The Fundraising Dream - Build a $5K Per Month Auto Pilot System

Last month I met with a retired football coach fromobligation - No fees, no contracts, no obligations
Texas. He joined my board of directors to advise onwhat-so-ever!
marketing ideas. We spent about 9 hours discussingWhat if on that website clubs or organizations were
all kinds of products and services that could be usedprovided a special link just for them? What if that link
by pretty much any organization to raise funds.took people to a some kind of product that was in
"Coach" informed me that local schools in his areahigh demand, caused people to get healthy and to
often draw 20,000 to 30,000 people to a weekendlose weight? And what if customers or supporters of
football game. Fundraisers for those schools oftenthe club/organization could purchase the product
involved things like holding a bottle drive, sellingsecurely though PayPal and $10 from every sale
chocolates, selling cookies, or selling t-shirts.went to the club? And what if the product was so
I quietly wonder just how many organizations outsuccessful that even repeat purchases by any
there could possibly be actively seeking newcustomer continued to generate $10 per sale on an
fundraising opportunities. I was shocked to find thatongoing basis?
there are between 60 and 90,000 registeredYou can imagine by now that Coach was very
organizations in America looking for fundraising ideas.excited. "Are you kidding me", he said.
There are even companies, websites, blogs and a ton"With only 100 people buying the product, to support
of social media built around identifying fundraisingtheir team, the team would generate $1000 in
opportunities.revenue! And if people bought the product every
I decided to do some research to find out what theother month, there would be an ongoing revenue
pros and cons are for the typical fundraisingstream for the team!"
organization. The answers were fairly indicative ofI suppose all of that is true, but in reality, the club or
what I expected to find.organization could run a new campaign every month
if they wanted to. It wouldn't be long before they
1. The process requires a great deal of up fronthad a $5,000 per month revenue stream.... and there
organization.would have been none of the traditional issues and
2. Products need to be acquired.roadblocks around fundraising.
3. Parents need to drive kids around while they goI believe that this fundraising model is going to
door to door trying to sell.become the standard operating model for all
4. There needs to be a good system for handling theorganizations looking to raise money for their clubs.
cash.With the efficiency of the Internet and the security
5. Accounting often causes issues.of pay systems like PayPal now, the possibilities are
6. Sometimes returns are lower than expected andendless.
the club/organization doesn't make money.Clubs and organizations need to seek out new
It seemed to me that this was a very inefficientrelationships like the one described above. You need
way of earning money for the club/organization.to find a producer willing to share the bulk of profits
Parents are often very busy with their careers orwith local schools, clubs or organizations. It represents
businesses. The time constraints alone area social contract with society - a way of giving back
burdensome.to society. At the same time, it is a win-win for
Coach and I decide to play a little "what if" game.everyone - including the parents who no longer need
What if an organization could simply go to a websiteto spend countless hours driving their kids around to
and join an affiliate network for zero cost and zerosell cookies!