At the time of this writing, COVID-19 has now become a global pandemic, and thousands of nonprofits are working hard searching for solutions. That’s why our team has put together this list of nonprofits that support COVID-19 relief and research. Some of these nonprofits are even working on a community level which may be impacting you and your loved ones directly.
At Giving Assistant, we want to help everyone give more. When you shop with us and donate your free cash back earnings to a COVID-19 relief nonprofit, you’re making a difference, at no extra cost to you. Together, every cent we give adds up quickly.
Read on to learn how these important nonprofits are helping, and how you can help through volunteering, direct donations, or cash back donations.
List of 9 Nonprofits Supporting COVID-19 Relief
1. CDC Foundation
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the leading public health institute in the nation. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, this organization is dedicated to preventing the spread of diseases (including COVI-19) and researching vaccines to protect the community.
How They’re Helping:
The CDC has been providing factual, unbiased information, and real-time updates on the spread of COVID-19 via their website. This includes a live map to show the numbers of confirmed cases reported globally, suggestions on how to prepare your household for isolation, who to contact if you experience COVID-19 symptoms, and many other helpful resources.
Donate if You’re Concerned About…
✅Vaccine Research
✅Reliable Information Sharing
✅Online Resources
✅Funding Research
✅Deploying Medical Officials
How to Donate to The CDC Foundation
- Giving Assistant members can donate their free cash back by selecting The CDC Foundation
- Donors can directly make donations by visiting The CDC Foundation.
- To donate by phone, call 404-653-0790
Other Ways to Help
If your employer or a spouse’s employer offers gift matching, you can double or even triple your gift to the CDC! You can also follow the CDC on Twitter to learn more.
2. No Kid Hungry
No Kid Hungry is an incredible organization that ensures every child receives the healthy food they need to thrive. Launched in 2010, this organization supports local communities nationwide fighting to end childhood hunger.
How They’re Helping:
With schools shutting down and children losing access to the school lunch system, No Kid Hungry has taken the lead to support children and families in local communities. This organization is offering grants to local school districts and nonprofits to ensure every child gets what they need: a healthy and hearty meal that will support their immune system. Check out their efforts here.
Donate if You’re Concerned About…
✅Feeding the Hungry
✅ Funding Food Relief
✅ Local Schools and Nonprofits
✅ Children and Families
How to Donate to No Kid Hungry
- Giving Assistant members can donate their free cash back by selecting No Kid Hungry
- Donors can directly make donations by visiting No Kid Hungry
- To donate by phone, call 1-800-222-1767
Other Ways to Help
If your business or workplace would like to contribute as a group, there are options to give back by donating, gift matching, and even speaking up for kids. Learn more about how you and your organization can help.
3. American Red Cross
Special Note: Blood donations are desperately needed right now. Please consider donating blood in addition to making your cash donation.
Always the first in line during a tragedy, the American Red Cross is a national organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education. In fact, the American Red Cross responds to an emergency every eight minutes.
How They’re Helping:
The American Red Cross has been working globally to:
- Provide relief to medical professionals
- Recruit volunteers to assist with support lines
- Provide food to those in isolation
- Send nurses and volunteers to screen and test patients
- Red Cross Disaster Teams serving communities during COVID-19
Additionally, the American Red Cross has contributed over $700,000 to the Global Coronavirus Relief Fund to help mitigate the situation.
Donate if You’re Concerned About…
✅ Global Health
✅ Medical Teams
✅ Treatment
✅ Local Communities
How to Donate to the American Red Cross
- Giving Assistant members can donate their free cash back by selecting The American Red Cross
- Donors can directly make donations by visiting The American Red Cross
- To donate by phone, call 1-800-435-7669
Other Ways to Help
Currently, the American Red Cross needs more blood donors than cash donations. Use this tool and make an appointment to donate blood near you.
4. Project HOPE
Project HOPE is an international healthcare nonprofit that empowers health workers and provides healthcare and humanitarian relief around the world. They offer direct healthcare services, assistance and training for healthcare centers, and build healthcare access for vulnerable communities.
How They’re Helping:
Project HOPE is working to provide masks and additional protective gear to doctors and nurses on the ground in America, while organizing support for screening in underserved communities. The group is also training healthcare workers in North Macedonia, Kosovo, Ethiopia, Indonesia, and Colombia, and is collaborating with Brown University on a COVID-19 training program.
Donate if You’re Concerned About…
✅Global relief
✅ International developing communities
✅ Hospital preparedness
✅ Medical supply inventory
✅ Mobilizing medical teams
How to Donate to Project Hope
- Giving Assistant members can donate their free cash back by selecting Project Hope.
- Donors can directly make donations by visiting Project Hope
- To donate by phone, call 1-844-349-0188
Other Ways to Help
Share Project HOPE’s GoFundMe for COVID-19 response on social media. Volunteer with Project HOPE directly.
5. The Salvation Army
The Salvation Army provides food distribution, disaster relief, rehabilitation centers, anti-human trafficking efforts, and a wealth of children’s programs to the most vulnerable populations in the United States.
How They’re Helping:
Right now, they’re providing food, adequate care and hygiene, updated information, and medical resources to the most at-risk communities in the U.S. The group is working with healthcare and government officials to create “new hygiene and cleaning protocols” that ensure the safety of the communities they serve.
Donate if You’re Concerned About…
✅ Food security
✅ Children and families
✅ Local communities
✅ Homelessness
How to Donate to the Salvation Army
- Giving Assistant members can donate their free cash back by selecting The Salvation Army.
- Donors can directly make donations by visiting The Salvation Army.
Other Ways to Help
Donate food, non-perishables, clothing, household goods, and even cars to help the Salvation Army provide for families who may not be able to access goods due to quarantines, decreased income, and job loss. Drop off your donations, or see if pickup is available in your area. Note that as of March and April 2020, many locations are not doing pickups right now due to quarantines, but select locations are still accepting drop-offs. Many chapters are also in need of volunteers right now: use Google or a site like VolunteerMatch.org to look for Salvation Army volunteer opportunities in your area.
6. International Medical Corps
International Medical Corps is a global humanitarian nonprofit working in 30 countries to provide disaster relief, medical aid, and training. Their mission is “to improve the quality of life through health interventions and related activities that strengthen underserved communities worldwide.”
How They’re Helping:
International Medical Corps is working with local and national health departments around the world to provide medical expertise, equipment, triage, and treatment for COVID-19. Their central relief efforts in their active countries are training frontline health workers, sending medicines and medical supplies (including protective equipment), organizing community outreach, and developing an epidemic response team.
Donate if You’re Concerned About…
✅ Global relief
✅ Disaster relief
✅ Medical teams
✅ Medical training
How to Donate to the International Medical Corps
- Giving Assistant members can donate their free cash back by selecting the International Medical Corps
- Donors can directly make donations by visiting The International Medical Corps.
- To donate by phone, call 424-252-6008
Other Ways to Help
Volunteer with International Medical Corps’ emergency response team, non-medical international teams, domestic administrative or programmatic teams, or graduate internship program. Pursue available openings to join the Corps’ domestic or global professional staff.
7. City Harvest
City Harvest is New York City’s largest food rescue organization. The nonprofit collects surplus food and delivers it, free of charge, to hundreds of food pantries and community hubs, providing over 1.2 million New Yorkers with access to nutritious food.
How They’re Helping:
City Harvest‘s trucks are all over New York City, accepting and delivering thousands of pounds of food per day. Right now, the nonprofit is distributing groceries at their nine Mobile Markets, pre-bagged to minimize group contact, and have not changed their usual schedule of operation.
Donate if You’re Concerned About…
✅ Food security
✅ Children and families
✅ Local communities
How to Donate to City Harvest
- Giving Assistant members can donate their free cash back by selecting City Harvest.
- Donors can directly make donations by visiting City Harvest.
- To donate by phone, call 646-412-0600
Special Note: As of 3/30/2020, their board of directors is matching every $1 donated with $2 of their own, up to $500k!
Other Ways to Help
As City Harvest increases its food rescue operations, there’s a dire need for volunteers, especially at their food warehouse and storage facility in Long Island City, Queens.
Click here to find other ways to give back to New York City residents.
8. West Seattle Food Bank
The West Seattle Food Bank is a nonprofit dedicated to providing food, diapers, pet food, emergency financial assistance, and other basic needs to families and individuals residing in the West Seattle, Washington area.
How They’re Helping:
The West Seattle Food Bank is currently working to provide financial assistance to thousands facing eviction or utility shut-offs, as well as working with students affected by school closures. They’re also pre-bagging groceries for pick-up to help support social distancing efforts, and increasing delivery services.
Donate if You’re Concerned About…
✅ Food security
✅ Children and families
✅ Local communities
✅ Homelessness
✅ Emergency relief
How to Donate to the West Seattle Food Bank
- Giving Assistant members can donate their free cash back by selecting the West Seattle Food Bank.
- Donors can directly make donations by visiting the West Seattle Food Bank.
- To donate by phone, call 206-932-9023
Other Ways to Help
Donate your time to help deliver food in the West Seattle area. Host a birthday fundraiser on Facebook for the Food Bank. You can also visit their website to learn more about how you can help them expand their reach as they transition their services to follow COVID-19 guidelines.
9. Oregon Food Bank
Oregon Food Bank collects food from manufacturers, farmers, wholesalers, retailers, individuals, and government sources to distribute to families in need statewide, and in some of Washington State.
How They’re Helping:
Their 1,400 pantries and food assistance sites remain open; meanwhile, increased cleaning and new safeguards are in place to help minimize contact among groups of people, so that the food bank can continue to serve the same population safely.
Donate if You’re Concerned About…
✅ Food security
✅ Children and families
✅ Education
✅ Local communities
How to Donate to Oregon Food Bank
- Giving Assistant members can donate their free cash back by selecting the Oregon Food Bank.
- Donors can directly make donations by visiting the Oregon Food Bank.
- To donate by phone, call 503-853-8727
Other Ways to Help
Participate in Oregon Food Bank’s #EmergeStronger Community Challenge, and help raise $1,000,000 to boost their capacity to respond to locals affected by COVID-19. Oregonians can also sign up for individual volunteer shifts to help with food distribution. (Volunteer groups will be limited to fewer than 10 people.)
Oregonians can also spread the word on social media that food is available for those who may face challenges during this time.
Your Everyday Online Shopping Can Help Nonprofits Fight COVID-19
It’s as easy as signing up for Giving Assistant and installing our browser extension. The next time you make a purchase online for anything, the browser extension will not only save you money with coupon codes (automatically applied!)—it will also donate any cash back you earn to a nonprofit that matters to you (and that needs you).
Every cent adds up right now.