Top 20 microphilanthropy sites

Don't think you have the time or the money to make a difference? Think again. You can make the world a better place just by doing what you already do!

Know of other sites that should be on this list? Drop me a line in the guest book and make sure to vote for your favourite site below.

The Extraordinaries (mobile volunteering for good)
Got 2 minutes? Be Extraordinary by using your extra time to volunteer on your phone! Things that you can do include translating text into foreign languages for a nonprofit, tagging images for the Smithsonian, and recording locations of potholes for municipalities. With a mobile web browser you can turn all those idle minutes in waiting rooms and lineups into productive time. The application is super easy to use too.

ReplyForAll (email for good)
For once having waaay too many emails is good news. With ReplyForAll you can fundraise for a cause using your email signatures! Just pick what you want to support (eg. curing cancer, stopping AIDs, providing clean water), then sign up to create a custom email signature that includes a banner ad. Sponsors pay for you to see the ads, and the proceeds go to your cause. Best of all, ReplyForAll tells you exactly what impact your signature will have, such as every 12 people using the clean energy signature taking 1 car off the road for a month.

FreeRice (play for good)
Do you like games? FreeRice is a word game that increases your vocabulary, and for every answer you get right, 10 grains of rice is donated toward the UN World Food Program. Total donated to date is over 2.1M pounds of rice!

BetterTheWorld (surf for good)
If you are a chronic web junkie then Better The World is for you. Pick a charity you want to donate to, download a browser sidebar, view some ads as you surf the web, and watch as the ad money goes toward your designated charity! Super easy, and you can have the sidebar running whenever you want.

Changing the Present (buy gifts for good)
Give a gift that makes a difference by picking from Changing the Present's extensive catalog of gifts that change the world. Choose from gifts such as 40 acres of coffee or an hour of advocacy. Add a personalized greeting card before sending to a friend, who's going to be very happy with your gift. Say goodbye to unwanted gifts!

Care2 (petition for good)
Another great community to join if you're looking to make a difference - it has everything, from links to click to donate sites, to petitions for you to start and / or sign, to free e-cards that generate a donation to save 1 square foot of rainforest. Get "kudos" for work done, and even win the weekly "yes-you-can" challenge and get featured on the homepage!

Ripple (click for good)
With Ripple you can either click on banners or do a Google search to send 100% of ad revenues to charity. What's great about this is site is that it's very easy to follow. One click can give a person 6 days of access to clean water, or 2 days of access to education, or finance a $100 loan for a day. Just go to the site and do the 1 click - that's all it takes!

Microgiving (donate for good)
With Microgiving you can donate to in any amount you want to some awesome causes, from flood relief to cancer care and individual family aid. Watch as the fundraising bar makes its way towards completion for certain projects, and if you've got a project, add it to the site to start collecting donations!

1DollarClub (donate $1 for good)
Make a difference with only $1! Help the 1dollarclub reach its goal of hitting $10 million fundraised dollars by 2010. Donate to selected charities such as Doctors Without Borders and Shelter for Life.

Epic Change (lend for good)
Similar to other microlending sites, Epic Change collects donations in small amounts from people like you. But instead of you directing the money into the hands of a lender, Epic Change makes the loans to organizations that promote positive change in communities, and then work with the organization to develop incoming generating projects that can be used to re-pay the loan. Every $10 buys a brick to build a classroom in Tanzania.

Challenge Your World (ideas for good)
Do you have ideas that can change the world, but just don't know how to implement them? Ideamakers and emerging entrepreneurs can get support, resources, and feedback on ChallengeYourWorld. It's essentially an online innovation center, with a goal of balancing social, environmental, and economic concerns. Just post your idea, and the community will give you feedback that can jump-start discussions about implementation.

Giving Tree (buy gift cards for good)
GivingTree offers gift cards that give back. Purchase the gift card in denominations of $25 to $250 on their website, and 1 of two things can happen: 1) the recipient of the card picks an organization from 1.5M registered non-profits to receive 10% of the value of the card as a donation or 2) you choose a co-branded card with a specific charity, in which case the 10% goes directly to the charity that you pick as the card sender.

Volunteer From Home (volunteer for good)
Help From Home has over 450 home based volunteering opportunities that inspire and encourage people to do things that help others. All the volunteer opportunities take no more than 30 minutes to accomplish, involve no ongoing commitment, cost nothing or very little to complete, and for the most part, can be done whilst still dressed in your pyjamas. Some examples: install free software to help fight cancer with your pc, become a penpal to a seriously ill child, or join a Virtual March on global warming.

Kiva (lend for good)
Kiva is microfinance organization that has loaned over $27M to entrepreneurs in the developing world. Lend in amounts starting from $25 to help someone stride towards economic independence. Loans usually last from 6-12 months and the overall default rate is 2.1%.

Alonovo.com (purchase for good)
Alonovo is an intelligent marketplace, partnered with independent research firms like KLD Research Analytics to provide you with information on the companies behind the everday purchases you make. Alonovo will tell you whether a company supports fair labour, recycling, the local economy, etc., so that not only can you make an informed decision about what you buy, but you can send a message to companies that you do care about how their actions impact the world. What's more, Alonovo contributes 50% - 100% of revenues to a charitable cause of your choice.

Causecast (connect socially for good)
If being in the field isn't your thing, perhaps inspiring others is. Causecast connects media, philanthropy, social networking, entertainment and education together to inspire good. Earn "kudos" for participating in the community, from blogging to uploading videos, reaching out to celebrities, and exchanging goods on the Kudos Marketplace.

InVinoCharitus (drink wine for good)
Are you a wine lover? InVinoCharitus' goal is to provide sustainable water to the hardest hit regions of the world, by "turning wine into water". Through their events, they are bringing together charities, wineries, and wine-lovers to fundraise and raise awareness. By participating, you can drink wine and do good at the same time.

FundTunes (listen to music for good)
FundTunes is a newly launched site that is partnered with Universal Music Canada to sell digital music for the benefit of charities. Nonprofits can post up their projects, and they will not only receive an online music store of their own, but they will get 50% of the proceeds from music sales. Nonprofits get $3.00 per 10-song bundle and $1.50 from each 5-song bundle. So if you're buying music anyway, why not buy from FundTunes?

Celsias (green actions for good)
"Climate change is not a spectator sport", so get involved at Celsias, where you can pledge and do easy actions like covering your pots while cooking and drying clothes on a line instead of in a machine. Add your own actions, take on projects with a group of friends, or apply for green jobs.

Social Actions (all sorts of things for good)
Have you been through this whole list and still haven't found something you fancy? Well then you should head to Social Actions, because they've aggregated actions from over 60+ sources, including some of the sites listed above here. So whether you're looking to join a group, pledge action, or show solidarity, Social Action will have something for you.