Do you have a pile of gift cards stuffed in an old draw? Chances are they will probably lie around for a while and the next thing you know, they expired. It’s hard to believe, but approximately $40 billion in unused gift cards is sitting in US kitchen and sock drawers, an average of $400 per household. What a huge waste of money.

Plastic Jungle, a company that sells, buys, exchanges, and donates gift cards agrees and recently started to raise money for nonprofits by encouraging people to donate their unused gift cards to DonorsChoose.org and other nonprofits. Here’s how it works.

Web visitors can list gift cards for sale on Plastic Jungle, or cash in cards with a minimum balance of $25 directly for up to 85% of the card balance. Users exchange their unwanted or partially used gift cards and donate the cards with a minimum balance of $10 to benefit a list of nonprofits or DonorsChoose.org, a really cool organization that connects people to public school classrooms in need. As a donor, you choose which project you would like your donation to support.

Plastic Jungle is also starting to expand their nonprofit outreach efforts to raise money for additional organizations. Sound interesting? Contact them for more info.

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