Gifting With Purpose

GWP Is In a Renewal Process

2007-07-10T15:09:00.000-07:00

Gifting With Purpose is in the midst of an exciting complete renewal. It was our board's decision to cease operations during this transition phase so that we could concentrate all of our resources toward the renewal process.

Though, you may have experienced some level of difficulty due to the unavailabilty of the GWP program or your Customer Care Associate, I assure you that you have not been forgotten and that when Gifting With Purpose re-launches it will be an exciting program that your Church or other non-profit will be excited to be a part of.

There will be a cost involved to be a part of the New GWP, but all of you that were a part of the old GWP program will be grand-fathered in at no cost. When you see the new website and all of the powerful promotional tools that are coming ... you will be very glad that you were a part of GWP in the beginning phases.

Again we apologize for any inconvenience. God bless.

Wendy's and Shell are Back...More on the Way!

2007-02-12T07:21:00.000-08:00

Just to let you know that Wendy's is now back in stock and in a plastic card form as opposed to the old paper certificates they were using. Now, the card will retain your unused balance for your next trip to good ol' Wendy's Hamburgers. The gifting percentage is at 4%.

Shell is now back into the program as well at the same 1.5%. Not a lot of percentage, but we all use a lot of gas and it can add up.

The key to making Gifting With Purpose work for your organization is to budget the things you know you are going to spend such as groceries and gas ... even though the percentages are small ... 1.5% to 5% ... the dollar amounts are consistent and larger. This can make up a good base of funds for your program. Then you add in the higher percentages for things like dining out (7% to 15%) and clothing and your program is beginning to pick up momentum.

Then, there are the occaisional "big ticket" items such as Home Improvements, new appliances, computers, etc. that return from 3% to 5% on often very large dollar amounts and you are returning some big bucks to your church, school or other non-profit organization.

Remember, on big ticket items, you can often get larger denominations if you will email us in advance and request it. We will at least give you the largest denomination available.

God bless and keep on "gifting with purpose."

It's Almost Christmas!

2006-12-12T07:49:00.000-08:00

Just 12 more days 'till Christmas!

Wow! What a busy time of year. Just wanted to post an update on orders expected to arrive before Christmas. All we can do, is give the best estimates based on what our suppliers tell us and what UPS ultimately accomplishes in terms of delivery. You must make your decision based on the information we are able to supply you.

As it stands right now, our main supplier is still guaranteeing the following:

Orders placed by 10 AM Central will ship out by the following day.
Those orders placed on Monday by 10 AM will arrive on Thursday.
Those orders placed on Tuesday by 10 AM Central will arrive on Friday.

Please note: We CANNOT GUARANTEE anything to arrive before Christmas. By that, we mean that there are too many variable involved that we have no control over to guarantee an arrival by Christmas. However, we are meeting the above shipping times thus far and feel that it should hold true.

FINAL NOTE: Now, is probably the last week to really make a BIG promotional push for Christmas. Give it your best shot, and all of us at Gifting With Purpose are wishing all of our wonderful Churches and other organizations the most blessed Christmas ever!

New Merchants Just In Time For Christmas!

2006-12-05T11:06:00.000-08:00

Gifting With Purpose is happy to announce the addition of some "New Merchants" to our already awesome selection of Gift Cards that put money back into your Church, School, Ministry or Other Non-Profit Organization. We are commited to boosting your fund raising efforts at Gifting With Purpose.

KOHL'S Department Store

Just in time for Christmas, a great resource for gifts of all kinds and a great medium priced store for year round clothing, kitchen aids, etc.

Denomination: $25.00
Gifting Percentage: 4%

Sally Beauty Supply Gift Card

Get all of your beauty supply needs here and some
Great Gifts as well!

Denomination: $25.00
Gifting Percentage: 12%

ADDITIONAL NEW MERCHANTS:

Papa John's Pizza
Denomination: $10.
Gifting Percentage: 6%

Sunglass Hut
Denomination: $25.
Gifting Percentage: 9%

Steve & Barry's
Denomination: $25.
Gifting Percentage: 6%

Omaha Steaks
Denomination: $25.
Gifting Percentage: 10%

Real Mex Restaurants
Denomination: $25.
Gifting Percentage: 9%

This is a 12 different concept card good at locations located across the country such as: El Torito, El Torito Grill, GuadalaHarry's, Who-Song & Larry's, !Hola! Amigo's and El Paso Cantina Restaurants.

GWP Order Cut-off and Turnaround Times

2006-11-16T14:07:00.000-08:00

Here is another important post regarding order cut-off and turnaround times. One thing we have worked hard for is to keep the lag time between the time your supporters place orders and the time they actually have the cards in hand to shop. As you know, this is the busiest time of the year for GWP and our suppliers therefore, we must enforce some strict order cut-off times.

We will allow for two cut-offs, but we MUST know which cut-off time you prefer -- please communicate to your CCA which you prefer if it represents a change from what you are presently working with.

Monday 10AM CST for Wednesday delivery (2-day air)
Tuesday 10AM CST for Thursday delivery (2-day air)

NOTE: We will not offer any next day air during this time. This is for two reasons. One, the cost of shipping has gotten so high that it eats into the organization's percentages too much. We have been absorbing much of the increase and cannot continue to do so. Secondly, the reliability during this time of the year could be in question and we do not want you expecting next day and it not occur.

Further, please understand that this will be an unusually busy time of the year and we cannot and do not gaurantee the two-day turnaround. Please advise your supporters to be prepared for delays during this season. We hope that there are none, but realistically understand that that is more than a remote possibility.

Thank you for your understanding.
Admin

Preparation For The New Season

2006-11-16T11:41:00.000-08:00

It genuinely feels like Fall here in Houston, Texas today. The skies are bright blue and the normally hot, humid air is cool and crisp. My favorite time of the year.

If you are coordinator of a Gifting With Purpose program or involved with one in any way, this time of year is your time of greatest potential. We at GWP, certainly hope that you are able to seize this time of year to jump start your program if it has become stagnant or to double sales that may already be soaring.

Now is the time to re-evaluate your Purpose, Goals and Vision for your church, ministry, school or organization. As with life, there are obstacles to overcome and new routines and schedule changes to be dealt with. Just keep your eyes on the prize and keep pushing to see success with a program that has the potential to raise more funds than any I know when used and administrated properly.

In our previous post, we introduced a number of brand new merchants and cards that should add greatly to your program. Watch the next several posts carefully as we are adding several more new merchants and cards. Also, there will be some important schedule changes announced in upcoming posts as well as some SPECIAL Christmas time bonus gifting percentages. Take advantage of every opportunity and have a wonderful Thanksgiving and Christmas season.

Gary Madden

New Merchants Ready To Gift Back To You!

2006-09-28T11:38:00.000-07:00

We are pleased to announce the addition of the following gift cards to our growing collection:

Taco Cabano Mexican Restaurants
$10 Gift Card -- 6% Gifting Percentage
To find a Taco Cabana near you, please go to: Taco Cabana Near You

Cheesecake Factory
$25 Gift Card -- 3% Gifting Percentage
To find a location near you, please go to: Cheesecake Factory

Mimi's Cafe
$10 Gift Card -- 8% Gifting Percentage
To find a location near you, please go to: Mimi's Near Me

Landry's (Entire Family of Restaurants)
Aquarium, Downtown Aquarium, Babin's Seafood House, Big Fish, Brenner's Steakhouse, Cadillac Bar, Charley's Crab, Chart House Restaurant, The Crab House, Fisherman's Wharf, The Flying Dutchman, Grotto, Harlow's, Joe Crab Shack, Kemah Boardwalk, La Griglia, Landry's Seafood House, Muer Seafood Restuarants, Peohe's, Pesce, The Phoenix, The Pizza Oven, Rainforest Cafe, The Rusty Duck, Saltgrass Steak House, The Coffe House, Vic & Anthony's Steakhouse, and Willie G's Seafood & Steakhouse

$20 Gift Card -- 8% Gifting Percentage

Step Two: Set A Goal

2006-09-26T16:18:00.000-07:00

Welcome back.

In our post yesterday, we talked about the importance of vision. You have to be able to see clearly what you hope to and intend to accomplish. Along with this vision should be your "why", that is the reason why you want to do Gifting With Purpose.

Today, we will talk about the second step to a successful Gifting With Purpose program for your church, school or other non profit organization.

Step Number Two: SET A GOAL

You have a vision, the goal is the raw numbers of how you will accomplish the vision. EXAMPLE: Your vision is to build a new church building with GWP funds. The goal is how much you will raise and how many families will need to participate and at what level. What is it going to take to reach your vision?

To make it simple, let's say you need to raise $1,000. Each family can channel $200 of their ordinary spending through gift cards and your organization will receive approximately 5% of that money or $10 per family. If you have 10 families, participating, it will take you 10 weeks to raise the $1,000. The nice thing about Gifting With Purpose is that your supporter families do not have to spend any money out of pocket to raise the funds. They simply channel their regular spending through the program and you raise the $1,000.

Be sure to post a comment or send us an email with your feedback. You can click here to send us an EMAIL
If you are interested in starting a Gifting With Purpose program for your church, school or other non profit organization, then email us by clicking this link: GWP INFO

Have A Vision

2006-09-25T09:27:00.000-07:00

Good morning!

It has been a busy morning, trouble-shooting and helping new users place gift card orders, etc. It looks like it is going to be a good week, orders are rolling in.

This will be the first post in a series this week that will take you step by step through the process of introducing a Gifting With Purpose program effectively in your church, school or other non profit organization. There are five very important steps in implementing a successful program. If you are already operating a GWP program, it would still be very beneficial for you to read each of these posts this week and re-evaluate whether you have properly completed each of these steps. It could make a huge difference in the success or failure of your program.

Step Number One: HAVE A VISION

Have a vision for Gifting With Purpose. The key word in our name is “Purpose”. You must have a “Purpose” for working this concept. That “Vision” or “Purpose” must be caught by your supporters. To accomplish that, it must be put before them continually in many different ways.

Proverbs rightly says, "Where there is no vision, the people perish..." A GWP program without a clear vision will also perish and fall by the wayside. Habakkuk 2:2 instructs to "...Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it." This indicates the importance of making a vision very clear and writing it down in a clear manner that one can quickly see and understand it.

I challenge you today, to find some quiet time to rethink your GWP program. Have you really gotten a clear vision of how and what it can accomplish in your organization? This entire concept is based on each family committing to channel their weekly spending budget items through prepaid gift cards. How much do your supporter families spend on groceries each week? How much on gasoline? How much on dining out? How much on home improvements, clothing, office supplies, major appliances, etc.? What if they took the time to budget properly for those items and purchased a gift card in advance and then used that prepaid gift card in place of cash, credit or check?

If each supporter family spent $200 weekly (averaged over one year) through the GWP concept, your organization would average approximately 5% of their gross purchases. Ten families x $200 equals $2,000 x 5% equals $100. That would be an extra $100 per week into your organization's budget. That is $5,200 per year. What effect could that have? What if that number were doubled or tripled?

Ask yourself all of these questions and work through the math. You will begin to get a clear vision of what this concept can accomplish for your organization. Along with that, you must establish your "why", that is your purpose for doing it and as you do, you will have arrived at a clear vision for your GWP program. Now, you need to write it and make it plain so that every supporter in your church or organization can clearly see it.

This is step one. Do it today! Write us and let us know if we can help. Send us questions? Also, please, please share your ideas for "Vision" so that other groups can benefit from it as well. You are welcome to post a "comment" at the end of this article, or email me at gmadden@giftingwithpurpose.com .

Welcome To The Gifting With Purpose Blog

2006-09-21T11:57:00.000-07:00

Greetings!

It is our intent to use this blog to introduce new churches, schools and other non profits to our unique fund raising idea using prepaid gift cards. This page will also serve as a resource for our GWP organizations and their supporters to get updates on new gift cards and merchants, changes or enhancements to the program and an idea exchange.

We encourage interaction and the leaving of comments. Of course we have the right to include or not include such comments. Our hope, of course is that we can all benefit our organizations by the positive ideas, tips and or suggestions. Let everyone know what is working for you.

I have been a pastor for over 30 years during which time, my wife and I founded two churches from the ground up and took another as only the second pastor since its inception. As you might guess, the normal tithes and offering income in those early stages was not nearly sufficient to provide the funds needed. As a result, we were involved in multiple church fund raising ideas, some of which worked and some of which failed miserably.

Over the years, I have come to see that in many cases, traditional non profit fund raising can be a drain on the energy of the supporters and a distraction to the true purpose for which the organization exists. That is why Gifting With Purpose was born to allow the non profit organization benefit from the normal everyday spending of its supporters. I was amazed at the numbers of merchants that were more than willing to discount their gift cards, allowing the discounted amounts to flow directly to the non profit organization.

It is really a simple plan. Once an organization has registered with Gifting With Purpose, its supporters can go online to the GWP website: http://www.giftingwithpurpose.com log in and select from an extensive list of merchants gift cards for their anticipated weekly spending for groceries, gas, restaurants, home improvements, gifts, etc. Because they buy online at face value, the non profit gets the advantage of the discount that ranges from 1.5% for some gas gift cards up to as much as 18% for a restaurant gift card. Most grocery gift cards such as a Safeway gift card are at 4% discount and specialty cards like a Starbucks gift card is 7%. All in all, an organization can expect to average about 5% of the face value of the cards purchased.

That's about it for now. If you are reading this post and you are interested in having your church, school, or other non profit participate in this easy fund raising idea, you should contact me at gmadden@giftingwithpurpose.com and we will email you complete details and an enrollment application.