Conestoga Bank, a local bank in Pennsylvania, today announced the availability of their “Sharing Gift Card”, a Visa prepaid gift card that deals with the problem of gift card breakage in a new way – any funds remaining on the card after 18 months of inactivity are donated to a charity.

Here’s how Richard A. Elko, Conestoga Bank president describes the card:

The brain child of Conestoga Bank’s creative team, the Sharing Card provides a philanthropic use for breakage – the gift card balance (conestogabank.com/sharingcard.aspx ) that goes unused. Many people receive gift cards, use them once and then forget about them and the remaining gift card balance is eventually depleted by fees imposed by the card issuers. Our creative team decided to take this behavior and transform it into positive action that would benefit the community. You can use the Sharing Card like any other Visa® gift card and after 18 months, any used balances are automatically donated to various charities.

The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) is the first charity that wil benefit from the Sharing Card.

Conestoga Bank is launching the Sharing Card at all of its 14 branch locations in the greater Philadelphia Area. Available in denominations from $25 to $750, the Sharing Card is accepted at any location where Visa® is accepted.