Abstract:
A donation added value merchant incentive card system that defines a methodology for generating charitable donations through an organization authorization scrip card. The system allows pre-selected cardholders to load and reload monetary funds into a card associated account through multiple venues for use in participating card name merchants for payments of goods and services therewith. A pre-determined percentage based on the card&#39;s loaded value as an incentive, which is received from the merchant, is paid to the charitable card issuer and then paid to the card associated entity, in this example a non-profit organization, leaving the user&#39;s scrip card value intact for use with the merchant.

Description:
[0001]    This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/172,310, filed Jun. 8, 2015. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    1. Technical Field 
         [0003]    This invention relates generally to the field of monetary transfer, and more specifically to a loadable store value card instrument that provides a portion of the value to a fundraising beneficiary. 
         [0004]    2. Description of Prior Art 
         [0005]    Charitable giving provides a funding avenue for individuals to financially aid a variety of service-oriented organizations. A variety of charitable fundraising methods and systems have been developed to utilize integrated automatic donations tied to charitable gift cards and the like. Examples of such systems can be seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,581,041, 5,621,640, U.S. Publications 2004/0182922, 2005/0261931, 2009/0283587, 2010/0211500 and 2013/0254106. 
         [0006]    In U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,581,041 and 5621,640 the systems are directed to methods of charitable giving and investing and automatic philanthropic contributions systems. 
         [0007]    U.S. Publication 2004/018922 discloses a system of loadable store value cards with a portion of card value deducted to benefit a fundraising organization. U.S. Publication 2005/0261931 discloses a system of prepaid gift cards sold when a portion of the moneys collected is kept by the fundraiser with the remaining proceeds returned to the program coordinator. 
         [0008]    U.S. Publication 2009/0283587 claims a charitable gift giving system wherein a gift card is purchased and a donation amount is deducted from the card. U.S. Publication 2010/0211500 is directed to a charitable gift card wherein a giver, through the card, give a person a gift and a donation to charities simultaneously. 
         [0009]    Finally in U.S. Publication 2013/0254106 the method is illustrated to purchase a gift card and make a donation using a computer to establish two accounts, one for the online merchant and a second for distribution to a charity for the value of the gift card. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0010]    A system to issue value added merchandise cards that can be used to purchase goods and services from card designated merchants through a service organization, such as a church. The scrip cards are keyed to an account wherein the full value of the card is redeemable through the vendor with donations made to the church from the incentive received from the vendor, based on an agreed upon donation percentage. The scrip cards are obtained through the church&#39;s association with a scrip card provider that manages and enables funds transfer and card distribution. The scrip cards are activated through multiple access portals with value amounts added from user direct transfer of funds electronically through an enabling card management platform, maintained by the scrip card provider through interlocking agreements with merchants, non-profits and card users. 
     
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0011]      FIG. 1  is a block flow diagram of the scrip card system of the invention. 
           [0012]      FIG. 2  is a block flow diagram of the fundraising distribution associated with the scrip card system of the invention. 
       
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0013]    A donation added scrip card method and system  10  of the invention that provides a registered cardholder  11  a store value scrip card  12  that the cardholder  11  can selectively add monetary funds  13  from their personal financial accounts  14  through a secure account management website  15 . An account associated with the scrip card  12  is set up for each cardholder to enable fund transfer and tracking data. The fund loaded card may be used to pay for goods and services at the merchants  16  defined with the scrip card  12  predetermined percentage distribution based on the card&#39;s monetary value is directed to card member&#39;s organization, in this example a church or non-profit  17 , and purchasing credits to the merchant  16  leaving the cardholder  11  full access use of the card&#39;s loaded funds. 
         [0014]    Referring to  FIG. 1  of the drawings, a block flow diagram can be seen illustrating the basic method steps of the scrip card system  10  of the invention. In this example, cardholders  11  are selected from church members ID number (offering envelope no.), which are determined and accessed through an existing donation database  18  by distribution of offering envelopes  19 , which have an individual keyed registration number  20  associated offering envelope no. therewith. It will be evident that other ID registration avenues may be used, such as Social Security or other personal sequential identification numbers assigned to the card. 
         [0015]    A scrip card provider  21  provides registration, distribution and administers the scrip cards  12  by creating a user&#39;s card account  22  and database records for the organization issued cardholders  11 . The scrip card provider enters into agreements with card directed merchandiser  16  and cardholder organizations (in this example the non-profit  17 ) with a determined donation percentage  23  and distribution of funds to the non-profit organization  17 . 
         [0016]    Card directed merchandisers  16  agreements with the scrip card provider  21  provides named merchant participation and authorization to accept and recognize store value scrip cards  12  linked to the card member&#39;s organization and optionally to sign up cardholder. 
         [0017]    The scrip card provider  21  card system management provides the platform to activate the scrip card  12  online by providing funds transfer protocols  24  with financial institutions  25  that hold and transfer funds for the card account holders. Fund transfers (loading scrip cards  12 ) from cardholders&#39; financial accounts  14  include but are limited to checking accounts  14 A, savings accounts  14 B, and personal credit cards  14 C. The card issuer (scrip card provider  21 ) therefore enables transfers to the scrip card  12  according to cardholder instruction by multiple access portals, including direct online website access  26  and supported phone apps  27 . 
         [0018]    Third party authorization account access is also provided, by example the non-profit business manager  28  who would help in accessing and loading of the scrip cards  12  and associated incentive rewards by random distribution at the church, as will be described in greater detail hereinafter. Scrip card value loading (funds transferred) can also be obtained from the scrip card provider  21  and may also be available at point of use through the merchandiser  16 . 
         [0019]    Funds accountability is based on determined fund source flow. Funds are transferred from card member&#39;s  11  financial accounts  14  as noted, to load the scrip cards  12 . In this example, the merchandiser  16  receives 95% of the transferred funds. The participant organization (non-profit organization  17 ) receives, in this example, 5% of the transferred funds. The scrip card value obtained (purchasing value) is the full 100% of the transferred amounts originally authorized by the cardholders. The non-profit organization directed funds, 5%, moves through the scrip card provider  21  management accounts, which may draw a service fee percentage, depending on the agreement protocols enabled by the church participation. 
         [0020]    Availability of automatic repetitive fund transfer to the scrip cards  12  may utilize the same access venues as used to set up the initial fund transfers, utilizing the established cardholder&#39;s associated accounts  14 . Direct user fund transfer  30  (reloading of the card) can also be accomplished by predetermined scheduling for incremental reoccurring transfers on a weekly  30 A, monthly  30 B, or whatever time sequence to be determined by the cardholder. 
         [0021]    The scrip card  10  of the invention provides for the scrip card provider  21  to maintain and direct funds with a financial authorization. All funds directed to and held by the financial institution  25  after which the scrip card provider  21  distributes to the agreed to incentive percentage  23  to the church  18  and the purchasing credits (funds) to the authorized merchandiser  16  associated with the scrip card  12  designated by the agreement with the scrip card provider  21 , which provides exclusivity with the church  18  and merchandiser  16 . 
         [0022]    This oversight provides and enables accountability of the funds transfer to the participating churches  18 , thereby supplying the churches  17  with individual accumulative monthly amounts for each cardholder  11  (church member) as transferred in a reporting system to church financial management. 
         [0023]    Scrip card provider  21  distributes the scrip cards  12 , in this example by mailing to each non-profit organization member and provides in addition to online access help as noted, a phone hotline  29  to help cardholders  11  and assist them in all aspects of the scrip card use, as hereinbefore described. 
         [0024]    Part of the system to encourage members to sign up for scrip card  12  would be a recorded message from pastor of the church. 
         [0025]    The amounts of the funds transferred to the scrip card  12  may be protected by specific dollar amounts, in value increasing increments, for example $25, $50, $100, $150 in fifty dollar increments up to $600. This gives the cardholder  11  a structured predetermined amounts to work with and may simplify accountability overall within the system. Given that the ability to access by authorized users, the scrip card provider  21  is generally unlimited, the scrip card  12  can be, as noted, easily reloaded to maintain for example a useable balance, much like a bank debit card, with the added incentive that each transfer by the cardholder  11  will benefit the card member&#39;s non-profit organization  17 . 
         [0026]    Card use incentives may be offered, for example, wherein cardholder&#39;s pin number is entered into a drawing each month, or alternately a cardholder may be rewarded based on the most funds transferred (money credits) to win a gift card to the merchant at the end of the month. 
         [0027]    The merchant&#39;s incentive donation scrip card system  10  of the invention relies on the established funds management online platform of the scrip card provider  21 , who provides the fundraising platform for the church or non-profit organization varied levels of services available. Non-profit organizations that sign onto the full services, as hereinbefore described, are provided with discounts as opposed to those who have elected to use only some of the available services associated with the system. Such sign-up programs  31  can stipulate where the funds go, as in this example, current expenses  31 A, improvement fund  31 B or school  31 C; other such selections can be determined. 
         [0028]    It will thus be seen that a new and novel system and method for merchandise incentive donation base scrip cards has been illustrated and described, so as to provide an integrated funds management system to combine a merchandising value base inclusive scrip card with an online fundraising venue for non-profit organizations by an enabled online management platform combined with the exclusivity of specific merchandisers and non-profit organizations that avail themselves of the system advantages for fundraising, as outlined above. 
         [0029]    It will be evident to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made thereto without departing from the spirit of the invention.