Your group needs to fundraise and are looking for the best bang for your buck.  You may look at selling items like pizza, flowers or even doing a carwash.  By the time the cost of the item is taken out chances are you aren’t making nearly as much as you could be!

One of the best return rate for fundraising is discount cards.  Let’s say you sold each card for $10, depending on the specific type and quantity of cards that you ordered you could make 85% profit!

What kind of businesses should you approach?

• Keep it local!  Your ideal clients won’t want to drive an hour to redeem an offer.  Our general rule is to keep the retailers no further than 10 miles from your city.  

• Think about the people that would be purchasing your cards, what types of offers would they be interested in?  (Popular options are restaurants, oil changes, tanning salons, hair salons, massage parlors, etc.)  Offering a discount at a commercial cleaner is probably not the best choice.

What is in it for the retailers?

When approaching retailers asking them to be a part of your discount card program, the main thing to focus on is…. What is this going to do for THEM?

• Discount cards are an excellent marketing source for people who may have not yet been exposed to their products.  A discount will give them a reason to try them out before paying full price.

• All discounts honored are tax deductible!  The retailer just needs to keep the receipts when a discount has been given.

• Let’s say they aren’t sure what offer they want to give.  Have all of the offers set up on a website (see below for more details) and they can change their offer as quickly as the weather in Minnesota.  - Let’s just say that is pretty often!

• Offer a variety of different partner levels

Silver level - The business is charged $X and their offer is listed on the bottom of the website along with their name on the back of the card

Gold level - The business is charged $XX for participation, their offer is listed in the middle of the website as well as the back of the card.  They could also print their logo in black and white.

Platinum level - The business is charged $XXX for participation.  Their color logo is printed on the front of the card along with their offer.  In addition, their offer is listed on the top of the website along with their logo.

Larger companies will often donate money, but will not always want to offer a discount to customers.  These companies are perfect for the Platinum level as they can be placed predominantly without the need of listing an offer.

Tips for putting the program together

• Your card design should include a QR (Quick Reference) code which is linked to the fundraising landing page (see website section below)

• Include a variable/donor number.  Retailers can use this to track how many unique visitors are using the card or if one person is using the discount frequently.

How do I put together a website?

There are a variety of different options available for you and some don’t require the slightest bit of computer knowledge!

1. If your organization already has a website in place, you can simply add a page to list the offers one.  

2. Hire a web designer.  Admittedly, some designers can be expensive and will eat up quite a portion of your funds.  You can adjust the price that you are selling the cards for to accommodate this.  However, there are ways to find an inexpensive designer as well (think just out of school and wanting to build a portfolio).  Keep this in mind when you talk about the options to your retailers.  If you offer the option to change their offer frequently, you will usually have added fees for website changes.

3. There are free website builders available (such as Wix or Wordpress)  if you have a little know-how.

*Bonus*

• Add or Remove vendors by simply updating the website!  However, you will want to note if they have included their offer on the card itself first.