volunteering is another great way to make a difference. From dog-walking at animal shelters to befriending for local care agencies.
If volunteer gardening learn, how to garden safely near pets. Avoid facing indoor foliage to gardens, to help stop birds flying into windows.
Wild Service: Why Nature Needs You is a rallying call to the new army of nature’s defenders. Meet a cast of ‘guerilla gardeners’ who neither own places they protect (nor have permission to restore them). But they’re doing it anyway. This book is a celebration of ‘friendly anarchist’ spirit and a call for others to join in. So whether you live in the countryside or city, and want to protect your local river (or save native flora) this is your invite to rediscover the power in participation – the sacred in the service.
Nick Hayes is a writer, illustrator and printmaker. who has worked for the Literary Review and exhibited at the Hayward Gallery. He lives on a canal boat, with no fixed address.
TCV (The Conservation Volunteers) lets you offer your services to plant trees, clear paths and build walls nationwide, often with weekend volunteers (free tea and biscuits included). You’ll be restoring wildmeadows, building stiles and handing out cuppas to new friends. All volunteer projects are supported by a trained leader, with safety briefings and tools/protective clothing.
Or by the waterwide, volunteer as part of the Towpath Taskforce with Canal & River Trust to help restore historic canals. From lock-painting to hedge-planting or simply clearing litter and weeding gardens, the taskforce leader will run through what’s to be done, assign tasks and demonstrate safe use of equipment. Wear suitable outdoor clothing and sturdy shoes, and bring a packed lunch. Waterproof clothing or sunscreen is also advised, depending on the weather.
Keep dogs on leads near canals (especially near ducks) and likewise children, as banks can be steep. Don’t swim in canals, as rivers can carry disease.
Most small local charities need volunteers, from helping out at shelters to building/decorating wowrk. Or use your graphic design or photography skills to help promote and drive fundraising. Photographer Sophie Gamand uses her photographic skills to snap animals in shelters, ready for adoption drives.adoptions
Save and Donate to Charity (at the same time)
Charity Bank is a saving bank and also a registered charity. So if you sign up, your ‘rainy day’ money is pooled with others, to support small projects in communities. Your savings become part of a social mission, from investing in clean energy and affordable housing, to supporting small causes. The simple accounts include fixed rate and tax-free ISAs. There are also simple accounts for charities, credit unions and businesses.
Just imagine the huge difference to communities, if everyone put a little something away in one of their accounts, rather than with big banks?
Switch to a Charity Search Engine
Nearly all of us use search engines to find information we need. Ecoisa uses sponsors that has so far funded the planting over 200 million trees worldwide in 35 countries. This provides food and homes for birds and wildlife, and also helps to prevent climate change and floods.
You can also download their browser that generates solar energy, for each time you make a search. All data and privacy is protected, so you can safely surf the web.
Play (smaller) Lottos to Help Animals
Although there are good reasons not to play lotteries, most people still play them. If you do, then switch from the National Lottery (which only gives 25% of funds to charity) to animal-friendly smaller versions like Veggie Lotto (supports the Vegetarian Society) or Compassion Raffle (supports Compassion in World Farming).
Neither will make you a multi-millionaire, but they have big prizes (from £10K to £25 with more chances of winning) plus many smaller prizes. And even if you lose, the animals win!
Apply for Micro Grants
The Pollination Project is a US idea that is great inspiration on what could be done here. It offers tiny microgrants (around £1000) to help small charities establish or keep afloat. Two examples was a mobile vet van (to help pets escaping from domestic violence) and earth-friendly water bowls given to stray animals in India).
Clothing Brands that Help Animal Charities
A bit like easyfundraising above, these clothing brands give money to animal charities, from doing something you would do anyway (buy an organic t-shirt). For any sweatshirts that use recycled polyester, launder in a microplastic catcher.
Teemill is a wonderful company that prints on-demand clothing using green energy and sends returnable items in zero-waste packaging. Viva! is one charity that uses this company to raise funds, helping to pay for their animal welfare investigations.
Heartcure Clothing offers organic clothing, which has so far raised over £20,000 for animal sanctuaries.
Vegan Happy Clothing offers a lot of organic clothing that donates to animal rescues (including the rescue of two lambs from a dustbin). It also supports The Farm Animal Sanctuary that is desperate for funds to keep going, due to rising costs.
Wildlife Aid Foundation offers organic clothes, with profits used to help 20,000 wild creatures helped each year by 300 volunteers (who cut fox cubs from netting and scale trees to rescue stranded baby owls).
Animals Asia offers organic cotton clothing, with profits helping this amazing charity (funded by a woman from England) to educate and rescue bears from the awful bile trade).
Freedom for Animals offers organic t-shirts and beanie hats, to help support the charity’s work to help animals in zoos (the UK and abroad) and any creatures used for ‘entertainment’. This includes reindeer (often sent terrified to bright-lit noisy shopping centres, to ‘amuse children’ at Christmas).
WE Care Worldwide (Sri Lanka) sells cotton t-shirts to fund vet care for 3 million street dogs (more akin to wild dogs that find food and shelter themselves). Funds help neutering, vaccinations, vet treatment (including rabies injections) and community education.
You can contact them on holiday, if you see dogs needing help (find similar charities online elsewhere).
