Brilliant—A Gift Card That Doesn’t Work At Any Store In Town.

Who doesn’t want to give back? We all like to think that most people are inherently good and, if given the opportunity, would donate either time or money to worthy causes. That said, people are also busy, perhaps now more so than ever. There are tweets to tweet, Facebook posts to post, blogs to read, and trends to follow. We also need to find time for those family, friend, and job things that seem to take precedence in many of our lives (for some reason!)


But what if giving were made easy? Isn’t that what holds us back from giving back—not having the resources to do something good simply and efficiently?

This holiday season, I received a truly inspired gift from a friend via globalgiving.org. GlobalGiving defines itself as:

“A charity fundraising web site that gives social entrepreneurs and non-profits from anywhere in the world a chance to raise the money that they need to improve their communities.”

The front of the elegantly designed white gift-card holder reads, “Brilliant. A gift card that doesn’t work at any store in town.” The back of the card holder offers the headline, “But gladly accepted in over 100 countries throughout the world.”

Below that is a biodegradable gift card that, after removal from the holder, reveals the instructions:

1. Go to www.globalgiving.org/redeem.

2. Find a project you are passionate about.

3. At checkout, select “pay with a gift card.”

4. Feel good about changing the world.

Donators (and gift card recipients) are urged to “select the projects you want to support…and you'll get email updates from the project so you can see how your gift is making a difference.”

Everyone loves getting presents, but this was a different sort of present that really made me feel good. Aside from being impressed as a writer/creative with its cleverly written copy and tasteful design, I also love the idea behind it. Both giver and receiver benefit, as does the global community at large. It’s the type of Big Idea creatives aspire to stumble upon and the sort of big idea we work to produce at Extrovertic. In pharma especially, we strive to employ these same themes—simple, elegant, and easy to understand and implement.

You can do it anytime, but isn’t this holiday season a great opportunity to visit globalgiving.org and give back, simply?

-Jamie