Non-profit & Charity Affinity Credit Cards

If you carry a bank credit card, why not let it be one that helps your favorite non-profit organization?

Automatically donate to non-profit organizations

Imagine charging $500.00 on your bank credit card, knowing that $2.50 of it will go to your favorite charity – and the best part is the giving doesn’t cost you one additional cent. As a matter of fact, it might actually save you money. Such a card even carries your charity’s logo and a full color photo advertising your organization’s main theme.

These bank credit cards are affinity cards, and they’re one of the hottest items in credit card collecting today. They’re MasterCards and Visas sponsored by non-profit organizations that are aimed at their members.

Convenient means of helping charities

The importance of an affinity card is it allows an individual to painlessly help their favorite non-profit organization financially. It also helps the organization tap other sources of income without touching its members’ pocketbooks.

Cash-strapped non-profit organizations are rushing to issue affinity credit cards. The card’s terms vary, but basically an organization receives about $1.00 for every member who gets the card. The group also gets one-half of one percent of each member’s sales transactions. Sometimes a group receives a fixed sum per transaction instead of a percentage. In either case, affinity credit cards are a convenient way for people to financially support their favorite group.

A means of reducing interest charge

Members come out ahead by using their group’s credit card instead of a standard card. An affinity card can mean a reduction of one-half of one percent or more in interest charged. Some plans allow the cardholders to not pay an annual fee the first year and then a reduced annual fee after that. It’s up to the organization to negotiate the best deal possible for its members.

Banks have an immense interest in getting affinity credit cards to organizations’ members. With consumer debt and personal bankruptcies at all time highs, bank credit card operations are getting tougher to keep profitable. The new tax law which slowly eliminates the interest deduction on credit card interest is also hurting the banks. Banks are having to be more responsive to consumers’ needs in order to gain cardholders .

Banks are entranced with the potential of affinity credit cards. An affinity card encourages the group’s membership to switch credit cards. When the bank sends the offer to the group’s members the response rate is phenomenal as opposed to a regular mailing. This allows the bank to get a large number of new credit card customers who tend to be bigger spenders. The new cardholders are also better credit risks. Affinity credit cards allow a bank to acquire a select group of customers.

The prestige and exclusivity of affinity credit cards

Banks are able to make affinity credit cards prestigious since they can only be acquired by a select few. This is what makes an affinity MasterCard and Visa more exclusive than a Diners Club or American Express.

Affinity cards are a bonanza for organizations. An environmental group, the Sierra Club, offered a Visa to its roster of 374,000 members and had over 20,000 takers. The card is now one year old and has generated $300,000 in revenue for the club.

Penn State in University Park, PA allowed Mellon Bank to offer a card to its 102,000 member alumni association for a share in the revenue. Now, tens of thousands of alumni are cardholders.

A win-win situation for parties involved

The concept of affinity credit cards is simple. The member gets a better deal on a card that carries the logo of his favorite group. The group gets a cut of the bank’s revenue from the card. The bank is able to acquire new, profitable customers at a low cost. It’s a win-win situation for everyone involved.

Why use a credit card that only gives revenue to a bank? Instead, put money in the pocket of your favorite non-profit organization by using an affinity credit card.

Copyright 1987 by Greg Tunks

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Frequently asked questions

You can find out the value of old credit cards by checking how much similar cards sell for. There are several ways to do this.

The simplest way to determine the value of old credit cards is to ask an experienced collector. If you submit an inquiry via our contact form, we can connect you with an expert who can assist you and point out if there is anything rare or unusual in your collection.

Alternatively, you can become a member of the American Credit Card Collectors Society. Membership in our credit card collecting club provides access to resources and knowledgeable members who can help. Benefits of membership include access to a gallery containing thousands of cards with historical pricing information, and access to our entire collection of newsletters, from 1994 through the present day.

You can look at recent sales on auction sites, however, there are some considerations to keep in mind when doing this. Firstly, it’s important to look at selling prices, rather than asking prices. Selling prices are the prices people actually paid, while asking prices can be very different. Secondly, historical sales on some sites are only saved for 3 months, so you may not find something that exactly matches what you have. Thirdly, it is sometimes possible to see rare or unusual cards sell for lower prices than they should have because people do not understand their worth, the ads don't do justice to the card, they're listed in the wrong category, or any combination thereof.

There are always people in our club who are actively buying cards. Collectors tend to focus on a niche, like gas cards or retail cards, or they might focus on a slightly broader area, like bank cards or travel and entertainment cards. Many of the rarest or most unusual cards will exchange hands in private sales. Please contact us if you are thinking of selling your collection.

You can also sell your old credit cards on online marketplaces. You will get the highest price if you sell each of your cards individually, although this approach requires the most effort. At the opposite end of the effort scale would be selling all cards as a job lot, an approach which typically results in the lowest price on a per-card basis. Halfway between these two approaches would be to group cards into different categories and to sell these individual groups, e.g., BankAmericard, Master Charge, oil and gas, retail, and so on.

To join the club, visit the membership section and complete the registration form. You can pay by check or PayPal. We offer annual or lifetime memberships. If you have any questions please contact us via the form on our website.

Credit cards are more worthwhile collecting if they are rare, in good condition, have historical significance, or are associated with famous personalities or events. Valuable modern cards might include those that are difficult to obtain, such as American Express Centurion (a.k.a. ‘black’) cards, while older credit cards might include early independent bank cards, American Express, Diners Club, or BankAmericard (Visa) cards from the 50s/early 60s, or Master Charge (MasterCard) cards from the late 60s. Rare or unusual cards can also be sought after, such as those issued in small numbers, like small independent department stores or gas stations, or cards with appealing aesthetics.

Consulting with other collectors or experts in the club can provide valuable insights. Contact us for more information via the form on our website.

We do not offer an appraisal service in a traditional sense (such services are normally a paid service) but we can connect you with an expert who should be able to assist for free and point out anything rare or unusual in your collection. The simplest way to do this is to submit an inquiry via our contact form.

The American Credit Card Collectors Society accepts donations and is most grateful for any we receive. When donations happen, we strive to find good homes for cards where they will be looked after, matching cards with collectors who will appreciate them. The club may charge members a nominal fee for donated cards, and the proceeds are offset against the running costs of our club. We are a non-profit organization. Running costs include expenses like our convention and website hosting. Donations are most popular for people getting out of the hobby, or when someone has inherited a collection and doesn’t know what to do with it.

If you wish to donate your collection, please contact us via the contact form above.

American Credit Card Collectors Society