The Donation-Payment Card Concept: How to Give Twice with One Card

Abstract

Currently, there are large amounts of unused funds associated with Prepaid Stored Value cards. These funds are being claimed by either the companies that issue the cards, or State Governments. This has given rise to many complicated legal issues whose outcome does not remove the basic fact that the consumer has no power of decision over the final destination of these funds. We propose a Donation-Payment card that automatically donates all unused funds to the consumer's preferred charity, which reinstates their choice and resonates with the innate altruistic human desire. The partnership with charities should increase significantly the number of people who use this Prepaid Stored Value card, ensuring its development as the fastest growing new payment instrument to arrive since the introduction of debit cards.

Keywords: Gift card, charity, charities, stored-value, prepaid, altruism

JEL Classification: L32, L81, Z13