Supplemental Funding is exactly what it says, MORE.
Supplemental Funding may/can/should be layered onto all fundraising programs. MORE IS BETTER. Your primary role is to help your clients earn the maximum money possible and when you do that, you keep your relationship with them. Ignoring the opportunity of Supplemental Funding is ignoring the chance to make more for your clients.
Supplemental Funding is a relatively new concept. In the past all fundraisers were this OR that. With Supplemental Funding it does not compete for time, resources, or money with the core fundraiser it is added to (AND) the existing fundraiser and creates additional funding independent of the purchase of goods, pledges, donations, or other fundraising. Its role in the traditional fundraiser is using that event or occasion to engage additional participants in Supplemental Funding.
An important difference between Supplemental Funding and running an additional fundraiser is significant, particularly in the magnitude of effort. Supplemental Funding at this point in its development. Additionally, supplemental funding delivers a smaller stream of income, but does so throughout the year. In aggregate the amounts can equal or even surpass the normal fundraiser but the large sums of money from traditional fundraising are needed to meet specific goals. Supplemental Funding provides a buffer, ability to upgrade or expand etc. once the primary goals have been met.
As a Fund Raising Professional:
As you deliver more money to your clients, your value increases as does their dependency on you. Supplemental Funding should help you gain "Rep for life" status if you do it properly.
As it does not take significant effort on your part to implement, administer etc. any income from it can be used to:
- Increase your income
- Pay for insurance and other self employment expenses
- Line your nest egg for retirement
Any or all of the above are possible.
Here are the known Supplemental Funding programs:
|
Amazon Smiles® |
Scholar Dollars |
|
| Cost |
Free |
Free |
| Effort |
Informing people only |
Signing people up |
| Average Rate of Reward |
0.5% (.005) |
4.0% (.040) |
| Available in all states |
Yes |
Yes |
| One time signup |
Yes |
Yes |
| Reminds Supporters |
No |
Yes, ongoing promotion |
| Rep Commission |
No |
Yes |
| Expandable |
No |
Yes |
| Designed around fundraising |
No |
Yes |
| Linked to fundraising efforts |
No |
Yes |
| Non Profit |
No |
Yes |
| Beyond the Internet |
No |
Yes |
| Sharable link |
No |
Yes |
| QR Code enabled | No | Yes |
Note that both of these use the well established cash back model where a percent of a normal sale is then remitted to the cause. Both require access to qualifying purchases through a designated portal to get access to the cash back from known merchants and products.
Amazon and Amazon Smiles are registered trademarks of Amazon.com.