Donation gift cards let recipients choose the charity

Just as the intangibility of travel can make it tricky to give as a gift, so the same can be said of charitable donations. That’s where the Causes Gift Card comes in, with a physical card for gift-giving purposes that lets the recipient decide which charity will benefit. Similar in many ways to Donny Card and Good Card from LavishGiving.com — sadly, both are now defunct, it appears — the Causes Gift Card is available in USD 25 and USD 50 denominations at Safeway and Vons grocery stores throughout California. Gift-givers simply purchase the (fully tax-deductible) card of their choice and give it to the recipient, who can then choose from more than a million nonprofits at Causes.com. The corresponding amount of money is then donated on their behalf via Network for Good to the charity of their choice. Causes, meanwhile, sends the cardholder a confirmation email with more information about the charity in question. Causes is currently working on enabling online sales of its gift cards for use anywhere in the world. One to partner with or emulate for the charity-minded masses near you…? (Related: ATM machines offer embedded charity with every withdrawal — A donation to charity for each hour wasted online — One-stop giving to a personal portfolio of charitable causes.)