Fundraising Discount Cards: Easy, Effective, Fun Fundraising

What do you think of when you think of “fundraising”? It’s almost certainly true that fundraising discount cards don’t come to mind. Instead, what do you think of? Do you think of slaving away in your kitchen, baking dozens of cookies at midnight? Or, perhaps a furtive run to your grocery store, hoping the store-bought cookies you bought will pass as homemade?

What about candy bars? They’re easier than making cookies from scratch, right? You don’t have to make them; you just have to buy them. Then of course there’s the storage issue.

Magazines might be a better option, but again, you’ve got the storage issue and all of those logistics to figure out. Why are fundraising discount cards a much better option as compared to these other fundraising ideas?

High profit margins, little effort

With fundraising discount cards, you print discounts for local merchants’ services on small cards that you then sell for a modest fee. That’s really about the only work you do, though. Most of the work is done by someone else. How? You pay a small fee for a company to print these cards up. They do most of the work for you, including contacting the merchants whose services are going to be included on the cards. They get merchants to agree to provide discounts to customers in exchange for having their services appear on the fundraising discount cards, print the cards up, and then you pick them up (or the company ships them to you) and sell them. The difference between the price you pay for the cards and the price you sell them for is your profit, and it can be substantial. You use those profits for your fund raising efforts, all while you watch the cards basically sell themselves.

There’s no muss, no fuss, no storage and they sell themselves

Fundraising discount cards are easy to store; they won’t spoil and they don’t take a lot of room up. In addition, they really sell themselves. Customers who buy these cards will probably already be patrons of the businesses that are offering a discount on the discount cards, meaning that they’re really a “win-win” for everyone. Businesses get free advertisement and attract new customers, customers get something for a discount, and you get money for your cause, for very little effort or initial upfront expense.

Customize them to your community and your cause

Unlike other fundraising options, you can customize your cards to your community and your cause. If the money is for a local youth group, you can customize the business offerings to match, like offering discounts to the local sporting goods store. Because retailers on the fundraising discount cards are already local to your community, they can become an integral part of your fundraising efforts and your project.

They’re good for a one-year time period to the customer after purchase

These cards don’t spoil, unlike other fundraising mediums. When a customer purchases a card, they have one full year to enjoy the discount offers and savings. Therefore, you don’t have to go through the difficulty of having to restock inventory during fundraising, and you can carry on your fundraiser for as long as you want to, as long as the stock of cards holds out. (And if you’re having great success, you can order more cards assuming retailers are amenable, and continue fundraising.)

They foster community “togetherness”

The fundraising discount cards are individualized to your community. Unlike other national fundraising programs like magazine options or candy bars, no one else is quite doing your fundraiser. It can be a source of pride that adds to the sense of accomplishment you and your group feel both during the fundraiser, and once it is complete.

Mark South
Easy Fundraising Cards