Donate balances from holiday gift cards, help a worthy cause

There’s probably not much you could do with a one cent balance on a Walgreens gift card. After all, penny candy hasn’t been a legitimate option in decades.

Collect enough of them, though, and that one penny could lead to notebooks for kids in an after-school program or a cup of coffee for a homeless person. Gift Card Giver, an Atlanta-based nonprofit organization, knows how to get a whole lot out of very little.

Since its inception more than three years ago, it has donated $70,000 in gift cards to 150 organizations locally and nationally, said project manager Gisele Nelson. About $5 billion in gift cards issued during the 2009 holiday season were misplaced, expired or lost to fees. Again this season, gift cards figure to be among the most popular holiday gifts. While new consumer protections are in place to make the rules and restrictions on gift cards more transparent, many will still go to waste.

That’s where GiftCardGiver.com comes in, said founders Jeff and Andre Shinabarger. Consumers send them cards that still have balances; it could be a $136 balance on a Tiffany’s gift card or $5 on a card from Walmart or Target. The organization collects all the cards and donates them to other nonprofits, such as the East Atlanta Kids Club, an after-school tutoring and mentoring program.

“They came to us and asked us, ‘What do you spend money on? What would be helpful?,’ ” said Executive Director Jill Sieder. “They gave us cards for Office Depot, Walmart and Target that we could use on office supplies, and food and snacks for the kids. It allows you to hone in on exactly what your needs are. You can go to the store and do the shopping yourself.”

During the floods that washed over parts of Cobb and Douglas counties last year, $2,500 was donated to a group doing home repairs. The Laundry Love Project washes clothes for people without homes. Starbucks gift cards affords them coffee while they wait. Locally, the Beltline Bike Shop uses the cards to help fix bikes for children. And that Tiffany’s card? It went to a silent auction for a group doing micro-finance loans in developing countries.

“We’d like to give away $1 million in gift cards,” Nelson said. “Every year it grows more and more. We try to give no less than $100 [at a time]. We want to help people all over Atlanta and all over the country. We’re happy to send cards wherever we can.”

Sieder said they don’t have to look far.

“It’s a nifty way to make a donation,” she said.