Singapore Airlines is contributing 30 million miles and raising 70 million more in order to award up to 100 million KrisFlyer miles to first responders and essential workers.

The Miles of Good campaign calls on members to donate their miles, and donating even 1000 miles also lets the member nominate someone to receive miles. Unlike some donation programs, this isn’t donating miles that turn into cash or travel credits – it’s miles deposited into a first responder’s or essential worker’s account, which lets them redeem for travel on Singapore Airlines or its partner airlines (including Star Alliance partners, such as United) as well as for non-flight awards.

• Donate 1000 miles or more by November 20
  
• Nominate a first responder or essential worker by August 10 if you wish – this includes healthcare workers; public transport workers; supermarket employees; cleaners; as well as food delivery; courier and postal services personnel.
  
• The donor and nominee must reside in the same country or territory

You can donate miles and nominate miles recipients on the Miles for Good landing page.

For lock down purposes back in the spring – since I count as “media” – I was considered an ‘essential worker’. Not so for receiving Singapore Airlines miles with this promotion, so I won’t be asking you to nominate me!

Singapore Airlines will contact eligible nominees, who will have to provide their KrisFlyer frequent flyer account number and share their story on the Miles for Good page. The airline will verify that the donor and nominee country of residence matches and verify the nominee’s job (a spokesperson tells me they may ask for “a business card or letter to confirm employment from his/her company”).

Miles will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis. The number of miles nominees who receive miles in the U.S. will depend on the number of miles donated by US members and the total number of people nominated by members residing in the US. (“The miles donated at the USA-country level will be aggregated, and split between the nominees, up to a max of 60,000 miles for each nominee.”)

I love that Singapore Airlines is letting its members pick who benefits from donations, that there’s a real engagement element to a noble effort. This feels more meaningful in a way than just donating something and being done with it, as though it’s a mere afterthought.