Local ‘Deal of the Day’ Sites
and Their Fees: a Sampling
Cauzoom (Boston)
tinue selecting you as their purchase beneficiary, the money
just keeps coming in steadily,”
she says. “For us, it’s added up
to a little over $1,000 with practically no effort on our part.”
Not a windfall, she acknowledges, but “every little bit helps
these days. Better still, it’s not
an ‘ask’ and then another ‘ask’
to our donors.”
Due Diligence
But every “deals for donations” site operates differently,
and charities looking to raise
money through these sites
need to exercise due diligence,
cautions Siobhan Canty, who
worked for nonprofits for a decade before her most recent job
as the John S. and James L.
Knight Foundation’s program
director for strategic initiatives,
a post she left in December.
In the long run, she says,
“these kinds of tools are bet-
ter for businesses than they are
for nonprofits. In this scenario,
businesses connect with new
customers when they redeem
their coupon. Unfortunately,
there is no similar mechanism
ensuring that people will in-
teract more with a charity af-
ter they have made their dona-
tion.”
In addition, she says, fees the
sites may charge for processing
donations and marketing costs
seem “high compared to other
fundraising strategies that can
lead to stronger and more sus-
tainable relationships between
the nonprofit and the donor.”
However, she concludes that if
participation is genuinely with-
out cost, “charities have very lit-
tle to lose in giving it a try.”
Long-Term Outlook
It may be too soon to gauge
the ultimate long-range success
of Groupon-style fundraising,
and there are some signs that
it isn’t successful in all regions.
At least one attempt to capitalize on the model, CauseOn, in
Portland, Ore., shut down after
barely a year in operation.
Mr. Waters, for one, is not
very optimistic about the future
of the trend. “These new cause-
specific niche sites face a daunt-
ing challenge when it comes to
building a sustaining audience,”
he says. “You can have a truly
fantastic offer, but in order to
succeed, and particularly over
the long run, you need to get it
in front of people—a great many
people, because not everybody is
going to buy or donate on every
single day.”
What’s more, he says, dis-
count sites may face “daily-deal
fatigue.”
The best news for charities,
he concludes, is that “there is
generally very little downside
risk for nonprofit organizations
associating themselves with a
deals-for-donations initiative.
At the very least, you’ll get ex-
posure, and maybe even some
money.”
Casey Cares Foundation, which provides activities for ailing children (like Justin Silber,
attending a Baltimore Ravens football game), has received money from GiveCorps.
Congratulations to the 2011
Mutual of America Community
Partnership Award Recipients
Governor Hugh L. Carey Award Recipient
College Possible Access and Success Partnership
Saint Paul, Minnesota
Honorable Mention Award Recipients
Family Connections
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
PACE Center for Girls Expansion
Jacksonville, Florida
Merit Finalist Award Recipients
Haven for Hope
San Antonio, Texas
HavenHouse St. Louis / Family Centered Care
St. Louis, Missouri
Juvenile Alcohol Safety Action Program
Anchorage, Alaska
Law Enforcement Exploring Program
New York, New York
Milwaukee Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE)
Hebron, Kentucky
Transporting Children to Better Health
Birmingham, Alabama
The Mutual of America Community Partnership Award annually honors the
outstanding contributions that nonprofit organizations, in partnership with public,
private and other social sector organizations, make to society. Since its inception
in 1996, the Community Partnership Award has recognized 160 partnerships
from cities and towns all across America.
Applications for the 2012 Community Partnership Award are now
being accepted. To download an application, and for more information
about the award program and submission guidelines, please visit
mutualofamerica.com/cpa.
Completed applications must be received no later than April 2, 2012. Applications
that fail to meet the criteria will not be considered.
If you have additional questions about the Community Partnership Award program,
please contact:
Thomas Gilliam, Chairman and CEO
Mutual of America Foundation
212-224-1147
thomas.gilliam@mutualofamerica.com
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