I just had to buy a new HVAC system for my home... whoopeee! But, when buying it, I decide I would put in my credit card to get the bonus points and then I'll pay the card off with my equity line. I was looking over the various places I could buy stuff with my points... and it hit me. This is the apex of buying for buying sake. Consumerism feeding on itself. I got this sudden vision of the snake eating itself
And then it hit me - why can't I donate these points/cash back/air miles to various charities... who I know desperately need them?
So, that's it in a nutshell. Why can't I just give my points to whatever non-profit I wish to support? Why do I need to scan the web to find crap I absolutely do NOT need simply because I've earned the points to buy the crap? I know this would not alleviate our out-of-control consumerism... but it might leverage some good out of it all.
Someone told me that you can donate air miles to MAKE A WISH... I wonder if other 501c3s can do the same.
Did you know (as I've only read this - I haven't actually seen these with my eyes) that $7 billion a year in gift cards go unclaimed? Imagine putting even 1% of that into your communities.
Imagine an online portal that could bring these points/miles/gift cards together with a searchable database of non-profits...
Thoughts? I have no idea how or who could make this sort of thing possible... but thought I'd just toss it out there.