Chapter 5: Partner Collaboration

[Founder (Greg Unruh)]

It's been awhile since my last blog entry, but much has happened since my last post. As we continue to reach out to individuals and organizations to supplement their fundraising efforts, we've also been reaching out to potential partners to enhance our offering. Although GiveWithoutGiving.org’s virtual billboard program has been received extremely well, it has the potential to be even better when combined with other programs that compliment and philosophically share our same vision.

This may be putting the cart before the horse in that we're still working out a few details, but I'm compelled to share with you the results of some of our partnering activities in an effort to enhance our programs and improve your fundraising results with GiveWithoutGiving.org. When it comes to fundraising, you want to maximize your efforts so as to increase your revenue potential for your organization or cause. The primary focus of the GiveWithoutGiving.org website is to sell ad space/personal tributes on our free virtual billboards; whereas, 90% of the ad revenue is donated to the designated cause the virtual billboard represents.

Through our partnering efforts we have teamed up with Cognigen Networks to offer a wide range of residential and business-class services from many nationally recognized providers. Below is a sampling of services we now offer through our relationship with Cognigen Networks:

* Local & Long-Distance Phone Services
* Voice of IP Telephony Services
* Unified Communications
* Dial-up and Broadband Internet Services
* Satellite Television
* Much more…

Please visit the GIVE main page for a complete listing of products and services offered through our partnership with Cognigen Networks. Staying true to form, GiveWithoutGiving.org will apply 90% of all earnings to our General Relief Fund that is intended to offer financial relief to individuals and communities in need. More information on the General Relief Fund can be found on the GiveWithoutGiving.org website.

Our most exciting partnering activity has been with a national loyalty card provider (USA Savings Club) where you receive noticeable discounts from merchants you regularly frequent in your local community. You simply present your loyalty card at the time of purchase to receive your discount from participating merchants. In addition to the discount you receive on your purchases, we have negotiated with these same merchants to donate a percentage of your savings to the fundraiser or cause assigned to your specific loyalty card. The best part is that you get to determine which organization or cause you want to support through this program! You might think of it as a universal grocery store card (with a twist) that’s good with many of the local merchants you currently frequent within your community. There is no cost or membership fee to participate in the program. We’ll provide as many loyalty cards as needed at no charge for you to distribute to your supporters. Each time a loyalty card is used by one of your supporters, a small percentage of their savings is donated to support your cause by the participating merchant.

What’s in it for the merchants? We will be handing out thousands of free loyalty cards to organizations in the local community to distribute to their supporters. This program will drive thousands of motivated buyers to the merchant’s store front knowing that each time a supporter uses the card a percentage of the card holder’s purchase will be donated to the organization or cause assigned to the loyalty card. Card holders are driven to the merchant’s store front primarily based on the emotional attachment to a given cause, but they also benefit in additional cost savings from participating merchants on their normal purchases.

Combined with our virtual billboard program, this will truly revolutionize the world of fundraising. Please stay tuned as we are in the final stages of launching this program!