Step 1: Recruit Partners

All that’s needed to get a Generopolis fundraiser off the ground is for a local business to designate a 501c3 nonprofit organization to be the beneficiary of their GOOD Deal. Of course, the best results happen when both the nonprofit and the local business work together as true partners. This guide walks you through the process creating a strong list of potential partner candidates and provides templates to make the outreach process easy.

What makes for a really GOOD partner? We’re glad you asked! When seeking new partners, try to check at least three of the boxes from this checklist.

Nonprofits can benefit from partnering with many different types of local businesses. When brainstorming potential partners, brainstorm a “target list” for each of these categories: existing relationships, close connections and easy extensions. Then, use our downloadable guide to create your approach for each.

This downloadable worksheet takes you from establishing your financial goal for your Generopolis fundraiser all the way through to developing the perfect number and types of business partners you’ll need to reach your goal.

This downloadable guide has email text you can copy, paste and customize to get your business partner outreach going, follow up with hot leads and/or continue the conversation with the businesses you target.

Here’s a video invitation you can send to potential business partners. It’s a quick snapshot to help them understand what Generopolis is and why it’s a great opportunity for them. You can even download this video from YouTube and place your own nonprofit logo at the beginning and end using Canva or your favorite video editor!

We’ve found that it helps to have a stack of flyers always on hand and with you to present as your daily flow takes you into your own preferred local businesses. When you’re an actual customer at a business, it can feel easy and natural to ask for the establishment’s manager and present the partnership opportunity. This downloadable flyer leaves the top section available for you to insert your own logo and call-to-action at the top, while communicating important information about how Generopolis works on the lower portion.

If you have the creative resources to design your own flyers, you may find that you need or want some of the images we used in our downloadable flyers above. Feel free to include these images as you see fit.

Step 2: Plan Good Deal

Let’s start by defining what a GOOD Deal is. A GOOD Deal is any type of offer that a business is willing to provide to a customer in exchange for a donation to your nonprofit. A GOOD Deal can be a discount, a bonus, an upsell, a buy-one-get-one, a free product or any other promotional incentive that your business partner wishes to offer. Explore the items below or download our complete guide to see what makes a deal extra GOOD.

The most important thing about defining your GOOD Deal is that it must be a “win” for the business when customers claim the deal. Some examples include:

  1. The deal drives existing customers to try a new offering from the business; An example would be offering a discount on a new flavor in a highly profitable or popular existing line.
  2. The deal nudges customers to buy more, driving up total spending at the business; An example would be creating a promotion where you “spend $30 or more, get $10 off” or “buy two items, get the third 50 percent off.”
  3. The “GOOD Deal” status can be stacked on top of promotional deals the business already has in their plans and marketing budget for the year. It seems counterintuitive, but our data shows that a GOOD Deal donation stacked on top of a promotion or sale the business routinely uses – even if it reduces overall customer savings – can boost sales performance by double digits. An example would be a business that usually runs a “25% off purchase” sale in November. We recommend keeping that sale but stacking it with a $10 GOOD Deal donation as the requirement for the customer to unlock the deal. In the business’ standard November sale format, if the customer spends $100, they’d save $25. In the GOOD Deal donation format, if the customer spends $100, they’d save $25, but also pay $10 in charitable donations, reducing overall savings to $15. Interestingly, the charitable donation often increases deal participation, rather than softening it.
  4. The deal moves inventory that the business does not want to keep on hand. For example, in highly seasonal businesses or businesses where inventory spoils, GOOD Deals can help the business sell through inventory at a deep discount while creating charitable impact. If the inventory was already planned for sale at a loss, why not do some GOOD while executing the necessary sell-off?

Simply put, customers must be moved into action because of the exciting depth of discount or the exclusive availability of the item. If the deal is not available to enough customers or is only offered on unpopular items, it will do little for the business or the nonprofit. For example, if the GOOD Deal is only offered on “Widget A,” which only comes in a color, flavor or size that 10 percent of customers like, your fundraiser will not perform well.

The GOOD Deal, itself, can be a great way to build a bridge between your business partner’s work and your nonprofit messaging. For example, if you’re a food pantry and know that it costs $10.10 to feed a family for a day, you might consider creating a GOOD Deal for $10.10 off a purchase of “Widget A.” The striking price point can serve as an opportunity for store employees to easily communicate the “why” of the deal while spreading your nonprofit’s brand and mission. Alternately, if you’re a heart health nonprofit running a GOOD deal during February, perhaps your business partners can create GOOD Deals on items that are red or have a heart theme.

Your business partner must be able to deliver on your GOOD deal easily and within their current business systems. Overly complicated deals are not only confusing to the customer, but also to the business employees charged with executing them.
For example, if your deal offers a percent off purchase, the employees at the register must have a way to activate the discount within their system. GOOD Deal QR Codes and their accompanying email receipts can be programmed with a “coupon code” that employees at the register can key in if that is helpful to their business operations.
An example of an overly burdensome deal would be a structure that requires employees to get manager approval, manual manager overrides, or “key turns” at the register every time a customer wants to redeem a GOOD Deal.

Step 3: Set Donation Amount

Once you have created your GOOD Deal, it’s time to set the donation amount that customers pay to “unlock” the deal. We have a few tips below to help you set an optimal donation amount or you can download the whole guide here

Remember that the donation required to unlock your GOOD Deal essentially decreases the discount or value the customer experiences. Make sure that the required customer donation is less than or equal to the savings the customer will gain by participating in the GOOD Deal. For example, if the deal offers a $10 savings on a purchase, a $5 donation might be an appealing option. The better the overall savings to the customer, the more likely they will be to participate – and the more successful your fundraiser will be!

Unleash your creativity on ways that the dollar donation amount can help you create a branded “mission moment” with customers. For example, if your nonprofit often quotes a statistic that $5.06 can feed a child lunch for a day, consider using $5.06 as the required donation amount. The striking price point can serve as an opportunity for store employees to easily communicate the “why” of the deal while spreading your brand and mission.

Remember that Generopolis retains $.49 plus 10% of each customer donation to defray Paypal credit card and other admin costs. Because of this fee, a $1.00 donation does not provide enough return on your fundraising efforts. We recommend a $5 minimum donation amount unless you’re certain that your deal is going to be claimed by a very high number of customers.

It’s completely acceptable – even encouraged – if your business partner decides that they would like to run multiple types of deals over the course of your GOOD Deal promotional window or if they would like to experiment with customer choice on the donation amount.

  • Multiple Deals Example: A restaurant wants to offer a buy-one-get-one-free entrée promotion for lunch and dinner. The lower lunch menu price points may make a $7 donation appropriate for the lunch special, but a $17 donation value would be a better fit at dinner. In that case, the restaurant would print the $7 QR code in their lunch menu but use a $17 QR code in their dinner menu.
  • Customer Choice Example: We have seen that, when customers are offered two potential donation amounts, 65 percent of customers select the higher donation level despite the decrease to their own overall savings. So if a clothing boutique was considering running a “25% off your purchase” deal, they may wish to place two QR codes at the register, side-by-side, and let customers choose whether to scan at a $5 level or $10 level.

Step 4: Display QR Code

With your GOOD Deal set and your donation amount defined, the next step is to request your free QR Code. Either the nonprofit or the business may make the request, and you can request as many unique codes as you wish. The tabs below or our downloadable guide provide recommendations on claiming and displaying your codes.

Start by clicking here to request your free QR Code. You and your business partner should decide whether to request one or several codes for your GOOD Deal. 


  • One Code: Request just one QR Code if your business partner plans to run only one type of deal at one set donation amount.
  • Multiple Codes: Request multiple unique codes if your business partner plans to run several distinct types of deals that require different customer donations, or if your business partner plans to let the customer decide between several set donation amounts.

Multiple Deals Example: A restaurant wants to offer a buy-one-get-one-free entrée deal and needs a code for a $7 donation to pair with lower lunch menu price points, but needs a $17 donation value to use during dinner service. In that case, the restaurant would print the $7 QR code in their lunch menu but print the $17 QR code in their dinner menu.


Customer Choice Example: We have seen that, when customers are offered two potential donation amounts, 65 percent of customers select the higher donation level despite the decrease to their own overall savings. So if a clothing boutique was going to run a “25% off your purchase” deal, they may wish to place two QR codes at the register, side-by-side, and let customers choose whether to scan at a $5 level or $10 level.

Generopolis delivers your unique codes to you in the form of PNG files. You may create signs to post throughout you partner’s business, place the QR codes in menus or include them anywhere else you choose. If possible, we recommend including your nonprofit logo and a short mission statement along with your code so that customers scanning the code can read a brief headline about the “why” of your partnership with that business. 

Your GOOD Deal is immediately ready for customers to scan it from the moment you receive your QR Code from Generopolis. It goes “live” the moment your business partner displays it. There are a few reminders we would like to offer when displaying the code.

Your GOOD Deal is immediately ready for customers to scan it from the moment you receive your QR Code. It goes “live” as soon as your business partner displays it.


When displaying your code, make sure it is visible at the location where customers pay. If customers pay at a table, like in a restaurant, ensure the code is printed in the menu or sits on every table top. If customers pay at a register, make sure the code is displayed at each checkout station.

Train staff on how GOOD Deals are redeemed:
 
  • Customer scans the QR Code and is directed to a Generopolis PayPal site coded with your deal, your set donation amount, your business partner’s name, your nonprofit name and any special code your business partner wishes to include.
  • Customer pays using their PayPal account or manually enters their credit card information.
  • Customer shows their PayPal receipt to the checkout employee
  • Checkout employee delivers the advertised promotional deal, taking whatever actions are required by the store, such as adjusting the price the customer must pay the business (example: applying a 10 percent discount to the entire check, handing the customer a free bonus item, voiding out the cost of a particular item on the check, etc.)
  • Customer pays the store any money owed once the GOOD Deal has been applied to their check. Note that this means that the customer usually “pays” twice: the first payment is for the Generopolis donation enabled by PayPal and is completed on their mobile device; the second is to the business for the items or services rendered.