Singer Barry Manilow wants to keep the music playing for high school music programs, and he is using a decoupled debit card as his newest instrument.
Tempo Payments Inc. on April 5 announced the launch of the Manilow Fund for Health and Hope MasterCard. Tempo will share a portion of the revenue it earns from each purchase initiated with the card with the Manilow Music Project, which donates musical instruments to “severely depleted” school music programs.
Tempo will give the organization 0.5% of each signature-debit sale and 0.1% of every PIN-debit purchase amount, says Pete Bartolik, a spokesperson for the San Mateo, Calif.-based affinity card provider.
First Bank & Trust, a Brooking, S.D.-based financial institution, issues the Manilow Fund For Health and Hope MasterCard. The card links to the cardholder’s checking account, which can be with any U.S. financial institution. First Bank withdraws funds via the automated clearinghouse network using account and bank-routing information from a cancelled personal check.
The Manilow Music Project, founded in 2008, already has donated thousands of dollars worth of musical instruments and other materials to school music programs, Kirsten Kief, Manilow Fund for Health and Hope director, said in a statement.
The debit card, however, will make soliciting donations easier. “The card will increase our resources,” says John Adams, vice president of marketing for Stiletto Entertainment, an Inglewood, Calif.-based company that manages Manilow’s career and his foundation.
A retail store located inside the Paris Las Vegas casino that sells only Manilow products will be among the locations where consumers may obtain the card. “We will encourage Barry’s fans to apply for the card while they are shopping,” Adams says. Manilow has a two-year entertainment contract with the casino.
Stiletto Entertainment also will promote the card to Manilow’s fan clubs and on Facebook, Adams says.
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