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| Path: Main Street > Resources/Library > Research Articles > Feature Article |
Reading's fun, and it makes money tooMay 7, 1997; Canadian FundRaiser
It's a bookmobile with a difference. Reading's Fun, a discount bookselling company based in Iowa, will exchange 10 percent of its gross sales at a book fair for a warm introduction to one of your corporate friends. The seven-year-old company, which runs school and corporate book fairs at sites throughout Canada and the US, sees this approach as a great way to build its client base while helping charities.
Until 1993, Reading's Fun operated only in schools. A representative dropped off samples of books and order forms and returned a few days later to pick up the orders. For every 10 books ordered, the company donated one book to the school's library. That year, however, the company bought too many books for its schools.
Reading's Fun Marketing Director Ridley Hutchinson explains that they had to find a way to sell the remaining inventory. "We approached companies to put on book fairs for their employees and offered them a rebate based on the volume of books sold. We thought that they might use this money for their employee fund or Christmas party, but we found that many of them donated it to a charity instead."
Get the charities on board to help everyone
Noticing the trend of corporate giving, the company sent its marketing program off in a new direction. The United Way was a popular choice for companies' corporate donations, so Burt Peters, a Reading's Fun sales rep, began talking with local United Ways and offered them 10 per cent of gross sales for any book fairs that they could help launch with their corporate supporters. Peters would still staff and manage the fair, and the United Way would receive a cheque afterward in the name of the sponsoring company. The United Way only had to write a letter of introduction and offer to put the sales rep in touch with the corporation.No volunteers, no staffing or coordination? Impossible though it may sound, that's the way it has been working, and the company will conduct thousands of fairs this year and support hundreds of charities including the United Way, YMCA, Red Cross, and the International Telephone Pioneers of America. Reading's Fun has worked with organizations in Vancouver, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Saskatoon and Regina. Last year, the United Way of Regina raised over $6,000 with their book fairs, and the United Way of Winnipeg has added more than $40,000 to its coffers since it began working with them a few years ago. In fact, across North America last year, the company helped generate donations of $1.2 million for United Ways alone.
Reading's Fun also boasts that 90 per cent of companies ask them back to conduct more book fairs, and once your charity has introduced the company to one of your corporate sponsors, you'll receive 10 per cent of sales in all future book fairs. For those organizations with smaller corporate partners (fewer than 150 employees), or those which choose not to operate a full book fair, Reading's Fun will organize a program similar to its school book-drop service where a rep leaves samples and order forms in the office lunch room or front desk.
As Hutchinson explains, it's a win-win-win situation. Reading's Fun expands its market, the charity develops a new stream of revenue with no maintenance effort, and the company benefits from a new employee benefit program. This turn-key program is definitely worth a test drive.
For more information about Reading's Fun, call Ridley Hutchinson at (800) 689-1771 ext. 3700.
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