Why is donating through Rethink Charity more cost effective?

Our goal is to maximize your donation’s positive impact on the world. In line with this goal, Rethink Charity is the most cost-effective way for Canadians to support most of the partner charities on our platform, because they are located outside of Canada.

By using the Rethink Charity platform to support these charities, you’ll receive an official donation receipt that you can use to claim charitable tax credits. If you were to donate directly through these charities’ websites, these tax credits wouldn’t be available. You can estimate the value of your credits with our calculator.

Given that Canadian charitable tax credits can be worth between 20% and 51% of the amount you donate, they far outweigh the 4% of your donation that we allocate to Rethink Charity’s operations, to keep the platform running.

A few of the charities we feature on Rethink Charity are already registered in Canada or can otherwise offer you a valid Canadian donation receipt. As of May 2022, charities that meet this criteria include

• Against Malaria Foundation, 
• SCI Foundation, and
• Iodine Global Network.

For the charities above, you would receive the same tax benefits by donating directly via their websites. In this case, the main advantage of giving through Rethink Charity is the convenience of making all of your high-impact donations in one place: many people use Rethink Charity to support multiple charities and funds, by using the split donation function on our donation forms.

However, if you’re simply supporting one of these Canadian-registered charities, or would prefer for your donation to be delivered immediately, then giving directly through their websites may be the best option for you.

In most cases, Rethink Charity is the most cost-effective way for Canadians to support high-impact charities globally. This is especially true now that we offer online bank account donations, as a payment method that minimizes processing fees.

Feel free to get in touch if you have questions about whether supporting high-impact charities through Rethink Charity is right for you!

Read more about why we allocate 4% of some donations to Rethink Charity’s operations.