Turn everyday shopping into effortless fundraising.

Imagine every time your supporters fill up for gas, go grocery shopping, dine out, shop for clothes or buy gifts they could be raising funds for your group. For some groups this has become a reality – to the tune of thousands of dollars a year.

For years, many schools and non-profit groups have been raising funds through selling gift cards and certificates from various retailers, such as Petro-Canada, Canadian Tire, BLOCKBUSTER, Shoppers Drug Mart, The Bay, Zellers and Starbucks. Groups purchase the gift cards and certificates at a discount and, in turn, sell them to their supporters at full face value, retaining the difference for their fundraising initiatives. Some organizations report raising over $50,000 yearly based on over $1 million worth of spending from their supporters. With this kind of fundraising potential, it is easy to see why the Shop & Support Fundraising Program ™ has become the best-kept secret in fundraising.

Schools can quickly and effortlessly raise valuable funds without requiring their supporters to spend any extra money on things they do not need or want. Supporters simply purchase gift cards and certificates for their favourite retailers and use them just like cash towards their purchases or give them as gifts. In fact, many parents appreciate the opportunity to use the program as a form of budgeting for common expenses, providing their children with a secure and efficient currency for weekly expenses such as gas, dining out, and entertainment. “It's transparent and I'm helping my daughter's school raise money just by shopping for the things we need each week.” says Mrs. Spagnolo, a parent at Brookville Public School in Milton who has been using the Shop & Support Program ™ to raise funds for their school since early this year. In addition, many schools are using the cards and certificates to pay for school expenses as well as using them for teacher and student rewards. The potential is unlimited and the program provides everyone with an opportunity to raise funds for their school.

“We help organizations raise funds effortlessly through their supporters' everyday shopping. We have partnered with almost 100 of the top national and regional retailers to provide a simple and effective fundraising solution.” says Jerry Rotondaro , President of PREFERRED ONE, a Canadian fundraising company which operates the Shop & Support Fundraising Program ™ .

PREFERRED ONE has helped many organizations, including private schools, daycare centres, churches, sports teams and other non-profit groups raise funds through its innovative turnkey Shop and Support Fundraising Program ™ . Its unique approach and comprehensive offering includes the development of full colour customized order forms, marketing posters, introductory letters, electronic order forms which automatically tabulate and calculate orders, e-mail based ordering, online payment processing, and an industry leading 3 day order fulfillment with FREE shipping. PREFERRED ONE offers a total value package that enables a group to kick-off their fundraising campaign in as little as one week with absolutely no up-front cost. All a group has to do is promote the program to its supporters and collect orders on a regular basis and PREFERRED ONE takes care of the rest. It is that simple! And as if that was not enough, as a bonus to groups on a weekly ordering cycle, PREFERRED ONE even supplies FREE full colour material to kick off their program. Groups can then choose to continue to distribute order forms either in print or via email. Mr. Rotondaro advises, “It's important to establish supporter buy-in early on and ensure that your supporters are fully aware of and supportive of your fundraising goals. You want to attain 100% participation, with families channeling as much of their spending as possible through the program in order to maximize the fundraising potential. If you treat supporter participation the way you treat student attendance there is no doubt you will be very successful with this type of program. For example, in a school with 100 families where each family purchases $200 worth of gift cards/certificates per week to use towards their everyday shopping, the school will raise $30,000 in just one year.”