These sites have a tendency to come and go. They also store your credit card information to make it easy for you to donate the next time. If these sites are compromised, your “donation” profile can be used to either solicit donations that are funneled to a bad person, or have you contribute to small campaigns from unknown people or causes without your realizing it. Small amounts usually fly under the radar and fall in line with those pesky recurring charges you forget about.

Some of the sites that may be in your list, browser passwords or listed on your credit card statements may include:

  • DoSomething.org
  • Kiva.org
  • GoFundMe.com
  • Funly.com
  • YouCaring.com
  • Generosity.com
  • Donorbox.org
  • Kickstarter.com
  • Crowdfunder.com

While you’re at it, go into Facebook, Twitter and other social sites where you share this type of thing to gain more support for your causes. You’ll need to go into settings to see what you have permitted to connect and post. When you permit this, they have access to all of your accounts, too. Be careful when you permit this stuff and remove them when you are done supporting.  Disconnect the app from being able to access your social accounts on your behalf.

It’s wise to go through all social sites and settings to see what apps are connected to your profile. You’d be surprised how fast they build up, even after you clean them up. Newspaper sites and the like. They all make use of your permission to see your contacts and your data.