NORFOLK, Va. - A lot of charities are struggling right now with donations down because of the pandemic.
According to Charities Aid Foundation of America, charities are expecting their donations to be down at least 20% this year.
For parents, this may be a good opportunity to teach kids about giving back.
One easy way to do that is with an app called BusyKid, which teaches kids how to earn and manage money.
It's basically a modern version of the "chore chart."
Kids do chores to earn an allowance from their parents.
"I like to describe BusyKid as your kid's first job with direct deposit," explained creator Gregg Murset. "You give your kids chores to do. They do the chores. They mark them off. We keep track of all that ,and then on Friday, payday, we send the parent a message that says, 'Hey, it's payday - pay your kids this much,' and parents can just simply approve that, and then we pull the money into our system from their bank account or their debit or credit card."
Kids can then choose how to use that money: Spend, invest, save or donate.
"They literally can use some of their allowance money and give back to those causes that they think are important," said Murset.
If a kid decides to make a donation, they choose how much to donate.
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That money is then sent back to their parents to approve and actually send to the charity.
"I think anytime is a good time to talk to your kids about giving back, but especially now," said Murset, "This is a great platform for a family to kind of rally together, I think, and get on the same page and make a difference."
