First Bank & Trust of Brookings, S.D., today announced it is issuing a decoupled, affinity debit card for In Defense of Animals, a nonprofit animal-rights group. Tempo Payments Inc. will process the card’s transactions on its payments platform.
Decoupled debit cards enable issuers to tap into accounts at other financial institutions using bank-routing and account information from personal checks cardholders provide when registering. Transactions settle electronically using the automated clearinghouse system.
The agreement represents a growing business for San Mateo, Calif.-based Tempo, which also processes transactions for issuers of decoupled debit affinity cards tied to well-known and not-so-well-known nonprofits, including Greenpeace, the Breast Cancer Fund, Surfrider Foundation and World Emergency Relief, according to Tempo’s Web site.
“It is a new market for Tempo,” says Pete Bartolik, a Tempo spokesperson.
Based in San Rafael, Calif., In Defense of Animals is offering the MasterCard-branded card to its 60,000 members. For every signature-based purchase, Tempo will donate 0.5% of the sale to animal-right group. For every PIN-based purchase, it will donate 0.1% of the sale to the group, Bartolik says.
“It’s a painless, great way to help In Defense of Animals raise much-needed funds for our chimpanzee sanctuary in Cameroon, Africa; our veterinary clinics and ambulance service for the thousands of street animals in Mumbai, India; and for our investigative and sanctuary work in rural Mississippi,” veterinarian and organization founder Elliot M. Katz said in a statement.
Bartolik could not say how many cards First Bank & Trust expects to issue. In Defense of Animals is a 501c(3) public charity.
Consumers may apply for the In Defense Of Animals card on the group’s Web site. Applicants can personalize the card with photos of an elephant, two puppies and a cat, two dolphins swimming in unison and a chimpanzee. Tempo manages card issuance, risk management, application processing, authorization and settlement.
