Everyone is motivated by something. That something could be supporting cancer research, building a great youth center, or upgrading your team’s sports equipment. In order to raise money for a cause, traditionally, church groups go door to door selling cookie dough and peewee football teams hold out their helmets at stop lights for donations. Many sports teams today offer a coupon booklet featuring local businesses and restaurants to incentivize donations. The problem is, when you do finally want to use it, you can never find the darn thing! Motivdeals is here to make the fundraising process easier by making the coupons digital.
Founder and Atlanta resident Kyle Valencia has lived in Georgia’s capital for nearly 20 years and has a photography and video production business, Valencia Productions. Recently, he realized there was an opportunity for fundraisers. “I was approached every year by football players trying to sell me plastic fundraising cards. I thought, “With today’s technology advances, there has to be a better way of doing this,” says Valencia. This motivated him to start Motivdeals in January 2013.
How does it work? Motivdeals is a SaaS that is user friendly for fundraisers and donors alike. Non-profit organizations list their cause on Motivdeals.com and then sell 12 month membership codes to donors. Donors then become members, and select the deals they would like to redeem from the many restaurants and other local businesses featured. Those deals are emailed directly to their smartphone so Motivdeal members can simply show the store clerk the “redeem now” button at checkout. “Not only does Motivdeals help sports teams & organizations fundraise, we also have built a platform that gives local food and service companies free access to market to the local people,” says Valencia.
While there are an infinite amount of causes out there, Motivdeals is currently focusing on sports teams. “There are 461 high schools in Georgia alone. Each one having multiple sports and clubs operating within their walls. Although we do help other organizations like churches or art clubs, our main focus is capturing the attention of the sports community,” claims Valencia.
He also noted, “We are currently fundraising in Georgia and Ohio (and) are working on a partnership with an established fundraising company that would allow us to expand to the 30+ states that they are fundraising in and use their infrastructure to sell our Motivdeals product.”
Motivdeals recently finished a seed round of funding and are backed by local tech entrepreneur and Relus Technologies CEO, Mark Metz. “I invested in Kyle from my personal experiences. I have bought popcorn, wrapping paper, cookie dough, magazines, coupon books, and steak knives: all for great causes, but most of the products I really didn’t want. Motivdeals is a real “feel good” technology. Kyle has created an awesome solution that makes the process of raising money easier and more successful for the team, and gives the donor a product they will really use.”
They are also now hiring a full time salesperson as well as a developer, so look out for Motivdeals to make a big impact in 2015.
Follow Motivdeals on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Motivdeals
Twitter: https://twitter.com/motivdeals
Google +: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+Motivdeals/about
