If you’re sitting on a pile of travel or credit card rewards with no immediate travel plans, donating points and miles to a charity is an easy way to have a positive impact. And it’s a popular way to give: In 2021, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan members donated around 94 million miles to charities at an approximate cash value of $2.6 million, according to the airline.

Beyond the social benefits, donating points and miles also qualifies as activity on your loyalty account and can prevent the rest of your rewards from expiring.

But if you’re in the habit of maximizing points and miles, you might also want to stretch the value of your charitable donations as far as possible when donating points and miles. And by that measure, some methods of donating points and miles fall short.

Here’s what to consider before donating your miles and points.

The Downsides of Donating Points and Miles

Charity might receive less value for your rewards.

Many loyalty programs make it easy to redeem your points and miles for a donation directly through their rewards portals. But some portals — especially those from airline and hotel programs — don’t publish the cash value a charity will receive for your miles or points. That means the charity may receive less value for your donation than you’d think, while also making it hard to compare the value of a donation with the value of other options for redeeming your points.

Best Western Rewards is one of the few loyalty programs that publishes a cash value for charitable points donations. The charity will receive $2 for every 500 points you donate, for a point a value of 0.4 cent each. NerdWallet values Best Western points at 0.6 cent apiece, so you would receive 33% less value for your donation relative to using them for a hotel stay.

You won't get a tax deduction.

Generally, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) doesn’t count points and miles as a source of income, so if you donate them, you can’t deduct the cash value of your gift. This lack of favorable tax treatment for the consumer combined with the uncertain value you’ll often receive for miles and points donations should have you at least consider other avenues for your philanthropic endeavors.

Read the full article about donating points and miles by Craig Joseph at The Detroit News.