Feeling generous? Be a do-gooder and donate your gift cards to charity in celebration of Public Service Day.

Observed every year on June 23^rd, the United Nations’ Public Service Day celebrates the value and virtue of community service.

Plastic Jungle has partnered with nearly 90 organizations, both big and small. Whether it’s a world-renown association like the American Red Cross or your neighborhood high school, Junglers can choose to act globally or locally. Check out our Non-Profit Directory for the complete list.

Donating is easy! Here’s how:

1. Enter your gift card information in our Sell Your Gift Card form. Select the ”Donate to Charity” option under the Payout Choice.
2. Before you confirm your transaction, look for the blue and green ribbon to make a donation and select a nonprofit to support.
3. Print the FREE shipping label, and drop your gift card in the mail. Upon receipt, we will verify your card’s balance and process your donation. You will receive an email receipt for your kind tax-deductible contribution.

On the flip side, are YOU a non-profit that wants to benefit from our big-hearted Junglers? Participation in our fundraising program is FREE!

Getting started is easy! Here’s how:

Step 1: Please sign the Non-Profit Affiliate Agreement and return it back to us. You can scan and email it back or fax it to us at 408-608-2009.
Step 2: In addition to the contract we also need -

• Proof of 501©3 status
• A high resolution logo for the organization
• Your mission statement

Make a difference today and everyday. While Public Service Day is designated as June 23rd, you can donate gift cards all year long. What charity is near and dear to your heart? Tell us – we’d love to know. Maybe it’s the environment, hunger and poverty or disaster relief. Or perhaps it’s health and disease, children or the elderly. Plastic Jungle is pleased to help you connect with the organization of your choice.

“Be Good. Do Good.”

L.M. Heroux

January 19^th, 2011 In a segment entitled, “Ask the Experts” on the CBS Early Show, consumer correspondent Susan Koeppen was confronted with a question that many are facing in the wake of the December holidays: What can I do with all the gift cards I got for Christmas from stores I don’t shop at?

Susan Koeppen, an "expert" on the CBS Early Show

Ms. Koeppen was equipped with her reply: “You can swap or sell them … and on the website Plastic Jungle.com, you can donate your gift card and get the tax break for it.”

Ms. Koeppen is right. As the web’s largest secured gift card exchange, Plastic Jungle gives consumers the choice and flexibility to convert their gift cards into other forms of spending power, including charitable donations.

Included in the options for Payout Choice on the “Sell” page on Plastic Jungle are Check, Amazon.com Gift Card, PayPal, and Donate to Charity.

Gift Cards for Good: How It Works

Plastic Jungle calls our program which siphons off those possibly uncounted gift dollars to worthy causes “Gift Cards for Good”. It’s as easy as selling or trading unused gift cards for yourself, only in the end, you’ll have a receipt for a tax-deductible donation.

To begin, enter your gift card information in our Sell Your Gift Card form. Select the Donate to Charity offer. You will go through the transaction as if you were selling or trading your card to keep, but before you confirm your transaction, look for the blue and green ribbon to make a donation and select a nonprofit to support. You may donate all or part of your card’s trade-in value.

Print the FREE shipping label, and drop your gift card in the mail. Upon receipt, we will verify your card’s balance and process your donation. You will receive an email receipt for your generous tax-deductible contribution.

Just some of the organizations Plastic Jungle works with include: The American Red Cross, Autism Speaks, DonorsChoose.org, various preschool, Parochial and private high schools and education funds across the country, the Starlight Children’s Foundation and many more.

If you’d like to get your nonprofit organization involved in accepting donations via Plastic Jungle, see below, and don’t hesitate to Contact Us.

PJ for Nonprofits: How to Begin Utilizing Donors’ Gift Cards

For nonprofits interested in fundraising with Plastic Jungle, here’s a simple overview.

Plastic Jungle offers your organization a safe and simple way to turn hidden treasure into unrestricted funding to further your mission.

With Direct Sales, nonprofits collect gift cards from individual and corporate donors, via a gift card donation drive or by asking donors to bring a gift card as the cost of entry to an event. Plastic Jungle provides a prepaid envelope for nonprofits to send the cards in, and after verification, we send you a check (for up to 92% of the value of each card*).

Donors can specify your charity as they cash in gift cards at PlasticJungle.com. These Donations can be all or part of the proceeds from the gift card sale. Plastic Jungle will forward the funds to you, along with a donation report, by the 30th of the following month, and Plastic Jungle provides the donor with a receipt for his tax-deductible gift.

With Implement PJ Payments, you can accept merchant gift cards as a donation payment option from your website and raise funds with this highly incremental source of contributions. Learn more »

If you’re a nonprofit interested in learning more about Gift Cards for Good or PJ for Nonprofits, please contact our Business Development Team.

* Plastic Jungle will purchase eligible cards from your organization at our standard purchase rates, which are available on our website.

No, I’m not talking about using gift cards to pry open the bathroom door your daughter locked from the inside. (In fact, I wouldn’t recommend that at all! Turns out they snap into pieces.)

Let’s say you’ve got a gift card in your hand that you know has a balance on it, but there’s no way you’ll be able to take advantage of it: it’s for a steakhouse and you’ve been vegan for ages; it’s to a store you’ve vowed to stay away from because you consistently overspend there; it’s a gas card, and you’ve just decided to reduce your carbon footprint by moving to the city and only take public transportation.

Whatever. Just bypass the procrastination and realize that you can easily, quickly, and securely get something for that gift card on Plastic Jungle, and I’ll tell you how.

Sell Gift Cards for Cash, Funds in your PayPal Account, or an Amazon.com Gift Card

1) Did someone mention CASH?
That’s right. You can sell gift cards with as little as $10 remaining on them (it doesn’t even have to be an even number, it can be what’s left over after you’ve made a purchase) for CASH. Plastic Jungle honors gift cards from over 400 stores, from Walmart to Tiffany to PETCO to Bass Pro Shops. Once your gift card is verified (by mail or online), Plastic Jungle issues your check or deposits money into your PayPal account, whatever you choose. (Then, don’t forget that you can purchase discounted gift cards to get a deal at another one of those 400+ stores!)

2) Exchange gift cards for Amazon.com Gift Cards.
And what doesn’t Amazon.com sell? From ebooks to grills to groceries, Amazon.com is among the best places to have a store credit. Plus, in this gift card exchange, you’ll receive more than what you’d get in a cash payout – 5% more!

3) Trade in gift cards for Facebook Credits.
We know how fun and addictive those games get. From Farmville and MafiaWars to Happy Aquarium and Zuma Blitz, you can trade your gift card for Facebook Credits using the Plastic Jungle Gift Card Exchange App on Facebook. Just be logged into Facebook and search Plastic Jungle. You’ll see our fan page (Like us!) and the Application page.  When you’re on the App page, you’ll need to allow pop-ups. Then you’re good to start trading.

4) Convert gift cards to GamePoints.
At GamePoints you’re able to exchange gift cards for a virtual currency you can use on hundreds of social games. Log in at GamePoints.com by creating a free account, or using your Facebook account.

5) DONATE gift cards to your favorite charity!
You’ll find that Gift Cards for Good through Plastic Jungle is a very safe, convenient and efficient way to get the balance left on your gift card to your favorite charity or nonprofit. Have your charity check in with Plastic Jungle (at PJ for Nonprofits) to make the process even easier.

So don’t let unused gift cards waste away in your sock drawer when you have all these great options… sell them to Plastic Jungle today!

By now, you’ve probably heard about the devastating 7.0 earthquake and subsequent aftershocks in Port au Prince (Haiti’s capital) Tuesday afternoon.  Apparently this was the worst earthquake in the region in more than 200 years.  And while there have been many reports of the extensive damage that has occurred, the death and injury toll has yet to be quantified. From what I’ve read, the fault that broke and slid causing the earthquake is similar to the San Andreas fault here in California, so we have a particularly strong sense of empathy for what must be going on in Haiti right now. Our thoughts go out to those impacted by this disaster!

People all over the world are rallying support… We want to help!  If you happen to have unwanted gift cards perhaps tucked in a drawer somewhere, now might be a good time to dig them out.  You can donate your cards to the relief efforts via the American Red Cross Santa Barbara County Chapter on their givezooks! campaign page here – http://sbredcross.givezooks.com/campaigns/aid-for-haiti.  Plastic Jungle turns those gift cards into much needed funding for the American Red Cross International Response Fund, which provides immediate relief and long-term support through supplies, technical assistance and other support to help those in need. And, for every gift card donated in January, we will send the nonprofit an extra 5% contribution (so they will receive an extra 5% on top of the card’s cash-in value).

Each year at this time people take a look back at the gift wrap that flew through the house and, hopefully, get some time to slow down in the wake of the shopping dash.

One of the most common items beneath the gift wrap is a gift card. Being in the gift card business, as we are, it’s a busy time of year.   If you were at our house, my wife likes to hide them in larger boxes and add a lot of filler to the box.  This always gets the nieces and nephews to act a bit more surprised.  My kids are completely wise to it, however, and have already made their spending plans before the gift wrap has hit the floor.

Many people do find, though, that the gift card they received may be to a store that they’re not excited about visiting.  According to a recent survey, about 1 in 3 gift card recipients state that they have a card they don’t intend to use.  I call this trapped money.  It’s on the card waiting to be spent but perhaps not by the person who currently holds it.  Every year, about $8 Billion (yes, with a ‘B’) in gift cards meet this “trapped” fate.

On Plastic Jungle, you can get cash for the card you don’t want.  You may know that already.  What you may not know is that a great way to redeem a gift card is to give it to charity – or you can donate part of its ‘cash in value’ to a nonprofit.

Even more at this time of year, it’s an opportunity to redeem the card to benefit someone who didn’t have as much gift wrap left around the tree – and redeem it in a way that gives a little bit more (in the form of warm fuzzies and a tax deduction).  As long as the remaining balance is greater than $25, you can choose from more than forty charities to support when you sell a card on Plastic Jungle.  Simply go to our ‘Sell Your Gift Cards’ form and look for a blue and green ribbon when you are completing your transaction.

What’s your favorite cause?  We’re adding more and more organizations to Plastic Jungle every month.  If you have one to recommend, please post a comment below or let us know by going here.