Charity/Non-Profit Fundraising Revolutionized by Daily Deal Site by Kristin Smith
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If you're like me, you've thriftily embraced the newest craze in money-saving, deal-getting hullabaloo--daily deal sites. I'm talking about those sites that offer one crazy deal (at least 50-90% savings for the most part) on something cool to do in your city every 24 hours. I've bought my fair share of laser hair removal sessions, ice-skating passes, restaurant coupons, pedicures, and even a sky-diving adventure. Okay, that last one was for my daughter.
Besides these sites feeding my commitment to frugality, they seem like an awesome idea for businesses--offer a really great deal, sit back, and watch the customers flock in. My husband and I were particularly intrigued with getting exposure for our business (we own a restaurant in Las Vegas) and investigated two of the biggest daily-deal names in the game. The more I learned, the more excited I got both as a consumer as well as a business owner. The 50% commission these companies command seemed pretty steep, but it still penciled out compared to other forms of advertising we'd done in the past five years, which had mostly produced less-than-favorable results.
What astounded me most, however, was what was missing from the daily deal sites we looked into. Millions of dollars were being generated every day in cities across the country (and now, the world, even) with very little going back to the businesses offering the deals, and nothing of note going back to the communities where all this money was being made. It was all going to larger-than-life daily deal companies. In this economy, as a consumer, I'm all about the great deals, and as a business owner, I'm all about innovative ways to generate new customers. But as a member of my community, I'm left hanging. Of course, these daily deal sites don't have any obligation to share the love (or the wealth), but I can't help but wonder why everyone can't benefit instead of the daily deal sites benefiting to the tune of millions of dollars daily.
With new daily deal sites popping up in droves, I've been afforded the luxury of being selective about who I give access to my email inbox on a daily basis. Sure, I want as many great deals as I can get, but if I'm going to spend the money anyway, and the deals on these sites are virtually the same, I'm sticking to the sites that care about my community. They seem to recognize that they are getting money from the businesses (in the form of commission retained from sales) and from consumers in my community, so why not let some of that money stay right here where we need it?
I finally found a daily deal site that gets it, http://www.charityzone.net. So far, they are in Las Vegas and Utah, but it looks like they have plans to expand throughout the West. A portion of the proceeds from every single deal, regardless of who buys the deal or how many deals are sold, goes back to the community where the money is generated. Three or four local charities or fundraising groups are featured for about a week at a time. Charities and fundraising groups can request to be featured (it's free) then send anyone and everyone to http://www.charityzone.net during their organization's feature. The more deals sold, the more each featured organization makes. It's a lot easier than sending your kids around the neighborhood selling candles. Even if people don't purchase a deal, they can still learn more about the organizations and donate directly. Best of all, it's not always the big charities we always hear about that benefit. It's everything from a local high school football team in need of jerseys to a local child with a life-threatening illness to an elementary school in need of new computers. Whatever the cause, the money stays right here in my city. That's what I call sharing the love AND the wealth.
Besides these sites feeding my commitment to frugality, they seem like an awesome idea for businesses--offer a really great deal, sit back, and watch the customers flock in. My husband and I were particularly intrigued with getting exposure for our business (we own a restaurant in Las Vegas) and investigated two of the biggest daily-deal names in the game. The more I learned, the more excited I got both as a consumer as well as a business owner. The 50% commission these companies command seemed pretty steep, but it still penciled out compared to other forms of advertising we'd done in the past five years, which had mostly produced less-than-favorable results.
What astounded me most, however, was what was missing from the daily deal sites we looked into. Millions of dollars were being generated every day in cities across the country (and now, the world, even) with very little going back to the businesses offering the deals, and nothing of note going back to the communities where all this money was being made. It was all going to larger-than-life daily deal companies. In this economy, as a consumer, I'm all about the great deals, and as a business owner, I'm all about innovative ways to generate new customers. But as a member of my community, I'm left hanging. Of course, these daily deal sites don't have any obligation to share the love (or the wealth), but I can't help but wonder why everyone can't benefit instead of the daily deal sites benefiting to the tune of millions of dollars daily.
With new daily deal sites popping up in droves, I've been afforded the luxury of being selective about who I give access to my email inbox on a daily basis. Sure, I want as many great deals as I can get, but if I'm going to spend the money anyway, and the deals on these sites are virtually the same, I'm sticking to the sites that care about my community. They seem to recognize that they are getting money from the businesses (in the form of commission retained from sales) and from consumers in my community, so why not let some of that money stay right here where we need it?
I finally found a daily deal site that gets it, http://www.charityzone.net. So far, they are in Las Vegas and Utah, but it looks like they have plans to expand throughout the West. A portion of the proceeds from every single deal, regardless of who buys the deal or how many deals are sold, goes back to the community where the money is generated. Three or four local charities or fundraising groups are featured for about a week at a time. Charities and fundraising groups can request to be featured (it's free) then send anyone and everyone to http://www.charityzone.net during their organization's feature. The more deals sold, the more each featured organization makes. It's a lot easier than sending your kids around the neighborhood selling candles. Even if people don't purchase a deal, they can still learn more about the organizations and donate directly. Best of all, it's not always the big charities we always hear about that benefit. It's everything from a local high school football team in need of jerseys to a local child with a life-threatening illness to an elementary school in need of new computers. Whatever the cause, the money stays right here in my city. That's what I call sharing the love AND the wealth.
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