A new picnic table funded through Group Gift

Recently, I found myself in a position where I was attempting to raise money for charity and needed a convenient way for people to make donations. Pico Blanco Scout Reservation, a camp located in the redwood forests of central California, was in need of new picnic tables for its campsites. We had the manpower available to build the tables, but funding was needed in order to purchase the materials. That is where GiftCards.com’s Group Gift functionality came into play.

Group Gift is a technology that allows groups of people to contribute funds to be given as a gift to a recipient. Once the Group Gift is set up, contributors simply visit a private label website designed specifically for the gift, and make their donation using a credit or debit card. When the target has been reached, the funds are all loaded onto a single prepaid debit card and sent to the recipient along with a customized greeting card containing messages from each of the donors. It is a simple way for groups of people to collectively give a gift.

While Group Gift is typically used for giving gifts to individuals it can also be used as a sort of Charity Registry, a place where individuals can easily donate money electronically. By setting up the Group Gift with the charity as the recipient instead of an individual, the final gift card containing all raised funds will be sent directly to the charity for their use. In order to raise funds to build picnic tables for Pico Blanco, I set up a Group Gift with Monterey Bay Area Council (the camp’s owner) as the recipient. I then contacted everyone that I thought would be interested in donating, and gave them the url to the donation page. From there, they donated what they could, and collectively we were able to raise the needed funds. Using Group Gift avoided the need for donors to physically mail cash or checks, and ensured that the collective funds were properly allocated towards the specified project.

Raising the funds through Group Gift eased the financial demand on the Monterey Bay Area Council, allowing them to focus on  funding camp programs and operations. Through the use of GiftCards.com, we were able to build five tables. These replaced old tables which were falling apart, ensuring that campers would have proper tables to use in their campsites for many years to come.