December 15, 2008 | Read Time: 1 minute
If you dislike rebates because of the paperwork involved, apparently you’re not alone.
More Americans have stopped taking advantage of rebates in recent years, says Brian Grayek, a vice president at the software company CA. So his company decided to turn the process of sending back rebates into a simple way to donate to charity.
The company officially kicked off a program last week to enable some of its customers to donate their rebates to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which CA (formerly known as Computer Associates) has long supported.
When they purchase software designed to protect children from online predators, customers have the option to direct the value of the rebate to the charity. For its part, CA donates $1 from the sale of the product to the charity, and another $5 if consumers sign up to automatically renew their software the following year.
Donors have the option of having their name appear at the bottom of a Web page the company has created to draw attention to the fund-raising effort.
Part of the reason the fund-raising effort has been successful, says Mr. Grayek, is the that the software’s goal of protecting children clearly connects with the mission of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
John Walsh, host of the TV show America’s Most Wanted and the charity’s co-founder, has endorsed the product and is helping to publicize the fund-raising campaign.
Mr. Grayek says that companies interested in encouraging consumers to donate their rebates need to find relevant charities to work with.
“The product has to tie in with the message, and the message has to be easily understood,” says Mr. Grayek.
What do you think of the idea of donating rebates to charity? Have you seen other examples of this?
