AwardWallet receives compensation from advertising partners for links on the blog. The opinions expressed here are our own and have not been reviewed, provided, or approved by any bank advertiser. Here's our complete list of Advertisers.

Offers for the Aer Lingus Visa Signature® Card, Disney® Visa® Card, Disney® Premier Visa® Card, Iberia Visa Signature® Card, Instacart Mastercard®, The Hyatt Credit Card, Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful™ Card, Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card and United Club℠ Business Card are not available through this site. Some offers may have expired. Please see our card marketplace for available offers

Monthly cardholder statement credits have become one of the most-wasted perks in the credit card world. A $10 statement credit can quickly become a chore to use if the merchant isn't part of your everyday life. Before you know it, you've “wasted” that credit that you are effectively paying for with your card's annual fee.

My Instacart credits go unused more often than the other credits on my cards, since I'm not an Instacart user and prefer to shop for my groceries in person.

Thankfully, there's now a new, altruistic way to use your Instacart credits each month: Instacart's Community Carts. With this program, your credit helps local food banks instead of going unused. Here are all the details.

How Instacart Community Carts Work

You might know Instacart as the way to get your groceries delivered when you're too busy to go to the store yourself. However, Instacart has a long record of philanthropy, specifically targeting hunger relief.

Instacart has donated more than 14 million meals through its partnership with Feeding America since 2018. And in 2022, it launched Instacart Community Carts. Instead of shopping for your own pantry, you're picking items that your local food bank desperately needs. Then, an Instacart shopper selects and delivers the items to your local organization.

Community Carts allows you to donate groceries to over 300 food banks across the country. Since its launch, Community Carts has donated more than 430,000 grocery items to partners.

instacart community cart options
Screenshot of Instacart

Each order has a $10 minimum, but Instacart waives delivery and service fees on Community Carts orders.

Rather than “Insta” delivery of the food items, food bank orders are delivered in batches, so it can take up to five days for your order to be fulfilled. For tax purposes, a receipt is available by contacting your food bank and submitting your Instacart receipt.

How to Donate to Community Carts

If you're looking to donate to Community Carts, there are a few steps you should follow.

First, ensure that your card is enrolled in any Instacart credits that it might be eligible for. Next, head over to Instacart's Community Carts page and select a food bank. You can enter your ZIP code to see nonprofits serving your own area, but that's not required. You can donate to any food bank on the platform.

Then, add items from that organization's requested list until the cart clears at least $10. Check the order total before you confirm — delivery and service fees should be $0, and the statement credit should apply at checkout. If everything looks good, you can place your order.

Keep in mind you'll still spend (at least) a few dollars, but you're helping support local charities, which is worth the investment.

checkout instacart donation
Screenshot of Instacart

Which Credit Cards Offer Instacart Credits?

Several credit cards offer monthly credits with Instacart.

Instacart Mastercard®

The Instacart Mastercard® doesn't offer a recurring monthly credit like the cards mentioned below, but cardholders do receive 5% back on the first $6,000 in Instacart purchases each year. New cardholders can also take advantage of a welcome offer: Get a $50 Instacart credit automatically upon approval.

So, while there's no “free” credit with this option, you can earn 5% back on Instacart purchases for food banks.

Chase

Chase offers Instacart credits on a number of its cards through December 31, 2027. Each eligible card also features three free months of Instacart+. Make sure you activate it on the Chase co-brand activation page.

Here are the cards that offer $10 per month, up to $120 in credit each year:

In addition, two cards offer $20 credit each month, up to $240 per year. If you have either of these cards, you'll need to activate the benefit on the Ink activation page. They include:

Finally, United cards work slightly differently. You'll activate on the dedicated United card activation page.

No matter which card you have, credits don't roll over month to month, so make sure you're using them regularly.

Related: Free Instacart+ and Monthly Credits Now Available on These Chase Cards

Mastercards

Mastercard offers Instacart benefits across all its World, World Elite, and World Legend tiers, on both credit and debit products. Enroll on the Mastercard activation page. Odds are, you have an eligible Mastercard in your wallet without even realizing it.

Perks include:

  • Three complimentary months of Instacart+ for new members
  • $10 off the second order placed each month, which runs through January 31, 2027.
  • $0 delivery fees on grocery orders of $10 or more
  • $0 restaurant delivery fees on eligible orders of $25 or more

So, if you're using Instacart regularly and would like $10 off your second order to your local food bank, there can be nice savings for your donation.

While it likely isn't worth getting a credit card solely for these perks, here are some Mastercards to consider getting for the combination of the welcome offer, other card perks, and these Instacart and Peacock offers:

Citi Strata Premier® Card
Citi Strata Premier® Card
Welcome Offer Earn 60,000 bonus ThankYou® Points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months of account opening, redeemable for $600 in gift cards or travel rewards at thankyou.com.
Apply Now
Annual Fee

$95Rates & Fees

Credit Score

Excellent, Good

  • 10X on Hotels, Car Rentals, and Attractions booked through CitiTravel.com
  • 3X – Earn 3 Points per $1 spent on Air Travel and Other Hotel Purchases
  • 3X – Earn 3 Points per $1 spent on Restaurants
  • 3X – Earn 3 Points per $1 spent on Supermarkets
  • 3X – Earn 3 Points per $1 spent on Gas and EV Charging Stations
  • 1X – Earn 1 Point per $1 spent on All Other Purchases
IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card
IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card
Welcome Bonus Earn 140,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
Apply Now
Annual Fee

$99Rates & Fees

Credit Score

Excellent, Good

  • Earn up to 26 points total per $1 spent when you stay at an IHG hotel
  • 5X points per $1 spent on purchases on travel, gas stations, and restaurants
  • 3X points per $1 spent on all other purchases

The earning for spending at IHG hotels breaks down as follows:
  • Earn 10X points for being a IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card member
  • Earn up to 6X points from IHG® with Platinum Elite Status, a benefit of having this card
  • Earn up to 10X points from IHG® for being an IHG® One Rewards member (Being a cardholder is not required to earn this bonus for participating in the IHG® loyalty program)
Citi Strata Elite℠ Card
Citi Strata Elite℠ Card
Welcome Bonus Earn 75,000 bonus Points after spending $6,000 in the first 3 months of account opening.
Apply Now
Annual Fee

$595Rates & Fees

  • 12X – Earn 12 Points per $1 spent on Hotels, Car Rentals, and Attractions booked on cititravel.com.
  • 6X – Earn 6 Points per $1 spent on Air Travel booked on cititravel.com.
  • 6X – Earn 6 Points per $1 spent at Restaurants including Restaurant Delivery Services on CitiNights℠ purchases, every Friday and Saturday from 6 PM to 6 AM ET. Earn 3 Points per $1 spent any other time.
  • 1.5X – Earn 1.5 Points per $1 spent on All Other Purchases.

Bottom Line

Monthly statement credits aren't much of a benefit if you don't have a good reason to use them. If your Instacart credit regularly expires unused, Community Carts offers an easy alternative: Put that credit toward groceries a local food bank actually needs.

You'll generally need to spend a few dollars beyond the credit to meet the $10 order minimum, so this isn't completely free. But I'd much rather turn a credit I'd otherwise waste into a small donation than let it disappear at the end of the month. Going forward, that's exactly how I plan to use my unused Instacart credits.

For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: Citi Strata Premier® Card (Rates & Fees), IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card (Rates & Fees), and Citi Strata Elite℠ Card (Rates & Fees)

Tip of The Day
Did you know that when you delete a travel segment from your Trips timeline, we simply hide it, so that it doesn't automatically import again. If you ever wish to recover that segment, click Show Deleted Segments.
Screenshot of an AwardWallet Trips timeline highlighting the option to click "show deleted segments"

The comments on this page are not provided, reviewed, or otherwise approved by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *