#1 - Decide whether you or a discount card company will do the work.Getting merchants to list on your card may involve much more work than a volunteer for a non-profit organization is willing to invest. It takes skill to communicate how a strong merchant listing can benefit the merchant and then to motivate him/her to sign a contract to honor their discount. Care should also be taken in making sure the card is being built both "vertically" by soliciting strong offers from popular local businesses, and "horizontally" by adding other locations for those businesses within a meaningful radius of your organization's location.
#2 - Make sure you're getting more than just a stack of discount cards. Even a great discount card cannot sell itself. If you want to all but guarantee that your fundraising discount cards will get sold into the community, put in place an incentive program that will motivate your players to sell them. In addition, although you're probably going to give each prospective member of your organization a certain number of discount cards to sell, don't ignore the fact that many of your members may be quite capable of selling more than what they are given. Therefore, make sure they receive an order-taker form that shows both sides of your discount card so that when a member has sold all the cards they were given, they can continue to take orders for more.
#3 - Make sure your discount card will be easy to sell in the workplace.Many of your fundraising discount cards will be sold by the parents of your organization's members. If you live in a community where people may have to travel 5 or 10 (or even more) miles to get to their place of work then its important to make sure that your card will list popular businesses that have multiple locations. When you think about it, your card should have merchant listings that will be meaningful to those co-workers who may have to travel 5-10 miles from the opposite direction to get to those same workplaces-so don't fall into the trap of making your card too geographically restrictive.
#4 - Evaluate any risks that may accompany your discount card purchase.Once you've determined how many fundraiser discount cards you're going to expect each member of your organization to sell, make sure they understand the expectation and are committed to selling them. However, it is also a good idea to (a) make sure your expectations are reasonable, (b) initially order only the number of cards you will need to give to each of your members to start the fundraiser and (c) make sure that your discount card company will offer your organization a refund for a reasonable number of unsold discount cards. Try to avoid getting stuck with discount cards you can't sell.
#5 - Avoid duplicating offers that are on another known discount card. It should be obvious that your customers aren't purchasing a discount card per se; rather, they're really buying the discounts that are listed on the card. Anyone who has purchased a discount card from one organization is unlikely to hesitate to purchase a second discount card from another organization that offers another set of discounts-especially if that card is perceived to have value. So, if you are aware of another organization that is selling fundraising discount cards in your community, then make sure your card is constructed with offers that are sufficiently different than those on the other card.
Author Resource:-
Champion Fundraising offers a broad variety of fundraising-discount-cards at its website. You can also find our free self-help and advice articles on a variety of important funding issues for youth sports organizations at our fundraising blog.Champion specializes in working with youth sports programs and provides a variety of fundraising services and products including discount cards, gourmet food, silent auctions and golf tournaments.
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