As you know, I’ve been giving money anonymously for years. But until now, I haven’t been able to do it in a big way, because I had not yet figured out quite how to give money anonymously.

Writing a personal check was out of the question. I once tried getting a credit card with a fake business name, and thought it was going to work until I realized that all my personal info was included with the fake name. Yikes!

In the past, I’ve generally resorted to mailing cash through the Post Office. But because I refused to put my return address on the card, I could never find out if it had arrived, let alone been enjoyed. It felt risky and unsatisfying.  It was not my best idea.

Happily, in the last month I have found two great ways to give money anonymously:

Option 1 is PayPal. It’s easy as pie to open an anonymous account, and your recipient receives the money instantly, which is nice. The drawback is that your recipient needs to have a PayPal account in order to receive it, and you need to know what their address is, which can be a problem. Also, PayPal skims 6% or so off the top, which is pretty annoying.

Option 2 is this utterly awesome website called Giving Anonymously. It is so simple: All you have to do is send the money to them by credit card, and then they write a check and mail it to your recipient, totally free of charge. They even have a way to get a thank-you phone message to you, all without ever busting your cover!

So, my plan for today, as soon as this post is published, is to fill out the form at Giving Anonymously. I’m going to direct the check to Mr. G. at his place of work.  I don’t know his home address or his e-mail, so hopefully they can still deliver it with just a work address and phone number. I’m sure it will all work out perfectly. There is even a place on the form to write a message, so I can put the web address in that spot.

I’m hopeful that with a little luck he’ll be logged in here sometime next week, reading his praises.

Thank you so much for following along, everyone. I’ve got to tell you, this site is about 5000 times more fun and exciting with you guys sharing the fun. I am so grateful to you all!

EDITED TO ADD: It’s done!  Money sent!  Woo-hoo!  I did have to revise the sum back down to $500 rather than $550, though.  It turns out that if you donate over $500, they add a 5% fee to your total.  I did chip in with some money to help cover their costs, but I didn’t want to give quite that much.  I think it’s for the best anyway, because I got the most fantabulous, exciting idea EVER for what to do with that $50.  I can hardly wait to tell you, but I’m going to keep you in suspense while I work out the details…

Stay tuned!