Sure, gift card incentives are intended to drive engagement and sales, encourage survey participation, recognize employees, thank customers, and help you reach your business goals. But that doesn’t mean they can’t also give back.
While volunteering and donating to charity are a common theme this time of year, with the holidays and Giving Tuesday on the calendar, your goodwill campaigns shouldn’t stop there. Helping others all year — from responding after a natural disaster and promoting environmental causes to supporting medical research and other charitable acts — is not only the right thing to do, it also highlights your reputation as a business that cares.
And that reputation can boost your customer acquisition and employee recruitment efforts. Whether they’re choosing a place to work or a place to shop, consumers are more interested than ever in helping charitable causes and seeking out companies that are committed to addressing social, political, and environmental issues. Our research finds that 60% of survey respondents would like to purchase gift cards that give back. Among younger generations, half of Gen Z’s and 43% of Millennials say they have turned down a job or assignment that didn’t align with their personal values, according to Deloitte’s Gen Z and Millennial Survey.
How can your gift card incentives contribute? With the wide selection in BHN Rewards’ catalog, you can easily help your recipients help others (and build brand goodwill in the process!). Here are three charitable options that you can offer customers, employees, survey respondents, and more.
READ MORE: Incentivize Recipients Who Can’t Accept Digital Gift Cards With E-Donations
When recipients redeem their reward, instead of choosing prepaid or gift card incentives, they can choose to donate the entire value. Our catalog includes e-donations for nonprofits supporting all kinds of causes, such as the Red Cross, the American Cancer Society, the Clean Water Fund, Habitat for Humanity, the National Park Foundation, the Special Olympics, and the World Food Program. Letting recipients choose the charity they want to receive the donation makes it that much more meaningful, since they can help an organization that is important to them.
Blackhawk Network (BHN) also offers exclusive Giving Good gift cards, which provide the best of both worlds. Recipients can spend these multi-brand cards at any of several retailers or restaurants, while BHN will donate 3% of the value at no extra cost to you. Each version of the card offers different brand options and benefits a different charity, including the American Cancer Society, Make-A-Wish, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Feeding America, and the Wounded Warrior Project. Adding these options to your gift card incentives lets your recipients use their rewards for themselves while your company still supports important causes.
Another option is to encourage recipients to claim a relevant reward and then donate it. Many charities accept unused gift cards. St. Jude, for example, accepts full or partially used gift cards to more than 200 merchants. Your recipients can also check with local organizations — give a grocery store reward to the area food bank or a Petco or PetSmart card to an animal shelter. That way, they can use the value of their gift card incentives to contribute to their own community.
Browse our full catalog to see all the charitable options you can add to your gift card incentives.
Hannah is a reformed journalist who has more than 15 years of experience and now focuses on content marketing for innovative tech companies.
Hannah is a reformed journalist who has more than 15 years of experience and now focuses on content marketing for innovative tech companies.
