I’ve heard that 1% of spending is the standard credit card offer (it’s what I have on my current card), and the MIRI card offer is somewhat better than that. In several years of using my credit card, I only managed to accumulate $100 in rewards, so I suspect the $50 first-use donation is pretty significant. It also saves you the time of calling up the credit card company to get them to send you your rewards check and cashing the check, and apparently I can only redeem amounts in multiples of $50, which just makes it a bit more of a hassle. Also, I’m not sure whether I have to pay taxes on rewards program income (donating the money would probably allow me to deduct it from my taxes, but would probably count for the up to 50% of my income that I can donate and deduct, so the MIRI card would in theory allow me to donate slightly over 50% of my income without it getting taxed?)
(Edit: credit cards recommended by Mr. Money Moustache. One has a $400 signing bonus. “Travel hacking report” on how to take advantage of credit card offers for free plane tickets. “Credit card arbitrage”: take advantage of low introductory APRs and invest the money in interest-bearing accounts. Hm, these are unexpected ways in which having a high credit rating could be useful...)
On a somewhat related note, my understanding is that every year, you effectively have the opportunity to donate up to half your income from that year and deduct it from your taxes to charitable organizations like MIRI, and this is why you tend to see people donate a ton to charity in late December at the end of the year. This seems really significant for anyone interested in altruistic giving, as deducting income from your taxes could easily make, say, a ~$14K donation in to a ~$20K one (depending on your tax bracket). (Though, under standard employee tax arrangements, you’ll have to donate ~$20K during the actual fiscal year and then wait for a ~$6K tax rebate from the IRS after tax day next year. Also, I don’t know too much about tax laws, so I might be wrong about some of this.)
I’ve heard that 1% of spending is the standard credit card offer (it’s what I have on my current card), and the MIRI card offer is somewhat better than that. In several years of using my credit card, I only managed to accumulate $100 in rewards, so I suspect the $50 first-use donation is pretty significant. It also saves you the time of calling up the credit card company to get them to send you your rewards check and cashing the check, and apparently I can only redeem amounts in multiples of $50, which just makes it a bit more of a hassle. Also, I’m not sure whether I have to pay taxes on rewards program income (donating the money would probably allow me to deduct it from my taxes, but would probably count for the up to 50% of my income that I can donate and deduct, so the MIRI card would in theory allow me to donate slightly over 50% of my income without it getting taxed?)
(Edit: credit cards recommended by Mr. Money Moustache. One has a $400 signing bonus. “Travel hacking report” on how to take advantage of credit card offers for free plane tickets. “Credit card arbitrage”: take advantage of low introductory APRs and invest the money in interest-bearing accounts. Hm, these are unexpected ways in which having a high credit rating could be useful...)
On a somewhat related note, my understanding is that every year, you effectively have the opportunity to donate up to half your income from that year and deduct it from your taxes to charitable organizations like MIRI, and this is why you tend to see people donate a ton to charity in late December at the end of the year. This seems really significant for anyone interested in altruistic giving, as deducting income from your taxes could easily make, say, a ~$14K donation in to a ~$20K one (depending on your tax bracket). (Though, under standard employee tax arrangements, you’ll have to donate ~$20K during the actual fiscal year and then wait for a ~$6K tax rebate from the IRS after tax day next year. Also, I don’t know too much about tax laws, so I might be wrong about some of this.)