Legit Fundraising? Or PR nightmare?
Recently I was approached (unfortunately, by a family member) to join in a quest to get rich quick. All my dreams can come true if I pay a nominal up front fee and some elbow grease. So I'm thinking..."Yeah I've heard this all before when I was hit up for AmWay, RexAll, and the air purifier sales plan. Why on earth would I want to hear about another one of these not-really a pyramid, but look like a pyramid schemes?" "Oh but this one is different." I am told. Yeah right. So the premise is...You pay a fee for this company, YTB, to set up a website for you. Then you tell your friends to use your website to book all their travel. They get discounts, you get commission. It's a win-win according to them. Eventually, you start signing up your pals to have their own websites, and you get a cut of their commissions. Pyramid right? But here's where the talk got really interesting, and for me, downright scary. They want me to sign up the Museum as a non-profit under this plan. Apparently, this company figured out they could get more people using their website for travel bookings if they encouraged non-profs to sign up. The non-prof gets a cut (40%), which is not termed a commission but is called a licensing fee, when their supporters use their website. The non-prof provides YTB with their subscriber/member lists. YTB produces email blasts that go out to those members advertising "Deals and Steals" for travel every 7 to 10 days with the non-profs logo on it (hence the licensing fee deal). YTB has a legal department that draws up the contract to make sure that the non-prof is not put in jeopardy legally. However, my question to you is....what does this do to the Museum in the eyes of the members? The other problem I saw with it is that the Museum does not have the first right of refusal for the email blasts. They will never see them before they go out. Granted, they should just be advertising travel deals, but who knows what could be put on there that could offend the members? What are your thoughts?
posted by Anonymous @ 12:50 PM
3 Comments:
At 3:07 PM, September 24, 2006,
Giselle said…
This raises a red flag for me, as there's no discernable connection to the mission of the Museum (which, unless I'm way off, probably doesn't include providing travel deals to its members). As a donor and/or a Board Member in this situation, I would be very reluctant to approve such a random fundraising endeavor, especially when the Museum has very little control over what's said on its behalf.
At 4:24 PM, September 25, 2006,
austin said…
For the museum this a bad idea because the museum is having its members list solicited with travel "deals and steals". For an organization that has a member base that travels frequently, this may not be such a bad idea. If they know the members are constantly purchasing trips via Web sites, then why not capitalize on this and receive 40% payout. For almost all nonprofits this sounds like a nightmare waiting to happen if they enter into a partnership with YTB, but for the above mentioned it may work.
Communicate to your members about the situation and take the subject up with your board of directors. If all sides agree on giving it a test phase, then go for it. Communicating clearly with your members about the venture is key.
At 5:07 PM, September 25, 2006,
Evelyn said…
I think that any business opportunity that asks to pay a fee in advance is suspicious for me, especially when the company is not well known and even worst when they are one of those pyramid companies. I don’t know! Maybe is my thing but I don’t trust them!
I would like to answer Leslie’s question. I don’t think this is a good idea for the museum to work with YTB. It does not look like the right thing to do to the museum members. If you or the museum would like to do it, I think that the best approach will be to talk to your members and ask for their opinion about it.
I have heard about this type of business in Costa Rica last year. This is the first time I hear about it deal here. Actually a friend of mine used to do that and I think he made some money. In the case of the museum I think that the museum’s reputation is a very important aspect to consider. As someone mentioned earlier this can attract bad press and also get in other kind of image and PR problems.
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