By ALAN KRAUSS
Published: December 5, 2007
THIS year, the use of gift cards, many of which are bought and redeemed online, has merged with another venerable holiday tradition: charitable donations made in the name of gift recipients.
And in a new twist, several groups are offering charitable gift cards that allow the recipient to choose the organization that will receive the money given in his or her name.
And in a new twist, several groups are offering charitable gift cards that allow the recipient to choose the organization that will receive the money given in his or her name.
“This is a movement that has exploded in the last year,” said Trent Stamp, president of Charity Navigator, a Web site that uses information from federal financial filings to evaluate charities.
“It seems to be something that has caught on nationally,” he added. “People are realizing that giving somebody another sweater is not as good as giving them the opportunity to give to a charity they support.”
More than half of all consumers say they plan to buy gift cards this year, according to an annual survey by the National Retail Federation, which expects sales of the cards to rise 6 percent to $26.3 billion by the end of the season, from $24.8 billion last year. The average buyer is likely to spend a bit more on the cards too, the retailers’ group says.
Most gift cards are sold by merchants and used to buy clothing, toys, electronic devices and the like. But groups offering charity gift cards say their offerings are not that different. “Philanthropy and commercial products are converging with each other,” said Daniel B. Goodman, president of Charitygiftcertificates.org. “We’re offering a charity gift card as basically a commercial product.”
His group has been offering online gift-card buyers the option of letting the recipient choose where the money goes since 2004, Mr. Goodman said, and last year it received about $100,000 in such donations. But the introduction of plastic cards this year for gifts of $50 or more, he said, led to a big increase in donations, with more than $200,000 coming in before Thanksgiving.
Two new cards that allow gift recipients to choose where the money will go arrived on the market in November.
Network for Good, an Internet fund-raising organization founded by Time Warner, Yahoo and Cisco Systems, introduced the Good Card over Thanksgiving weekend.
The card can be sent either electronically, as an e-mail or as a plastic card. William E. Strathmann, chief executive of Network for Good, said it was the plastic form that really made the card compelling. “It’s nice to have something to put in the stocking,” he said.
TisBest Philanthropy, a Seattle nonprofit group, began selling its TisBest Charity Gift Card on Nov. 1. Erik Marks, a local lawyer and entrepreneur who is the founder and executive director of TisBest, said that 200 to 300 TisBest Charity Gift Cards had been sold and that sales were doubling every week. TisBest chose not to offer plastic cards for environmental and economic reasons. Instead, Mr. Marks said, he focused on using a simply designed Web site and evocative photographs to create the most satisfying emotional experience.
“When you pick a greeting card, the image on the face of it matters,” he said. “If I’m buying a gift for someone around the holidays and I’m spending $50 or $60 on the gift, what’s really important is the experience of buying the gift.”
Charges for the gift cards range from $3.95 at TisBest to $5 at Network for Good. At JustGive.org, another group that offers an electronic Charity Gift Certificate, there is a $5 fee for the first certificate and $2 for each additional one ordered at the same time. Charitygiftcertificates.org charges 50 cents a card plus 10 percent of the amount donated.
The groups also take different approaches in how the gift-card recipient can research and choose the charity that gets the money.
TisBest and Charitygiftcertificates.org offer screened lists of charities, while at Network for Good and JustGive, the money can go to any of the more than one million federally registered nonprofit groups in the United States.
“It seems to be something that has caught on nationally,” he added. “People are realizing that giving somebody another sweater is not as good as giving them the opportunity to give to a charity they support.”
More than half of all consumers say they plan to buy gift cards this year, according to an annual survey by the National Retail Federation, which expects sales of the cards to rise 6 percent to $26.3 billion by the end of the season, from $24.8 billion last year. The average buyer is likely to spend a bit more on the cards too, the retailers’ group says.
Most gift cards are sold by merchants and used to buy clothing, toys, electronic devices and the like. But groups offering charity gift cards say their offerings are not that different. “Philanthropy and commercial products are converging with each other,” said Daniel B. Goodman, president of Charitygiftcertificates.org. “We’re offering a charity gift card as basically a commercial product.”
His group has been offering online gift-card buyers the option of letting the recipient choose where the money goes since 2004, Mr. Goodman said, and last year it received about $100,000 in such donations. But the introduction of plastic cards this year for gifts of $50 or more, he said, led to a big increase in donations, with more than $200,000 coming in before Thanksgiving.
Two new cards that allow gift recipients to choose where the money will go arrived on the market in November.
Network for Good, an Internet fund-raising organization founded by Time Warner, Yahoo and Cisco Systems, introduced the Good Card over Thanksgiving weekend.
The card can be sent either electronically, as an e-mail or as a plastic card. William E. Strathmann, chief executive of Network for Good, said it was the plastic form that really made the card compelling. “It’s nice to have something to put in the stocking,” he said.
TisBest Philanthropy, a Seattle nonprofit group, began selling its TisBest Charity Gift Card on Nov. 1. Erik Marks, a local lawyer and entrepreneur who is the founder and executive director of TisBest, said that 200 to 300 TisBest Charity Gift Cards had been sold and that sales were doubling every week. TisBest chose not to offer plastic cards for environmental and economic reasons. Instead, Mr. Marks said, he focused on using a simply designed Web site and evocative photographs to create the most satisfying emotional experience.
“When you pick a greeting card, the image on the face of it matters,” he said. “If I’m buying a gift for someone around the holidays and I’m spending $50 or $60 on the gift, what’s really important is the experience of buying the gift.”
Charges for the gift cards range from $3.95 at TisBest to $5 at Network for Good. At JustGive.org, another group that offers an electronic Charity Gift Certificate, there is a $5 fee for the first certificate and $2 for each additional one ordered at the same time. Charitygiftcertificates.org charges 50 cents a card plus 10 percent of the amount donated.
The groups also take different approaches in how the gift-card recipient can research and choose the charity that gets the money.
TisBest and Charitygiftcertificates.org offer screened lists of charities, while at Network for Good and JustGive, the money can go to any of the more than one million federally registered nonprofit groups in the United States.
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