Affiliate Fundraising 101. More and more groups are beginning to realize the positive impact using the internet can have on a fundraising campaign. The internet can significantly increase the profitability and reach of a fundraising campaign because it is a low cost method of mass communication. Affiliate programs are one example of how fundraising groups can use their web sites for fundraising.
Through an affiliate program a group is to be paid to promote a merchant's products from their website. Every sales transaction made at a merchant's site that was referred from the fundraising group's web site earns them a flat rate or a percentage of the sale.
One of the world's most famous affiliate programs is Amazon.com. Over 400,000 people world wide promote Amazon's books through their web sites and Amazon pays them a percentage commission on every sale made from someone who clicked from their site.
Fundraising groups have a distinctive advantage because they can recommend products to their supportergive them an immediate base of web traffic.
The first step for any group is to sign up with a trusted third party affiliate network such as Commission Junction (www.cj.com). Commission Junction provides access to hundreds of merchants who participate in affiliate programs. The affiliate network also provides tracking of sales referrals and distributes payments.
Advantages of affiliate programs over traditional fundraising means are numerous:
There is No door-to-door selling Campaigns can be run from a computer No inventory to purchase and distribute; the merchant takes care of the entire transaction from processing the online transaction to shipping the inventory directly to the customer Groups can track the success of the campaign online and in real time