Send Smartecards & Donate to Charity of Your Choice! Win 25 Credits to Get Started!

Sending out Christmas cards is such a gigantic hassle that I only get to it about every other year. I do love to send cards, but by the time I get a decent picture of the kids, find a good deal online, design the cards and order them, I'm about tuckered out. But then I still have to buy stamps, address all the envelopes, and mail the cards.

If you have trouble finding the motivation to go through all that too, I just found out about something you might be interested in, called Smartecard. It's a website where you can go to design your holiday cards and email them to everyone on your list. At the same time, your purchase goes to a non-profit charitable organization. Plus, since the cards are virtual, it's environmentally sound. This is how it works.

1. Create an account and indicate which charitable organization you would like to support.
2. Choose your card style. Right now they're mostly limited to holiday designs, but they have plans to add lots more categories in the future, including Birthday, Friendship, and Love.
3. Choose images. You can upload pictures from your computer and choose 3 to use in your card. If you'd like, you can include an image from your chosen non-profit, which will be provided for you.
4. Edit the text on each picture by clicking on the picture and then clicking on the text box. Right now the editing options are pretty limited - you can't choose your font or font size, but you can move the text box around and change the color of the text. Maybe this is something they'll improve upon as they grow.
5. Choose music. There are 21 songs to choose from, and you can listen before you choose. The music will play as your images are shown, slideshow style.
6. Preview your card. Make sure you do this so you can see your card exactly as your recipients will see it.
7. Name and save your card.
8. Choose your recipients. You can import email addresses from your email account (including AOL, Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, and more) or enter them manually. 
9. Add an email subject and a message that will go in the body of your email.
10. Send your cards. Your recipients will have the option to respond to the card with a personal message just for you, which will be delivered directly to your email. After you send the cards, you can log back into your account to see who has opened your card.

It costs $1 for each Smartecard (equal to 1 email - so if you design a card and want to send it to 10 people, for example, the total would be $10), but here's the breakdown:

• 70% goes to your designated charity
• 10% goes to Urban Affairs Coalition (a 501c3 organization)
• 20% goes to Smartecard for licensing and operating costs

So not only are you saving yourself time and postage and helping the environment, you're also make a tax deductible donation to a charity of your choice. For further information and updates from Smartecard, you can connect with them on Facebook and Twitter. 

Thanks to Mom Select and Smartecard, I have a special giveaway to offer my readers. You can enter to win 25 Smartecard credits, which is equal to sending 25 emails. This prize is valued at $25. 
*I received Smartecard credits in exchange for writing this post. Prize will be awarded directly from Smartecard.*



a Rafflecopter giveaway