July 2 (Day 124) Gift Card Giver

Over and over again, I am amazed by the compassion of people for helping others and doing good.  I am amazed at the ingenuity and creative ways people come up with to support the causes they care about. Today's post is one of those simple ways to make a difference - Wow, what a great idea! 

Four friends had an idea to collect gift cards and give them to people in need. They went to a gathering and asked 8 people how much money in unused Gift Cards they had in their wallets and walked away with $50 in Gift Cards to help people in need. Gift Card Giver was born.

Gift Card Giver is a new form of giving. The Gift Card industry has risen to be a 60 billion dollar industry. Ever wonder how many gift cards are unused? Between 10 – 15%. That means billions of dollars are sitting on gift cards, waiting to be used for good.

How many gift cards do you have sitting in your wallet? We guess you have at least $5 of unused gift cards right now. What’s 5 bucks going to buy you? Maybe a pair of socks…but 10 people giving 5 bucks will buy a kid a winter coat, or 1000 people giving $5 may give that same kid a warm bedroom to sleep in through the night.

We collect and distribute the cards to appropriate Non-Profit Organizations that can use those cards to help others. We have never used a card for ourselves and never will. This is a grass roots campaign that has created a new form of giving and you are an important piece to the idea coming to life.

We collect the donated gift cards and organize them in secure bins by company name. When we obtain a reasonable mass of dollars in gift cards (typically between $100-$500) we give those cards toward a project, person or organization that can best use that gift card for a significant need. Sometimes, we purchase the needed items ourselves and deliver the gift directly. Other times we give the individual or organization a tall stack of gift cards with a combined total dollar amount so they can go buy the needs themselves. Many people ask if we can combine gift card dollar amounts into one gift card? The answer is sometimes, depending on the technology of the company and the willingness of each unique store’s manager to work with us on the project.

After we contribute cards to projects, we share the experience with you in our Giving Stories. Without your small donation of gift cards, the stories would not be possible. If you would like to hear about all our Giving Stories, please sign up for email updates at giftcardgiver.com.

Get Involved: 
 
It is very simple to get involved:  Send your Gift Cards...


STEP 1: Use as much of your card as you want (or send a full card).
STEP 2: Write how much is left on your card using a permanent marker.
STEP 3: Place the card in an envelope and send it to us at:
Gift Card Giver
PO Box 17628
Atlanta, GA 30316


Host a Gift Card Giver House Party.... Find out how.
 
Make a donation to Gift Card Giver.
 
Gift Card Giver on FaceBook.
 
 
 
Source:  Gift Card Giver