As a nonprofit fundraising professional I get to hear about numerous business launches and new technology services whose aim is to support charitable causes. I'm impressed with a recent new arrival, CardPartner, whose business mission is to allow nonprofit and membership-based organizations to offer private labeled credit cards to their constituents. Nonprofits earn $30 per approved application and then receive a percentage of every purchase made.
There are several reasons I like this program, aside from the revenue opportunity:
- Supporters and members are supporting their organization with every purchase and they don’t need to do their shopping through a special Web portal or at "participating stores."
- Supporters can put the nonprofit’s brand in their pocket (literally) and share the brand every time they pay for a lunch or check-out at the supermarket.
- The service is offered to smaller membership organizations (and larger ones too) with easy online setup tools.
Then it comes down to marketing the program to the nonprofit's members and supporters. I've often been skeptical of these types of "affinity marketing" programs that require nonprofits to promote someone else's brand to earn a percentage of revenue. But I like CardPartner because a credit card is so commonly used that the challenge of explaining the program is easy.
I was curious to hear how a nonprofit would approach the CardPartner marketing effort so I chatted with Travis Boley, the Association Manager of the Oregon-California Trails Association which advocates for historic and scenic trails. His experience and interest in getting a credit card into the hands of his supporters dates back from watching much larger membership-based organizations use such a fundraising tool successfully, but on a much larger scale. The Appalachian Mountain Trail Association raised over $40,000 annually from such a program. Travis described his own plans to market the credit card to his own membership via their web site, print mailings, at events, and at their annual convention. He feels confident that the potential revenue from the program will be worth the effort, and hopes to generate between $10,000 and $14,000 per year as the program gets off the ground.
Which all makes me think about the various ways and means that I support charities and schools, and how I’ve made decisions about which credit card to put in my wallet. Are you collecting frequent flyer miles or credits to buy gas? Or are you supporting your favorite charity with every credit card purchase you make?
Learn more about CardPartner.
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