Giving away your senior discount, and other charitable tips

Three dollars can go a long way.

Moviegoers 65 and older who bought tickets at the Bainbridge Cinemas or the Bainbridge Performing Arts center in Bainbridge Island, Wash., could pay full price for their ticket and have the $3 senior discount redirected to a local charity that provides child care to low-income families.

The program, called the Boomerang Giving project, raised $630 in a two-month trial this year.

"It was a good start," said David S. Harrison, who co-founded the group with his wife, Cindy, and five friends. Last week, the concept went national with the nonprofit's official start, and a number of organizations already working on Boomerang Giving projects.

"We think the idea of providing baby boomers and older Americans the chance to 'give back' through donating discounts will become commonplace," said Harrison, 66.

The intent of the charity is to encourage older people in a financial position to forgo discounts they receive on public transportation, movies, restaurants and other outlets to invest in their community by donating, or redirecting, some or all of the savings to charities of their choice.

For now, the Boomerang Giving website allows consumers to track how much they save from their discounts over the course of a month or so. Then, they can select a nonprofit organization from the GuideStar database on the site and make a donation via the charity's partner, Network for Good.

The $335.17 billion Americans gave to charity in 2013 was up 4.4 percent from 2012, coming close to 2007's prerecession peak of $349.50 billion (adjusted for inflation).

According to a 2013 survey by Blackbaud, a software provider for nonprofits, baby boomers — those between the ages of 49 and 67 — make up roughly one-third of adults who gave, and contributed 43 percent of all the dollars donated in the United States, an average of $1,212 a year across 4.5 charities. But it is people 68 and older who give away more in cold cash: $1,367 was the average donated annually across 6.2 charities, making up roughly one-fourth of givers. By comparison, Generation X — people 33 to 48 — report giving an average of $732 across 3.9 charities.

Regardless of the amount of the donation, though, giving to charity can be a victory not just for the recipient but also for the donor. A study published last year in the International Journal of Happiness and Development by Lara B. Aknin of Simon Fraser University, in British Columbia and colleagues at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, and Harvard Business School, concluded that people feel good when they make a charitable donation — especially through a friend, relative or social connection.

An increasingly popular way for retirees to stay active mentally and socially is to join a local giving circle.

For Claudie Williams, 64, of Washington Crossing, Pa., it was retiring seven years ago from a three-decade career in marketing and business development with health care companies that spurred her to join Impact100 Philadelphia, a giving circle whose members pool their money to make grants to local organizations.

The circle consists of women whose ages range mostly from 45 to 80. Each donates $1,000 and their contributions are pooled to make one or more $100,000 grants annually to nonprofits.

To date, the circle has awarded grants totaling more than $1.2 million to 24 groups. Membership is expected to top 300 this year.

"If you're living on a fixed income in retirement, the urge to give may be strong, but it's critical to approach it as you would any investment," said Judith Ward, a certified financial planner at T. Rowe Price.

Contributions to a majority of public charities are deductible as long as the donation doesn't exceed 50 percent of adjusted gross income.

Retirees might even be able to bump up their contributions with some help from their former employers. For example, Johnson & Johnson donates $1 for every $1 retirees donate to qualified nonprofit organizations, up to a maximum $10,000 company contribution per year. IBM retirees can make donations directly from their IBM pensions.

Since there is very little regulation of the 1.1 million charities in this country, said Ken Stern, author of "With Charity for All: Why Charities Are Failing and a Better Way to Give," it is important no matter what your age to choose carefully.