Give It Up for Charity

Don’t wait for your $300 tax rebate to come in the mail this month. Donate it now.

In response to President Bush’s $1.35-trillion tax cut, several Web sites are encouraging taxpayers to share their windfall and give their checks to charity.

“Fund the fight against Bush and his agenda,” urges the site at https://www.taxrebatepledge.org.

There, individuals can promise to donate their rebate to a charity of their choice--but preferably one that is “somewhat left-wing,” said Houston Web site designer Tony Adams, who created the site.

Launched in June, it already has received more than a quarter-million dollars in pledges. Although individuals cannot donate directly on the site, it includes links to about 100 organizations that accept online credit card contributions.

Give for Change, at https://www.giveforchange.com, is matching as much as $1 million in donations made through the site until Nov. 1.

It accepts contributions for hundreds of nonprofit organizations that champion a range of causes--from human rights to animal rights.

However, only $300 and $600 donations (the amount of individual and couple rebates) are eligible for the matching grant.

A less partisan site, at https://www.donaterebate.org, acts as a conduit to https://www.helping.org, which features more than 700,000 organizations.

Run by Third Millennium, a Generation X think tank, the site targets those who haven’t decided what to do with their “found money,” said Richard Thau, the organization’s president.

“This is a chance to turn taxpayers into philanthropists,” he said.