THE GREEN ROOM | CUSTOMER STORY

Online fundraising rescued Black Friday Gift Certificate drive

When the pandemic canceled their annual, in-person fundraiser, Old Colony YMCA needed another way to drive gift certificate sales on Black Friday — fast. See how we helped them create their first-ever online sales drive…ahead of schedule.
“Our Black Friday fundraiser is vital to our business in the best of times, but during the pandemic it was crucial. With NCR’s help, and just in time, we were able to take online donations for our first successful virtual fundraiser." 

— Old Colony YMCA
What they needed

A way to accept online payments for an annual fundraiser

Established in 1887 in Brockton, Mass., Old Colony YMCA supports 31 communities in Southern Massachusetts with wellness, personal development and social service programs for all ages and abilities, guided by four key values: caring, respect, honesty and responsibility. They serve over 140,000 children and families with 37,000 members who visited their facilities nearly 1,000,000 times in 2019 alone. In 2020, the pandemic forced temporary closures and partial re-openings—so every dollar counted.

When it came time to plan their annual Black Friday Gift Certificate drive, they realized it couldn’t be in-person and on-site like usual—but they couldn’t afford to cancel it. Now the heat was on to find a way to move the event online. But, their software and developers didn’t have the resources to create online payments. After consulting two third-party vendors who also couldn’t get the job done, they were ready to give up.

 
What we delivered

An integrated payment page ahead of schedule

Working closely with Old Colony YMCA, NCR was able to create a plan to adapt our Business Solution Hosted Pay page and implement the new pay page ahead of schedule, making it possible for Old Colony YMCA to host their first ever online Black Friday Gift Certificate drive.

What happened next

Successful sales, when it mattered most

Now, customers could quickly and easily buy gift certificates online, making their first ever online Black Friday Gift Certificate sale a success, delivering the revenue they needed to keep supporting children and families during a challenging time. In fact, their payment page was such a success that what was meant to be a one-off pay page was extended for their holiday drive, with discussions about how to use it in the future.