Discount cards as a fundraiser?

[MichelleinMaine]

Has anyone been involved with an organization that have used discount cards for a fundraiser? (Meaning- group sells this card, local merchants have agreed to give a special to card members, % off or free gift, whatever.)

It seems like a win-win for all (a friend with a business looking to bring in new customers suggested it to me), but wondering if anyone had any advice who had done this before?

 

[clh2]

Many clubs/sports at my DD's high school sell various "coupon" things, the Gold C books, a pocket peeler fundraiser and of course, the Entertainment books.

The selling organizations get approximately 1/2 of the proceeds of the books/peelers being sold.

What type of business does your friend have? Many people buy the books/peelers. Maybe the question to ask the Diser's would be: would you use an entertainment coupon for a business that:________________?

I will always buy an Entertainment book. If the coupons are good...some years I will buy an additional one.

hope this helps!

 

[lovetoscrap]

I am in charge of one right now. I went through an outside vendor that does all the work. I sent him a list of about 50 businesses in our immediate area. He contacted them and put together 20 of them that agreed to be on the card.

We discussed the design on the front of the card and they put it all together, emailed me a proof and we loved it. We sell the cards for $10 and we keep 60% ($6). The reason I really liked this company is that there was no minimum to sell, we can send back all the cards we don't sell and the payment for the rest. And this was the only company that would give us 60%. Most were 40% or 50%, and had a minimum number we had to commit to.

People want to get the most for their money. A card that just offers a discount to one location isn't going to be worth much to them. We also rejected the "Peel Off" cards because they have limited use. The card we have is good for an entire year with no limit on how many times you can use each deals.

It has sold fairly well for us. Not as well as I had hoped, but this is our first year doing it. I think if we continue for several years it will grow in popularity.

Let me know if you are interested in information on the company we used.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

I did it once for my ds school. We actually had to go to the merchants and ask them. I like the idea of mailing it lst better. I got a local chinese restraunt and the bowling alley, as my older ds worked there. It also didnt sell as well as expected but we tried. I dont think they are doing it this year. You need to have alot of good businesses on the card etc. Best of luck.

 

[emma'smom]

Our dds' school did this this year and I think it was pretty successful. It's almost free money for the school. The parents association called various businesses in town to get them to agree to discounts--so do it for every school, some of our's were "exclusives" that were culled from school families who own local businesses. We had some really good ones!

Anyway, one mom designed a card with "punch numbers" on it for the ones that had limits and printed them up and had them copied (so color copies was the only expense). Families were each given five to sell (so not a lot) per child to start with.

I found they pretty much sold themselves for 10.00 each. One item was 10% of a class at the local arts center. A kid's ballet class (six weeks) is 85.00. So one registration almost paid for the card. Other discounts:

BOGO- pizza from Dominos
Free Sodas- Local popular restaurant
10% off- local popular toy store (that will pay for the card at x-mas)
BOGO- Wendy's and Local ice cream shop, movie admission, mini-golf, local restaurant for breakfast, etc.

Lots of local places----

 

[TaraPA]

I love the discount card fund raiser. It has worked well in our area. Personally I don't need any more gift wrap, over-priced chocolate or popcorn, or magazine subscriptions. We got the cost of the card back in just a few trips for fast food take-out!

 

[soccerchick]

I love the discount card fund raiser. It has worked well in our area. Personally I don't need any more gift wrap, over-priced chocolate or popcorn, or magazine subscriptions. We got the cost of the card back in just a few trips for fast food take-out!

Yep- I love these! I get a discount at places where I patronized anyway. Some cards are good, others, not so much. All of the high schools around here have them. I usually buy one from the rival school since it has more places on it I use.

 

[Amelia Peabody]

I LOVE it when they sell the "good for a year" discount cards! It seems like alot of $$ at first as a buyer ($10), but I chose one person so support fundraiser-wise so it evened out. No other $20 popcorn, $10 giftwrap, $40 cheesecakes etc. Just this one card. I was so sad when the year was up!

Mine had a local shop "The Spice Smuggler" on it and DSis called to use it often.

Anyone selling them in my area?

 

[luvthatdisney]

Hate to be the one black cloud, but our school used one last year (I work at the school) and had nothing but trouble.

The card company that was used, used contracted vendors from a prior year. They did not go out and re-verify the discounts. So when our cards were sold, many of the vendors (restaurants, etc..) would not accept them. We had many irrate parents, and they should have been upset. The company never told the school that they did not re-verify the vendors discounts.

The company tried to fix it and gave us new cards, but by then no one would buy them. Which was good as once we (front office staff) actually looked at the cards closely there was a restaurant listed that was not even in business any longer. The main problem seemed to be the teachers that were handling this fundraiser, lived outside of the area (we are in a small town) and was not familiar with the vendors. So they did not catch the mistakes, again.

This warning is just to tell you to check each and every vendor on the card. Call them and ask if the discount is still valid and let them know your school is looking at purchasing these cards and you want to make sure they can be used. Always talk to the owner or manager of the store, restaurant, etc...

Hope that helps!