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Frequently Asked Questions
A golf course sent me here to get a certificate. What do I need to do?

Golf courses use TravelPledge to help them manage all of the requests that they receive from non-profits. Once you create an account, we’ll verify your information (takes a couple days) and we'll send you your login credentials.  Log in and you can get golf foursomes, lessons and even private course memberships.  Please note that some golf courses approve or reject each individual donation request.  We'll give you all the best promotional materials (to drive up your bids) and an easy tool to create your bid sheets.  

golf foursome for charity

How much money can we expect to raise with TravelPledge?

Quite a bit. You'll make between 40% and 90% of the purchase price in all cases.  This percentage varies based on the type of experience that you're promoting. We're confident that your organization will benefit from the "TravelPledge Advantage".  No more old school consignment!
 
vacations_bigger_donations_live_auction

Do we have to pay for experiences that don't actually sell at our auction?

No. You can easily select experiences (vacations, golf, lessons, bucket list experiences etc), print promotional flyers and promote these at your fundraiser. Then, after the event, log in and let us know which items sold, and we'll create an invoice for you that covers our costs and the portion of the purchase that we send to the genrous providers of the experiences that you sell.

If you've used mobile bidding, this checkout process is automatic!   Once your invoice is paid, your winning bidders can enjoy the fun experiences that they won.  Sometimes one or more of the experiences at your silent or live auction doesn't hit the minimum bid, but don't sweat it.  Just log in and mark them "unsold" and there is no cost to you on any unsold items. We'll show you a full full report each year so you can see which items are popular.

I've heard that this is much better than "consignment", but how?

Thousands of non-profits are now enjoying the "TravelPledge Advantage".  We often hear from non-profits that they do not like "consignment" and we can see why since you often don't generate a very big donation on a "consignment" item.  As an example, a consignment  "Augusta Getaway" might sell for $5,000, but you only generate a donation of $200 (!).  By contrast, TravelPledge locates generous business owners and you'll always generate a donation of between 40% and 90% of the purchase price (depending on the type of experience and how high the bids get).  You keep a minimum of 80% of the sales price on golf foursomes and lessons.  As you're getting your silent or live auction set up, we'll show you an accurate "tally" of what you can expect to generate on each experience.

    Other useful links:  Watch our "no consignment"  video              Download our PDF on this topic

 

How do certificate holders redeem their certificates?

Our solution is transparent and direct.  We connect certificate holders directly with the vacation providers, golf courses, cruise lines and bucket list experience producers so that they can easily and efficiently set up their fun experiences.  We don't require your supporters to fill out forms and we work to ensure fulfillment is very easy for them.  We're all about happy winning bidders!

Happy winning bidder charity auction                   vacation certificate for charity auction shows redemption instructions

How does TravelPledge work if I want to consider using Mobile Bidding?

Good news! Our technololgy makes it easy to upload all of your TravelPledge experiences (and all of your donated items) automatically into your mobile bidding platform.   Once your mobile bidding partner has integrated to our API, it super easy (and makes your life so much easier getting ready for your event) so make sure that your mobile bidding partner is fully integrated.

Mobile bidding at fundraiser auction event

Send this simple note to your mobile bidding provider:
"For all future events, we plan to use a mobile bidding provider that is fully integrated with TravelPledge.  This is a simple integration, so we're hopeful that you'll get it completed before our next event.  This will make all of our lives much easier going forward because all of our selected TravelPledge experiences and our donated items are automatically loaded in for us.  The TravelPledge experiences are highly desirable thanks to their financial model. Please contact Geronimo Solutions to get an API key."

 

How can my selection committee quickly review and select the best experiences for us to promote?

When you are browsing experiences (vacations, cruises, bucket list, etc), simply mark some as "favorites" (look for the little heart icon).  Then, send your favorites page URL to your committee members so they can easily vote on the experiences that they think will be the most popular.   After you tally the votes, select the experiences for your auction that have the most thumbs up votes!

Click the heart icon to favorite a vacation for your auction              Thumbs up vote for vacations at live auction

Is there a fee for us to use TravelPledge? How do you cover your costs?

No setup fees, no maintenance fees, zero risk. We are very proud to have created one of the most efficient fundraising solutions for non-profits.  Transparent and direct. To cover our operational costs, we retain 20% of the charitable contribution and you keep the other 80%.  Our unique model maximizes your donations because you always keep a large percentage of the purchase price no matter what sort of fun experience you're selling.

Is there a contract to sign?

We have a simple one page online agreement that provides details for you on all of the free tools and fun experiences that we've created for you.  Nothing for you to sign.

How can TravelPledge make fundraising more efficient for my staff and for my volunteers?

Your TravelPledge account gives you easy access to over $50M in fun experiences from generous businesses that you can promote to your supporters, plus easy tools to create your bid sheets and promotional flyers, easy integration with mobile bidding (optional), easy way to collect votes from your committee members, easy ways to secure sponsors for your event and share your event with your supporters.  Once you have your free account, you'll enjoy all of these benefits.
 

Free Silent Auction Bidsheet Tool

When do we actually receive our donations?

If you're doing an auction fundraiser, you collect all of the funds immediately after the event and simply pay your TravelPledge invoice in the days following your event. If a supporter purchases a fun experience on your custom TravelPledge website, you'll quickly receive a check representing the amount due to your organization and you'll see a full report in your custom dashboard. 

How long does it take for you to verify my non-profit?

Within a few days (typically), we'll be able to verify your non-profit status and we'll send you a welcome email with your login credentials.  In the meantime, you can browse fun experiences as you get ready for your fundraising event.  You can use our vacations, golf, cruises and bucket list experiences at your live auction, silent auction or raffle.  We work with all of the generous business owners to gather vacations and fun experieces for you and you can get those once you sign up.

What is the relationship between Geronimo and TravelPledge?

Geronimo Solutions LLC has developed several platforms for non-profits and business owners.  TravelPledge is one of those platforms and makes it easy for you to convert fun experiences into big donations.

How do I edit my TravelPledge website?

Simply log in and you can view/ edit your non-profit details and make any changes to your photos, links, description, video, partners, etc.   When we create your account, we'll make you an administrator and you'll have full access to make these changes.  You can also add special incentives, and custom text for your organization.

Can I promote businesses that support my cause?

Yes and we make it easy.  When you log in, you'll see an easy option to add and promote business partners and to promote special incentives (from partners) that you can offer to your supporters.  In addition, you can promote sponsors that step up and help you with your fundraising events.