Make money for Relay the EASY way with the Ibotta Ap!

 What if I told you that you could make $10 to put towards your Relay fundraising the next time you go to the grocery store or your favorite convenience store buying what you would already be buying?  I know, I know- it sounds too good to be true!  But you guys- you know me.  I don't bologna sandwich around raising money to cure cancer.

After listening to friends rave about it, hearing it advertised on the radio, and seeing post after post on Facebook; I FINALLY broke down and downloaded the free Ibotta ap when I made a New Years resolution to save more money on grocery shopping in 2017.  And, admittedly, I was skeptical, but very pleasantly surprised at how fast and easy it was to use to save money (enough to help me contribute more to my OKC Relay team fundraising total!) As you can see in the screen shot below, from January 3rd to January 31st, I got $93.75 back from buying things that I already buy anyway (here's the part where I silently kick myself for not doing this sooner)

Now, in the spirit of full disclosure, it is important to know that everyone in my family has Celiac disease, so our grocery bill is a lot higher than your average grocery store trip- BUT if we COULD have wheat products, I think we would have saved even more (Eggo waffle rebate, I'm looking at you!) 

OK, enough with all of the fluff- here is how Ibotta works!  I think of the entire program like coupons you redeem after you shop- except instead of getting money off of your grocery total, you get cold hard cash.  You can use regular manufacturer coupons when you shop as well, which really makes things dirt cheap (I bought carpet cleaner this week for a whole 47 cents)  Here's the skinny...

Sign up for Ibotta - it's quick and free! 

-Choose one of the Preferred Partners (think Target, Walmart, Walgreens, United, Homeland etc)

 -Unlock Rebates. Before you shop, unlock cash back rewards on great products by completing simple tasks like watching a short video or answering a question.

 -Go shopping like usual.

-When you get home, open the ap and scan your rebate items and your receipt.

 -Get cash back in 24 hours.

 AND to make the deal even sweeter, when you use my link and my referral code (which is bkewgrf or https://ibotta.com/r/bkewgrf ) you will get an additional $10 FOR FREE when you submit your first rebate.  That's $10 closer to your fundraising goal!  When you use my link, I also get $5, which I can turn around and put towards my Relay fundraising!  WIN WIN WIN.  If just half of the people who participate in Relay For Life took advantage of this we could raise an additional 20 MILLION dollars for cancer research.  Isn't that insane?  Why wouldn't you want to do this? 

The thing I love about the ap is it has rebates for things I would be buying anyway.  Some of my favorites are any brand of bananas, any brand milk, any brand bread (gluten free bread costs a fortune), and the ever so loved Brawny paper towel rebate.  After you shop it takes a whole 3-5 minutes to complete the rebate submission, and you are done.  If you donated everything you earned from the app (and if you save at the rate I do), that would be enough money to get you to grand club by doing a simple, easy task after you shop!  How cool is that? 

But, you don't take my word for it (I totally stole that from Reading Rainbow.)  Go download the ap and start chipping away at that goal today, and let me know what you think!

XO
Cassi

T-Shirt Fundraising... the easy way (no, I am not kidding, there is an easy way!)

We all know T-shirts are great fundraisers, but ONLY if you have a lot of volunteers to help with sorting and delivering, and amazing design, and you get enough orders to make a good sized profit.

A lot of us have turned to online t-shirt fundraising sites- but there are some real problems there.  It really bothers me how much those sites charge for t's,  it creates low profits for fundraisers with high minimums.

And, if any of you have run a massive in person fundraiser with a local you know how time consuming it is to get orders, cash all of the checks, and deliver.

WHY?  That was the question I was asking myself a few weeks ago.  Why isn't there a better solution for us?  After all, we aren't making money for our own pockets- we are trying to save people from cancer!  I knew I had to find a solution, so that donors could get amazing shirts at great prices while still helping us fund our mission with high profit margins and less work.

Then it hit me like a ton of bricks (purple ones for the record) If MULTIPLE groups ordered T's at the same time, we could get bulk pricing, and make more profit for ACS.  We wouldn't be hurting each others sales, because we all live in different areas, and have different contacts to sell to.

After thinking long and hard about a program that would work, I went to my tried and true local printer and asked them to roll out a program we could also share with other teams nationally. For the last two weeks I have been working out the kinks, and website designing with them to create a solution- and here it is!
http://mightymisfits.relayfund.org/

The best part?  You can do it to!  It is as simple as me submitting a form to have a website made for your team/event. 

I know you are waiting for a catch, but you guys know me- I am full disclosure, and I have yet to find a catch (if there was one, I wouldn't be doing this or sharing it with you!)

I also know what your next question is, because it is always my first question.  HOW MUCH WILL WE MAKE?  Assuming you choose the same design we are currently selling (or one with the same amounts of colors on one side) here is the pricing:

See that 72 plus price?  Imagine how easy it is to sell 72 shirts when you have 5 other teams selling to!  At that price, you are making $10 a shirt on unisex T's if you are selling them for $15 each.  $10!  You don;t have to design anything, you don't have to go all around town picking up checks, and your donors can have them delivered right to their door. 

Right about now is the time where you are picking up your phone to text your team or share with your ELT on Facebook- so here is a break down of the basics and FAQ's for the program that you can share!

-If we fund raise together we get higher volume discounts and make more money for ACS. How can we do this without making things complicated? Campaigns fundraising together have the same end date.
-Your donors can purchase directly from the website and choose local team pick-up for free, or to pay have their shirts shipped to their home.
-To avoid inconvenience and cost, I made sure the orders going to the teams for local pick up would ship to you FOR FREE.
-You can also take traditional in person orders to supplement your sales.
-Want to offer multiple designs or a team shirt to?  What about a different shirt all together?  Resolution has a graphic designer you can use for FREE.
-After the campaign is over, Resolution will send you a check for your proceed amount made to American Cancer Society.
-If your team would like to sell this design (or another design- the plan is to offer a choice of several designs when you sign up, but we are just getting this rolling!) I can submit a form so that your team can have a personal website like my team's site above, and be included with other teams ordering in the same campaign period for bulk discounts.


I feel like this could be a game changer for us! If you are interested or have questions, feel free to shoot me an email at cassiselby@gmail.com. You can also check out our Facebook group page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/RelayThinkTank/ if you are not ready yet but may be in the future. This group includes the 8 teams who are currently using this system, and they are all experienced Relayers who would be happy to help you out along the way! The Facebook also includes graphics for selling on Facebook, in person order forms, and is where we will be throwing around future design options.


Happy Fundraising!
Cassi