Having a discount card fundraiser using discount cards or credit card points are ideal for groups such as schools, churches or other large groups.
Popular now are programs which make use of credit cards in collecting points or air miles, which can often be use jointly or collected, transferred over to a charity or organization.
There’s even programs which donate a percentage of your credit card spending to your chosen charity – so as a charity it’ll be well worth your while getting your name on those lists.
A good time to get any new program in place and launch it is in the months before Christmas, to benefit most from the holiday spending spree.
For charities where a significant part of your budget is air travel, asking supporters to donate their air miles can mount up surprisingly.
Even a few hundred small donations, could help to make a dent in your budget and allow you to allocate that funding elsewhere.
Using Discount Cards for Fundraising
Essentially this kind of project is set up to buy through a large supplier, typically the local grocery store, gas station or supermarket. Vouchers or discount cards are purchased direct and group members purchase their goods using the vouchers or cards.
The discounted rate negotiated by the group forms the profits raised.
If all members of the group buy in to this it can be a great fundraiser, but people need to have a reason to use the cards, so you need to know what the benefit is for them.
Does it work?
One example where this worked very well is of a local brass band who all purchased their groceries via this method and, with the proceeds, paid for the annual overseas tour of their band.
These guys were a committed bunch, but they managed to pay for their trip every year with this simple commitment from themselves and their spouses.
Most trips of this kind cost several hundreds of dollars, if not well over a thousand, the sort of sum that few families have available for events.
Are discount fundraiser cards for you? As you can see, this method would be ideal for any group struggling to raise funds with a conventional method, but who have a high buy-in from members to the benefits of the fundraising effort.
If you’ve got a group like this, or a group of people who share a common purpose, this may be an option worth considering.
In order to involve everyone in your group in such an intensive fundraiser, calling a meeting of interested parties to explain the idea, answer questions and distribute information may be a good way to start.
Being creative in how you collect is also good – as well as shopping, it can be possible to collect points on other purchases, particularly online, such as insurance or travel.
More Discount Card Possibilities
Get your group together and brainstorm potential local merchants that will participate in your discount fundraising event.
By getting everyone involved this will generate excitement and lead to more sales. I was familiar with my local bakery owner so this motivated me to go to them.
You want goods and services that people in your area are already using. Your group will bank lots of money and your buyers of your discount cards will SAVE money. Oh and your merchants will love the sales and attention they get for helping the cause! WIN WIN WIN.
Remember that size matters. Your group should be 30 members or more for this to work. Each member can sell 10 discount cards for a total of 300 sales.
Some companies will even contact your sponsors for you; Abc Fundraising is an excellent source.
This makes the process turnkey and very professional.
Discount cards are a very easy sell. Everyone needs to buy coffee, save on dry cleaning and shop for groceries. The ideas are unlimited and sometimes even the small companies are very generous.
For example, I asked my local ice cream store if they wanted to participate in our church discount card fundraiser. They were very small and I wasn’t even going to ask but as it turned out the owner was a very wealthy man and became one of our top sponsors! Who knew?
Remember keep your group larger than 30 and get things rolling early. It could take a couple of weeks to get your personalized discount cards.
You will be amazed at the profits that discount card fundraisers can provide!
Have Fun and Good Luck Fundraising!