Golfballs.com, an online retailer of new, used and custom logo golf balls, has created a program called Ball Bucks that will enable charities to raise money while driving consumer traffic to the Golfballs.com Web site.
Ball Bucks is a $10 coupon redeemable for either a total charitable donation or a $6 discount and a $4 donation, both with a purchase of $40 or more. Golfballs.com has created a Charity Requests section on its Web site, and organizers of tournaments supporting charities can click on the Charity Requests button and fill out an online form.
Golfballs.com will respond by phone or e-mail. After confirming that the request comes from a nonprofit, the company will print coupons specifically for that organization. The charities distribute and promote redemption of the coupons, which will have an expiration date and can be used only once.
“Coupons will be printed on an event-by-event basis,” said Kevin Healy, vice president of sales at Golfballs.com. “Each event will have an event code, which will help us in tracking.”
In the first nine days of the offer, seven nonprofits have responded, including the Kiwanis Club in Hawkensville, GA, the Arizona Junior Golf Club and a cancer awareness group in the United Kingdom.
Golfballs.com created the Ball Bucks program as an alternative to donating golf balls, which are given out as gifts to golfers at charitable events.
“Golf balls are very expensive to give away. One tournament may ask for as many as 144 sleeves [sets of three], and a sleeve costs us from $5 to $15,” Healy said.
The new program is better for his company and the charities, Healy said. “This allows the charity to give more than a sleeve of balls, which brings no additional money to the charity. It's a way for us to work together to give to charity.”
Ball Bucks not only solves Golfballs.com's problem with ball donations, but also “gives us a great opportunity to help worthy organizations generate funds while giving golfers the incentive to visit our Web site,” said Tom Cox, president/CEO of Golfballs.com. “We're tremendously excited about the Ball Bucks program, because it allows us to help nonprofit organizations and reach new customer markets across the country.”
