Charity Begins at Home Page for Children

It’s never too early to start teaching children the value of charitable acts, and Kidcredits.com is a good place to begin.

Kidcredits.com, at https://www.kidcredits.com, was launched to “promote philanthropy in children at an early age” by providing an online opportunity for kids to learn about charities and make small contributions to their favorites.

After clicking through Kidcredits’ somewhat confusing home page, parents can register and open accounts for their children with a credit card.

The limit for each account is $50, and several users can be set up with the same credit card. However, parents determine exactly how much can be spent in each child’s account.

Children are then free to log on to and manage their personal accounts, donating as much as $10 each visit to their charities of choice.

Parents do not have to approve each donation, although they will receive an e-mail informing them of all activity.

It should be noted that Kidcredits, part of WebCredit, is not a nonprofit organization. It receives 10% of each transaction from the charity.

There are 10 charities registered with Kidcredits.com, including the Lighthouse Preservation Society, International Hearing Dogs Inc., Healing the Children Northeast, Project Open Hand and the Giraffe Project. Five more requests are being processed for inclusion on the site.

Kidcredits.com stresses online safety and privacy. Children cannot open accounts by themselves, and any information a parent enters about a child in the registration process is not disclosed to the charity. Parents can review a child’s account activity at any time.

For older family members who might be interested in a comprehensive listing of charities and their Web sites, check out Digitalcharity.com at https://www.digitalcharity.com.

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Karen Jones is a freelance writer specializing in children’s interactive media.