Venmo update helps you spread the holiday cheer via new charity section

In the spirit of the holiday season, Venmo is updating its mobile app to make it easier to donate to local charities.

By first tapping the search bar on the Venmo app, you will see a new selection titled “Make a Donation”. There, you will be met with a wide variety of trending, local charities. Specific categories are also present, including, but not limited to, animals, the environment, homelessness, and veterans. You can choose to pay with either your in-app balance, link bank account, or whatever credit card you have on file, according to the announcement (opens in new tab).

You do have to pay a small transaction fee (opens in new tab) of 1.9 percent plus an extra $0.10, but there’s no setup. You can start donating right away.

All of the charities in Venmo’s new section have been approved by parent-company Paypal, but we still recommend doing some homework and making sure you’re donating to a good place. Some charities, like the Salvation Army, sport a verification blue checkmark. This means the charity provided all the necessary paperwork to Paypal, proving it’s legitimate. From what we could tell, most charities have yet to be verified.

The update is currently available for download on both iOS (opens in new tab) and Android (opens in new tab). And within the coming weeks, Venmo will be adding a feature to share donations made with your friends as a way to encourage them to do the same. 

More changes

In addition to the new charities section, Venmo is redesigning its peer-to-peer payment screen with some quality-of-life changes that make sending (or better yet, receiving) money easier to do. 

Now, you will see the profile picture of the person you’re sending money to instead of just the name, and the dollar amount will sport a bigger font for easier viewing. Sending and requesting money will be made easier with a new Plus button next to a recipient’s profile picture. By tapping the button, you can add more people for one big transaction instead of doing it one by one.

The Send Money redesign is rolling out today alongside the charities section, however other reports (opens in new tab) state this particular change may not reach all users at once. It’ll arrive in a later wave, at which point, you’ll have to update the app a second time.

And with Black Friday almost here, Venmo’s redesign couldn’t have come at a better time. TechRadar has a massive list of Black Friday deals that you should check out. It ranges from laptops to gaming consoles and even mattresses.