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The Concept
In order to encourage Auburn
residents to donate to the Auburn Food Bank, local restaurants and other
retailers are being recruited to offer a reward to each donor. We expect
to have 20-30 restaurants offering a "free entree with the purchase of
another entree" reward certificates. The donor will receive all of these
rewards after making a donation of $50 to the Food Bank.
The online donations will be made
through a prototype website called DonationRewards.com. Once a donation
is made, the donor will receive all the current reward certificates into
their account. The certificates can be printed when needed. Each
certificate is uniquely numbered and can be used only once. When a
certificate is redeemed, the merchant will call in the unique number to
verify that it is still valid. Once redeemed, the number becomes
invalid.
This is a very good marketing
opportunity for restaurants. It's free, they are attracting new
customers, and the customers they're attracting have disposable income
to donate to charity. Instead of spending advertising budgets on coupons
mailers and newspaper ads, the restaurant can spend the money on what it
does best -- offering a great dining experience.
The campaign will collect a
transaction fee on each donation of 10% + the credit card processing fee
(typically 2.5 - 3.0%) to offset expenses incurred running the campaign.
These expenses include, but are not limited to, the web server,
marketing expertise, artwork, printing, and media purchases.
"Auburn Cares", IntraData, Inc,
DonationRewards.com, and Chip Switzer are all participating in and
organizing this campaign, but none of the above are non-profit entities.
Your donations are to the Auburn Food Bank and are tax-deductible.
The Auburn Cares campaign is sharing
the name with the city of Auburn's donation check-off to the Food Bank
on the utility bill. There is no other connection. This campaign is not
officially sponsored by the City of Auburn.
Mayor Pete Lewis is a supporter and
advisor to the campaign and may be contacted at 253.931.3041.
Debbie Christian is the Executive
Director of the Auburn Food Bank and may be contacted at 253.833.2985.
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