Saturday, December 12, 2009

Charity Gift Cards Changing Giving? We Think So...

Want to know more about why TisBest exists and why it matters? Read Erik Marks' thoughts on the topic in Kristi Heim's article in The Seattle Times entitled "Q&A with TisBest Founder on Charity Gift Cards." Read the full article here: http://ow.ly/Lirw.

Erik addresses many of the common questions surrounding TisBest and the Charity Gift Card category including:
  • Why are charity gift cards better than direct donations?
  • TisBest has less than 300 charities to choose from, why not thousands or millions?
  • How does TisBest find organizations for the list?
  • What is the $1.95 transaction fee for?
One of my favorite responses is Erik's answer to the question, "How are commercial products like charity gift cards changing philanthropy?" He talks about the "democratization" of philanthropy that allows individual donors to have a greater direct impact on the causes they believe in. Plus, he says, "It's making philanthropy more fun and more accessible to more people."

The article reminded me of a great TED.com talk by Katherine Fulton entitled "You are the future of Philanthropy." If you have 12 minutes to spare, it's worth seeing:


TED plug: TED.com is a fascinating website with hundreds of riveting talks from leading thinkers and inspiring world changers.

Thanks for reading and giving a better world,
Chad Edwards
Charity and Community Relations Manager

No comments: