Charity Miles! Does Every Mile Matter? A foolish skeptic looks.

So I was asked if I was doing "Charity Miles", which is an app that donates to a charity for every mile you run. Magically.... You run. Charity gets money. Okay. Got it.  Simple.  Too simple maybe?

I've heard of the app, but I had my reservations. So I did some research. Okay. A lot of research! I'm a skeptic and don't believe in the magic tooth fairy, the money tree, or flowers sprouting from the ground as I run across the pavement. ^#^%@&#! nawl. Color me Mr. Gawt &#%^#& Grumpy and don't trust a &#^@^+%#! Especially magical donations that occur because I "moved." WTF!!!!? 

I'm starting to ramble... This article gives a basic view of how Charity Miles works. But if you don't like to read, here's the skinny:

• Charity Miles the organization gets corporate sponsors to sign up for a dollar amount (say $50,000)
• Said corporate sponsor is on the hook to donate up to that amount based on actual mileage tracked by the app
• In return, the app highlights the community "efforts" of that corporate brand (e.g. backdoor sponsorship and direct advertising to you; the user)
• You run a mile? Sponsor pays .25 cents. Half goes to the charity. Half goes to the app (which they need to make the app work; app company also keep some stash for a charity overages: app errors – e.g. $52,000 worth of miles for a charity which a sponsor only signed up for $50,000) Charity Miles the app company covers the $2,000 overage. Makes them responsible to be an efficient app and assign sponsors appropriately for each run.

Now I could go into utter details about the metrics the app company keeps in order to assign corporate sponsors accordingly to prevent overages but I wont. Basically the app is legit. Just know 1/2 is going to the "FOR PROFIT CHARITY MILES APP COMPANY."

The charities?... Well you should do your research. 

There are only so many charities that works with Charity Miles. And like any skeptic, I have my opinion about some of the "major" charities. However opinions are like the hole in your rear that discharges waste, everyone has one (sometimes act like one)so I'll keep my opinion to myself. Just do research people for any and everything you get involved in. Just saying. And if you're lazy, here are a couple of places you can research charities.

• Charity Watch
• Charity Navigator
• Give Well

Chose your charities wisely.  Don't just blindly throw your time, efforts, and money around. But if you believe in that sort of thing, throw some of that $$$ my way.  Promise to split half of it with the kids or you can donate it directly to the Arizona Make A Wish foundation. :)

Back to this app.  It’s a win, win, win, win. Win for the for-profit app company. Win for the corporate sponsor that gets the tax deduction and direct to user advertising. Win for the charities. Win for the user that feels good for each $0.25 per mile donated (well it’s actually more like $0.125 because the other $0.125 goes to the app). Just saying. 

Research people. So yeah. There it is. Charity Miles in short. I’m kinda on board. Are you?  How do y'all feel about this?  Let me know.