New local venture helps fund raisers, consumers

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Providing shoppers with bargains and nonprofit organizations with funds is the concept behind Todah International Inc., a home-based business owned by Wayne Horelly and his wife Carol, who works for St. John's.|ret||ret||tab|

Wayne Horelly is a distributor for California-based Mustang Marketing, which among other things, manufactures coupons.|ret||ret||tab|

Todah's primary focus is providing the "coupons-on-demand" concept to organizations as a fund-raising option. |ret||ret||tab|

Horelly said organizations sell books of 50 $10 certificates for $29.95 per book. Of that $29.95, the organization keeps $15 and the remainder goes back to the company to pay for printing and administrative costs. |ret||ret||tab|

The coupons-on-demand concept is that the purchaser of the books can redeem two $10 certificates at once from Mustang. |ret||ret||tab|

For each coupon, the purchaser can list the brand names or coupons he or she wants, choosing from more than 1,000 manufacturers. The coupons then must be sent in to the company's clearing house. with a self-addressed, stamped envelope, and the consumer receives $10 worth of coupons for the items identified. |ret||ret||tab|

Getting savings on customer-specific products isn't something that usually happens, Horelly said.|ret||ret||tab|

Quoting statistics from Mustang Marketing, he noted that 80 percent of households use coupons, but less than 1 percent, or about $3.6 billion of available coupons, are redeemed each year because consumers can't find coupons for the products they want.|ret||ret||tab|

"Predominantly, most of the (coupons) that you get in the newspaper are either (for items) that you've never seen before, or they're ones that you don't really use and (manufacturers) would like you to try them," he said. |ret||ret||tab|

Having the coupons-on-demand option is good, Horelly said, because "we're all creatures of habit. We do the same thing we put the same things in our cart every time we go through."|ret||ret||tab|

The coupons the consumers receive from the clearinghouse are redeemed at stores just as any other coupons are, so people can get savings on their favorite products at the store of their choice. |ret||ret||tab|

And, Horelly added, the original $10 coupon vouchers have no expiration date, so families can order the coupons as needed. |ret||ret||tab|

While the savings from the coupons will vary some coupons are buy one, get one free, and stores have different coupon-savings programs Horelly said selling the coupon vouchers can help organizations raise money more quickly.|ret||ret||tab|

"The normal ways to raise money, the car wash, candy bar sales, things like doing raffles ... you don't make a lot of money very quickly. |ret||ret||tab|

"For every one of these (coupon books) you sell, (organizations) get $15, and the customer is going to get $500 worth of savings," Horelly said.|ret||ret||tab|

Raising money in this day and age is difficult for nonprofits, Horelly said, especially in Springfield, because there are a lot of groups seeking support.|ret||ret||tab|

David Spilman, chairman and chief executive officer of DataFund Services Inc., a Springfield-based fund-raising consulting company, agreed, noting that the number of not-for-profit entities has nearly tripled in the last 15 years. |ret||ret||tab|

"The competition, if you can call it that, for the charitable dollar is significantly greater than it's ever been, and organizations are having to work much harder to gain charitable giving," Spilman said.|ret||ret||tab|

The second challenge, he said, is that there are fewer good leaders available to help organizations find innovative ways to make money. |ret||ret||tab|

Although DataFund's primary niche is large capital and endowment campaigns for nonprofits, Spilman said the challenges apply to all organizations that require community support. |ret||ret||tab|

Being able to help nonprofits raise money is important to the Horellys. The couple hopes to travel to the Middle East someday as missionaries, but in the meantime, Wayne Horelly said Todah International gives them a way to help others. |ret||ret||tab|

"Helping people always makes you feel good, and not only am I helping ... lots of different organizations, but I'm also helping everybody that's helping them," he said.|ret||ret||tab|

Horelly said there has been some interest in the fund-raising aspect from some local churches, but thus far, he's been busy spreading the word about his company and explaining the coupons-on-demand process. |ret||ret||tab|

The coupon books also can be purchased by businesses for use as bonuses with purchases or for other special promotions.Todah Inc. is a bonded and licensed company, according to Horelly, and the company also offers special advertising products, such as flyers for sales and special events. |ret||ret||tab|

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