There is an estimated 5 to 10 billion dollars that end up unused on the $100+ billion of gift and prepaid debit cards sold each year in the U.S., according to industry studies. Donate My Card allows holders of these cards to donate those small, remaining balances to a partner charity of their choice. Through Donate My Card’s website (http://donatemycard.com), and patent-pending technology, holders of gift cards, rebate cards and pre-paid debit cards, for the first time, can easily, safely and securely donate those balances without spending additional dollars. Partner charities, like The ALS Association, are provided a new opportunity to raise funds, increase awareness of their missions and grow their donor bases. Donate My Card currently accepts any “open-loop” cards, those issued by VISA®, MasterCard®, Discover®, and American Express® and anticipates being able to accept “closed-loop” retail gift cards later this year.
The company plans to enable donations using closed-loop retail gift cards later in 2011, but it is not clear how that process would work. Still, Donate My Card is tapping into a larger trend of a secondary market in prepaid cards. As consumers try to spend down all the money on their prepaid cards and gift cards, and as they try to find uses for gift cards that they don’t want, different sites have sprung up to help them do that. The question remains whether or not the balances on these cards are large enough that they cover the costs of redemption in addition to being a donation.
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